Traditional Technology of Fish Preservation in Northeast India

Abstract

The northeastern region of India (NEI) extends between latitudes 21° 57’ and 29° 30’ North, and between longitudes 89° 46’ and 97° 30’ East, lie deep in the lap of easternmost Himalayan hills comprising of eight states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, and Sikkim. It is one of the most thinly populated regions of India, with about 45.5 million people (as per 2011 census), contributing about 4% of the whole country’s population and the population density ranges from 14—340 Km−. There are about 166 numbers of ethnic groups inhabiting NEI, and each tribe is well distinguished from others by their inherent culture and lifestyle. A lot of indigenous knowledge systems pertaining to agriculture, medicine, food, and natural resources management exist in the region from time immemorial. The technology of processing and preservation of fish is unique and indigenous to the northeastern states, evolved by compulsion of people. The geographical location, heavy rainfall, etc. factors necessitated many age-old indigenously fermented fish products such as Shidal, Ngari, Hentak, Lonailish, Tungtap, Numsing, etc. to be a common practice for surplus fish harvest. The traditional fish processing units of NEI, by, and large, are rural, seasonal, labor-intensive, informal, and capital deficient. The indigenous fish processing techniques were developed in homes, normally inherited from generation to generation, and a little improvement, if any, were solely based on the observations of the practitioners. One of the most commercially important product, i.e., Shidal, whose technology is very old and probably originated in the former undivided India (now 128Bangladesh) and believed to came into existence at least before the British Era in NEI, i.e., before 1824. Hentak and Numsing are indigenous fermented fish pastes of NEI, where plants are also used along with fish. There is only salt fermented fish product is Lonailish, which is prepared exclusively from Indian shad (Tenualosa ilisha), a high-fat fish, and extensively consumed in NEI and Bangladesh mainly due to its typical flavor, aroma, and texture. In general, there exists a traditional belief that all such ethnic fish products improve the immunity against seasonal illness in forest dominated NE India. From the nutritional point of view, the ethnic fermented fish products of northeast India have two important properties such as ‘high anti-oxidative activity’ and ‘prevalence of lactic acid bacteria (LAB).’ Except few, so far no significant scientific intervention has yet been initiated for improvement and validation of such age-old indigenous fish processing technologies. These traditional fish processing methods deserve genuine scientific intervention for their improvement and standardization, and this may reveal the intellectual richness of our indigenous people in terms of their ability to use microbes, although unknowingly, for preparing products for varied purposes in addition to food and beverages.