About 200 families that were displaced by construction of the Jurala reservoir have found new employment in fishing and value-added industry. Local people who up fishing add value to their catch by keeping it for live sale in locally-manufactured cages. Local people also use the live fish to prepare a variety of fresh fish dishes, servicing the tourist trade attracted to the reservoir. Over 400 people are now directly or indirectly self-employed through these practices. This article describes the new practices and the improved income that is being generated by fishers and local entrepreneurs.

Arunachal Pradesh is a hill state with a population of 1.38 million in far north-eastern India. With climate ranging from tropical to alpine across a steep altitudinal gradient, the state has a high fish biodiversity and a wide range of aquaculture systems and fishing practices. Both indigenous and exotic species are farmed and fished.

This article describes the species, aquaculture systems and capture fisheries practiced in Arunachal Pradesh as well as their future prospects for further development.

In this issue:

Augmenting entrepreneurial attitude among tribal women of Jharkhand through a skill development programme in fish value added products; Culture of hilsa, Tenualosa ilisha in freshwater ponds: Progress and prospects in farming practice; Present status of medium-saline ‘bheri’ fishery and integrated mangrove aquaculture in West Bengal, India: A short study, Part I; Information for farmers on yellow tail catfish, Pangasius pangasius, for easier captive production; Captive breeding and larval rearing of Cirrhinus reba, a small indigenous fish of aquaculture importance; NACA Newsletter.

Since the late 1960s, brackishwater rural aquaculture in West Bengal grew and improved at a fast rate, from an extensive method of farming to a modified-extensive method. The indigenous bheri fishery is a well-known extensive aquaculture system throughout all coastal states of India. Bheri fishery isn’t a capital-intensive practice. This article describes farming practices in bheri systems in West Bengal, India, including their integration with mangrove aquaculture. A second part of this article will be published in the next issue.