Perspectives and Applications of Indigenous Small Fish in India: An Introduction

This contributed volume covers all aspects of small indigenous fish for nutritional and livelihood security. The availability, descriptions and identification of common small indigenous fish provides potential and prospects of fish production from inland open water system. In addition, individual chapters are added on growth, feeding, diseases and health management of these small fishes. Essential information is provided on packaging and transport of these fishes. Specific chapters provide information on nutritional value of fishes, value addition and product development by using small indigenous fish species in different regions of the country. Further topics include small fishes of ornamental value, indigenous technical knowledge, climate change impact, conservation and management of small indigenous fish diversity. This book supports the academicians, farmers, entrepreneurs and fisheries professionals involved in gaining the knowledge and skills needed to contribute in nutritional and livelihood security of the nation.

Dr. Archana Sinha, Head, Division of Aquatic Environmental Biotechnology, ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CIFRI), Kolkata, India has working experience of 34 years in the field of fisheries and aquaculture research, education and extension. She completed several externally funded and in-house research projects and developed technology for fisheries and aquaculture, especially in fish breeding and culture, fish feed technology, open water fish culture practices and management. She has organized more than 100 short-term training programs on fish breeding and culture including fish feed technology for unemployed youth, women, farmers and entrepreneurs for the development of fisheries and aquaculture. She has published 100+ research papers in national and international journals, five books, and several technical and training manuals.

Dr. Aparna Roy of Agriculture Research Service (ICAR-CIFRI) has been a creative field worker and is well-known in the field of fisheries extension and training in India. Her work in Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) basin is quite noteworthy. She has worked on small fishes to boost livelihood and nutritional security and prepared a roadmap to establish model nutri-smart village in deltaic Sundarban. She has worked on the livelihood mapping of Ganga basin and livelihood improvement initiatives in sagar island of the Indian Sundarbans for tribals and women. Presently, she is working for empowering women of wetland-dependent fisherfolk community of lower Gangetic plain through cost-effective technologies. She is also working in a collaborative project with Worldfish on ’small scale fisheries in wetlands for livelihood and nutritional security’ covering both Ganga and Brahmaputra basin. Dr. Roy has several publications including 34+ research papers and more than seventy extension publications either authored or co-authored.

Mr. Pranab Gogoi is a fisheries graduate. He did his masters in the discipline of fisheries resource management from ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai. He is presently working as a scientist in the Division of Riverine Estuarine Fisheries at ICAR-CIFRI, Kolkata, India. His area of research is riverine and estuarine ecology with ecohydrological interactions of biotic community therein. Mr. Gogoi has published more than 30 research papers in peer-reviewed research journals of national and international repute. Besides these he has also contributed to various book chapters and popular articles in the field of inland fisheries management.