Fish Groups and Its Composition in Chandakhal Wetland of Dhubri District, Assam (India) and Their Conservation Status | Chapter 4 | Contemporary Research and Perspectives in Biological Science Vol. 9

In India, floodplain lakes support a lucrative fishery, particularly in the eastern and north-eastern states and are considered the second most important inland fisheries resources of the country. The wetland ecosystems are used by fishes as a refuge for breeding, feeding and nesting purposes at one or the other stage of their life cycle. The Inland fisheries and aquaculture play an important role in providing cheap animal protein to the human dietary composition of rural Assam in India. Fish groups like carp, clupeids, perches, murrels, catfishes, minnows etc. comprise a good number of species in the region. Apart from the riverine fisheries different wetland fisheries associated with the two major rivers, namely the Brahmaputra and Barak in Assam have contributed a major part in fish production. The aim of the present study is to enquire about the numerical relative abundance of fishes categorized into three main fish groups viz., Major, Intermediate and Minor fish groups in Chandakhal wetland located in Dhubri district, in the state of Assam, India. This is an investigative study based on the data collected from the fish caught at the designated landing stations. It finds that the numerical relative abundance of most of the individual valued food fish species falling under the Major Fish Group is less than 1.00% and the total numerical relative abundance of the Major Group fishes constitutes only 4.05%. Among the Major Group fish species, Labeo calbasu has the highest relative abundance of 0.74%. Under the Intermediate fish group, the most abundant species is Macrognathus pancalus having a numerical relative abundance of 5.58%. Again, among the Minor Group, Lepidocephalichthys guntea is the most relatively abundant fish species whose numerical relative abundance is 7.92%. The ‘near threatened’ species like Wallago attu and Chitala chitala have relative abundances of 0.23% and 0.09% respectively and the ‘endangered’ species Clarias magur is found to have a relative abundance as low as 0.08% in the present study. The present study confronts various natural as well as anthropogenic factors that affect the health of the wetland. It was concluded that the relative abundance of most of the threatened and valued food fish species of the study area is poor. The present finding opens a potential area of study to find out the cause of dwindling fish abundance and formulate a solution to the problem.

 

Author (s) Details

 

S. Sheikh
Department of Zoology, B.N. College, Dhubri, Assam, India.

 

M. M. Goswami
Department of Zoology, Gauhati University, Guwahati, Assam, India.

 

Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/crpbs/v9/3883

Fish Catch Composition and Its’ Bearing on the Income of Fishers: A Case Study of Chandakhal Wetland, Dhubri, Assam, India | Chapter 2 | Research Advances and Challenges in Agricultural Sciences Vol. 5

Fishing is a traditional economic activity with tremendous socio-economic impact in the rural sector of India. In the state of Assam (India), the fishers are distinctive communities who are associated with the fish and fisheries of the region for their livelihood from time immemorial. The present study aims to know the fish catch composition of Chandakhal wetland of Dhubri district in the state of Assam, India and its’ bearing on the income of the fishers dependent on the wetland. The study is based on the data of fish catch composition (in Kilogram) and the fishers’ income (in Indian National Rupee) followed by its suitable statistical analysis using SPSS (Version 16.0). The findings bring about the result that 93.6% of the Fishers’ income’ is explained only by Catch of intermediate fish. At the same time the finding also shows that there is variation of 96.8% in the Fisher’s income being influenced by the variations in the catch of Intermediate and Minor fishes together. While there is 98.6% variation in the Fisher’s income being expressed by the variations in the Catch of Intermediate, Minor and Major fishes jointly. It is inferred from the present study that the income of Fisher of the study area is highly dependent on the catch of intermediate fish group followed by the minor fish group and major fish group.

Author(s) Details:

Sheikh S.,
Department of Zoology, B.N. College, Dhubri, Assam, India.

Goswami M. M.,
Department of Zoology, Gauhati University, Guwahati, Assam, India.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/RACAS-V5/article/view/13767