Himachal Pradesh’s trout fish production has taken a nosedive over the decade. The Economic Survey report for the year 2022-23 suggests that this figure dropped from 19.18 tonnes in 2012-13 to 6.73 tonnes in 2020-21 and is estimated to hit a low of 6.33 tonnes in 2022-23 with a negative compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of -10.49%.
The output had increased from 6.73 tonnes in 2020-21 to 13.68 tonnes in 2021-22 but -53.7% is the fresh growth projection. Trout’s total value will also drop from Rs 1.69 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 89 lakh in 2022-23. This decline has come when the state’s overall fish production has risen consistently in the same decade, from 8,560.8 metric tonnes in 2012-13 to an estimated 17.136.9 MT in 2022-23 at an overall growth rate of 7%. The total value of fish produced also jumped from Rs 58.1 crore in 2012-13 to Rs 233.5 crore in 2021-22 with a growth rate of 15.7% and is expected to touch Rs 249.9 crore in 2022-23, at a growth rate of 7%.
However, the state’s total fish export has decreased at a CAGR of -1.18% from 1046.08 MT in 2012-13 to 939.99 MT in 2021-22. Five dams – Bhakra, Pong, Chamera, Ranjit Sagar, and Kol – sustain more than 6,000 fisherman families. The state’s waters hold more than 50 fish species, with trout being the most popular. The British introduced brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) and rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) to the state in the 1890s.
Four decades of road-building spree destroyed the breeding and feeding grounds of this popular game fish. Massive construction near rivers, rapid urbanisation, and illegal and destructive means of fishing have also dwindled trout’s population, an official in the state fisheries department has claimed.