The ongoing drought has severely affected inland fishing activities in Mysuru district, with the majority of tanks and lakes drying up. This year, both production and sowing of inland fish have plummeted by around 30%, according to the department of fisheries. In the previous fiscal year (2022–23), the department recorded a fish production of 2,416 metric tonnes from inland fish farming.
The department has taken up inland fishing activities in 97 major lakes. Apart from these, it also took up fishing in over 1,000 lakes coming under the limits of different gram panchayats across the district. Several families were also involved in inland fishing activities by constructing small ponds and tanks in their agriculture fields. As most of the lakes dried up due to failure of monsoon last year, fish deaths were reported due to rise in temperature and severe heatwave impacting fish production, said the officials.
As the state and Union govts have been promoting inland fishing activities under Matsya Samriddhi Yojana, the number of fishing families and inland fishing activities is also increasing every year in the district.
As many as 37,537 farmers are directly or indirectly involved in inland fishing activities in the district. This year, the fisheries department has produced 162 lakh fingerlings in its breeding centres at Kabini and Nugu dams, but farmers and contractors are not coming forward to buy it, to take up inland fishing due to decreasing water level in most fishing lakes, ponds and small tanks.
Usually, the department takes up sowing in major and minor lakes, releases or distributes fingerlings during its sowing months, May and June, every year. “The department is facing problems to take up sowing activities in its lakes as most of them have already dried up while several others are drying up,” said S Manjunath, deputy director of fisheries. He told TOI that delay in releasing fingerlings to lakes and ponds will affect fish production for the next season.
There are not many takers for the fingerlings it produced in its breeding centres at Nugu and Kabini dams. “Usually, the department receives huge orders from contractors, buyers for its fingerlings starting mid-April, but this year, there is no such demand, if there is rain, lakes fill up, inland sowing may pick up during next June,” he said. “Inland fishing has been a lucrative business for several fish farmers from the last several years. Many farmers ventured into fish farming after taking loans from banks, but this year, due to drought and heatwave, several fishing families have suffered loss,” said Mahadevnayaka, a fish farmer from Yedatore village of T Narasipur taluk.