RESTORING INDIGENOUS FISH STOCKS IN RIVER GANGA THROUGH SCIENTIFIC RIVER RANCHING

For much of the past century, the Ganga has carried more than water.

- TDG NETWORK

It has sustained livelihoods, fed communities, and anchored a dense web of biodiversity along its course. In recent decades, however, the river's native fish have thinned - casualties of habitat degradation, altered flow regimes, pollution and relentless, often unregulated fishing pressure.Over the last 10 years, a quieter effort has been underway to reverse that decline. Under the Government of India's Namami Gange Programme, the ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CIFRI) has carried out a large-scale programme of scientific river ranching - an intervention designed not merely to restock the river, but to restore its ecological balance.

Between 2017 and 2025, ICAR-CIFRI organised 169 river ranching programmes across ecologically critical stretches of the Ganga and its tributaries. In that period, 205.5 lakh seeds of indigenous fish species were released into selected river segments. The emphasis has remained firmly on native species conservation, preservation of genetic integrity, and the long-term sustainability of riverine fisheries.

To improve survival rates after release, the institute stocked the river with fingerlings and advanced fingerlings measuring 10-15 centimeters in length, with an average body weight of 100-120 grams. These were not generic hatchery fish. The seed were artificially bred from wild brooders collected directly from the Ganga, a step intended to safeguard native genetic lines. Before release, the fish were reared under controlled hatchery and nursery conditions to enhance their adaptability in natural waters.

The spatial distribution of these efforts reveals a deliberate strategy. Ranching was concentrated in stretches where ecological value and livelihood dependence intersect most sharply.

State-wise distribution of the 169 interventions during the reporting period shows:

• West Bengal: 68% • Bihar: 17% • Uttar Pradesh: 9% • Jharkhand: 5% • Uttarakhand: 1%