In this issue:
The Gangetic swamp eel, Ophichtys cuchia, is one of the highest-value indigenous freshwater fish in Northeast India, yet almost all of it still comes from the wild. A 2025 market survey in Manipur recorded it selling at Rs. 800/kg against Rs. 150 to 200/kg for common carp. Wild stocks are falling as wetlands are drained, paddy fields are sprayed with pesticides and capture continues unregulated. This review brings together what is known about the biology, nutrition and culture potential of the species, with particular reference to the eight northeastern states. It covers the eel's air-breathing adaptations and tolerance of low oxygen, its protandrous sex change and the breeding problems this creates, nutritional composition, and pond and rice-field trials from Bangladesh reporting yields up to 2,506 kg/ha. Seed supply remains the main obstacle, as no hatchery network produces fingerlings in India.
]]>The floodplains of the Brahmaputra valley in northeast India hold an abundance of waters, but lowland fish productivity there has received far less study than in western and central India. An assessment at the Gerua Centre of ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Assam, has identified ten aquaculture-based development options for the campus and the surrounding lowlands. Integrated farming combines rice with fish in trenches and dugouts, horticultural crops on the embankments and duck, pig or poultry components. Existing carp-based polyculture ponds yield 3,500 to 4,500 kg per hectare and can be improved, with the low output attributed to imbalanced stocking densities, poor-quality seed, insufficient supplementary feeding and poor water management. Other options include monoculture of climbing perch, nursery rearing of spawn to fingerlings, ornamental fish production, biofloc technology, recirculating systems and freshwater pearl culture. In the wetlands, which make up 50% of India's total and where catches have fallen, culture-based fisheries with cage and pen culture are preferred.
]]>Fish supply about 60% of the animal protein eaten in Bangladesh, and almost all of the fry stocked in the country's ponds now come from hatcheries rather than from the wild. That shift rests on induced breeding: hormone treatment that brings carp into spawning condition, producing the seed farmers need as it is required.
A first-hand account from a commercial hatchery in Jashore follows carp breeding through a full production cycle, from the brood ponds to bags of fry loaded onto a truck. It explains why hormones are needed, how brood fish are conditioned and selected, application of common inducing agents, and how spawning, incubation and early rearing are managed. It also looks at what limits hatchery performance in practice, where poor record-keeping, unclear broodstock lineage and everyday problems such as power cuts affect the quality of the seed farmers receive.
]]>A beautiful PDF poster by Tienthavorn et. al on the "Diversity of Mountain stream fishes in Moei and Khwae Yai River Basin, Tak Province, Thailand" is available to download from the link below. According to the authors, "Fish surveys were conducted at 30 sampling stations, yielding at a total of 77 species belonging to 46 genera, 17 families and 9 orders. The Khwae Yai river basin contained 31 species representing 23 genera, 15 families, 8 orders. In contrast, the Moei river basin contained 54 species representing 42 genera, 14 families, and 8 orders."
]]>In this issue:
In Assam and across north-eastern India, the NGO Kalong-Kapili is helping rural families turn unused ponds, wetlands and beels into a source of food and income. Working with ICAR-CIFA, the organisation began in 2007 at Bagibari village and now runs a Field Laboratory and an Aquaculture Field School that train farmers in scientific fish farming, disease management, climate-resilient practices and integrated farming. This article describes how the model has spread to tribal clusters in Borbeel, Lohit and Lower Siang, benefiting hundreds of families through fish farming combined with horticulture, piggery and kitchen gardens.
It also covers Kalong-Kapili's work to empower women through self-help groups, its production of fish seed, and CIFA's outreach scheme reaching forest-dependent communities in West Karbi Anglong. Together these efforts show how aquaculture extension can reduce poverty and malnutrition while building lasting skills in remote regions.
]]>For decades, catfish farming in India stayed marginal for one reason: seed. Consumers preferred catfish and paid more for it, yet most indigenous species depended on wild fry collected from rivers and floodplains. Supply was seasonal and unpredictable, so farmers kept returning to reliable carp.
This article traces how ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture worked over nearly five decades to remove that constraint. Rather than treating breeding as a single step, scientists tackled the whole production system: broodstock nutrition, induced spawning, hatchery design, larval feeding and nursery management. Progress came across species from small bagrid Mystus spp., Rita chrysea, the pabda group Ompok species, the yellow catfish Horabagrus brachysoma, magur Clarias batrachus, singhi Heteropneustes fossilis, Clarias dussumieri, Pangasius pangasius and the predatory, cannibalistic Wallago attu.
The result includes low-cost FRP hatchery units, stage-specific formulated feeds and dependable seed for farmers across many states. It also describes how captive breeding eases pressure on threatened wild stocks and supports conservation alongside aquaculture.
]]>FAO's State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2026 provides data and insights on the current challenges and opportunities shaping the global seafood sector. This edition focuses on the FAO’s "Blue Transformation" strategy, outlining how field projects and policy initiatives contribute to global food security, poverty alleviation, and economic growth.
The report has three main sections:
The publication serves as a factual resource for policymakers, researchers, industry actors, and consumers tracking the development of sustainable aquatic food systems. You can explore the data that SOFIA 2026 is based on in our Aquaculture Statistics Dashboard.
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