The recent three day fishermen’s ,macchua panchayat, held in Bhopal was a great success in that it yielded many  benefits for the state fishermen.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan  who inaugurated the panchayat announced that the name of the Fisheries Department would be changed to Fishermen’s Welfare and Fisheries Development Department, so that it could focus on the development of fisheries as well as welfare of fishermen in the state.

A Fisheries Board would be constituted and a member of the fishermen community would be made its Chairman. Assistance to the tune of Rs1.50 lakh would be provided to the registered fisheries cooperative societies of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe categories and also to the societies run by fishermen from other categories, Chouhan said.

The Chief Minister also announced one per cent interest rate loan to fishermen on the lines of the loan provided to the state farmers. The fishermen from other categories would also get a financial assistance of Rs 15,000 each for fish breeding, similar to assistance provided to the scheduled castes and tribal categories.

Chouhan said that the state government would provide guarantee to the education loans obtained by children of fishermen for medical and engineering courses.

This year 1,000 houses are being built for fishermen, while 2,000 houses would be built next year for them at subsidised rates, Chauhan said.

He said that the state government would urge the Centre to open Fisheries Science College to promote application of modern technology in the fisheries sector.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jarbom Gamlin emphasized for urgently promoting fisheries as an alternate source of livelihood, especially for youths. ”With a significant wide range of fish resources ranging from alpine varieties to tropical ones in the lower altitudes, Arunachal Pradesh has the capability of emerging as a ‘Sunrise Sector’ through fisheries in the state’s economy,” Gamlin said while addressing a review meeting on fisheries developmental Programmes in Itanagar. Maintaining that in order to create employment opportunities, fisheries are an excellent way of bringing opportunities to the doorsteps of the people, Gamlin advocated for bringing out fisheries revolution where the consumption requirements of fish are produced within the state and not procured from farms in far off states. He called for promoting Fisheries cooperatives, which would ensure that the dividends are spread across a larger beneficiary base. The chief minister stressed on the need to promote fisheries entrepreneurship amongst the local youths by giving them access to technology and to markets besides paving wayfor farm side research on better breeding techniques to the fish farmers to promote this viable industry.