Fish and Fisheries of the Temperate Himalayas: An Overview and Way Forward

Abstract

Fish is an important source of food and income and also provides the opportunity for trade and export as blue economy. Considering the vast resources available, there is immense potential to draw economic benefit for the prosperity of the people residing in temperate zone of the Himalayan region through multifold increase in fish production by horizontal expansion, intensification, diversification, and sustainable management of existing natural resources. This would be helpful to reduce the gap between demand and supply. Though the present aquaculture in the Himalayan region is a traditional and rural practice, reforming has been done for fisheries sector in temperate zone through awareness and technological advancement which may also require the vertical and horizontal expansion of this sector toward the commercial practice and export avenues. Sport fishery and ecotourism in hill region is a potential component, and reorientation is required for this purpose with private–public partnership mode. Research and development support would be a key factor to accelerate the development of fisheries and aquaculture practices in hill region. Ornamental fish culture has been adopted as small-scale enterprises which provide an alternative source of employment and also require an intensive approach in potential areas. The Himalayan region is bestowed with diverse natural resources such as rivers, streams, lakes, and reservoirs. Fish occurrence and wild population in these water bodies are badly affected with overfishing, siltation, damming, pollution, and poor management. Hence, the fisheries in these water bodies are either unexploited or unmanaged. Use of modern techniques and implementation of scientific management would be fruitful to bring this sector more realistic and economic to support the livelihood and nutrition security. The fragile nature of fish occurrence, environmental threats, and anthropogenic activities indicated the need of conservation and management of existing resources on sustainable basis. Overall review of the temperate fisheries and aquaculture reflects the potential and prospects of livelihood support and nutritional security.