Awareness camp

Mass awareness campaign was conducted at Beledanga wetland on 30 March, 2019 under Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP). Around 60 fishers participated in the programme along with their president, secretary and board members of the cooperative. Director, ICAR- CIFRI, stressed the importance of conservation of small indigenous fish species through efficient management practices and collective approaches for fisheries development to increase resource use efficiency. 

On-campus capacity building program

A four days training programme on “Wetland Fisheries Management for Livelihood improvement” was conducted by ICAR-CIFRI for the fishers of Beledanga beel from 8th to 11th July 2019. The training programme was aimed at bridging-up the gap in knowledge, skill and attitude of the farmers towards wetland fisheries management.

 

 Webinar on inland fisheries management

ICAR-CIFRI celebrated National fish farmers’ day on virtual platform on 10 July 2020. The chief Guest of the Programme was Shri Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Honourable Minister of State of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying and MSME of Govt of India. The importance of inland fisheries management was discussed through this webinar. About, 24 fishers of Beledanga beel participated in the webinar.

International Webinar on “Small Scale Fisheries in Inland Open Waters: Status and Opportunities”

Web-based Pan-Asia webinar on “Small Scale Fisheries in Inland open water: Status and opportunity” with virtual participation of experts, academicians and institutions from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Malaysia along with the experts from Canada, FAO, and Belgium was conducted on 9 September 2020.

Fish Harvest Mela

Fish Harvest Mela was observed during14th to 18th December 2020 at Beledanga and 5 days harvesting of fish was done by fishers in groups. In the 1st year of intervention of ICAR-CIFRI, 42% increase in fish production has been achieved.

Harvest mela at Beledanga

Participatory Rural appraisal vis-a’-vis Agro-Aqua Ecosystem Analysis

PRA was conducted to identify the threats perceived by the beel dependent community. Matrix ranking was done with active participation of the beel dependent community and it was found, encroachment, weed infestation, lack of technical Knowledge, insufficient capital in the hand of the FCS, absence of willingness of the management of the FCS, local politics, intensive poaching etc are the major issues affecting production as well as the livelihoods of the beel dependent community.

 

Stakeholders’ meet

A stakeholder meet was organised on January 21, 2021 at ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute on “Small scale fisheries in wetlands for livelihood and nutritional security” for fishermen of Beledanga wetland, North 24 Parganas. Dr. B. K. Das, Director, ICAR-CIFRI and PI, WorldFish Project chaired the meeting. Representatives of the Beledanga Fishermen Cooperative Society, State fisheries department and the Project team attended the meeting.

A stakeholder meeting cum awareness program on Pen Culture technology for integrated wetland management was organized by ICAR-CIFRI, Barrackpore at Beledanga beel and at Chamta beel, North 24 Parganas on 9^thJuly,2022. The program was attended by 30 fishers of Beledanga wetland.

Participants of stakeholder’s meet

Online training programme

An online training on “Fisheries Enhancement in Floodplain Wetlands” was conducted at ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore on 09.03.2021. The training was conducted to apprise and improve the management strategy for sustainable enhancement of fish yield in floodplain wetlands of India.

Focused group discussion

 A focused group discussion was organized to talk about the challenges in achieving the targeted production and to prioritize problems to be addressed. Focused group discussion with the fishers of the Beledanga beel was conducted to find out alternative way for SIF conservation on 11.11.2021.

Workshop on Livelihood development of wetland fishers addressing SDGs

 

One-day workshop entitled “Livelihood development addressing SDG through inland open water fisheries” was conducted on 18 August 2023 to discuss the way forward of the activities related to inland open water fisheries undertaken by the institute in the adopted wetlands. Scientists, technical staff, research scholars, and 32 fisherman representatives from 16 wetlands fishery cooperative societies of Murshidabad, Nadia, and North-24 Parganas district of West Bengal State participated in the workshop.