Shimla, Sep 22 (NationPress) In a remarkable achievement, the Fisheries Department of Himachal Pradesh has successfully bred a staggering 87,000 golden mahseer fingerlings in captivity, a fish renowned for its role in both sport and cuisine. The Director-cum-Warden of Fisheries, Vivek Chandel, announced on Monday that 34,500 of these fingerlings have already been released back into their natural habitat.

The fingerlings were cultivated at the Machhyal Mahseer Farm, which was founded in 2016. Up until this year, the annual yield had never surpassed 5,000 fingerlings.

From the total of 87,000 fingerlings, 20,000 were introduced into the Pong dam reservoir and 14,500 into the Gobind Sagar reservoir.

The golden mahseer population, a popular game fish, has been on a decline in the state due to various factors such as dam construction, pollution, overfishing of breeding and juvenile fish, introduction of non-native species, and habitat degradation. The Fisheries Department believes that releasing these fingerlings will help rejuvenate their population.

For its groundbreaking conservation efforts aimed at this critically endangered species through a captive breeding initiative, the department received the esteemed SKOCH Gold Award – 2025, presented on September 20 during a ceremony in New Delhi.

The golden mahseer is recognized as the state fish in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir. Over the decades, its numbers have drastically decreased.

To combat this, the Fisheries Department initiated a scientifically-backed captive breeding program. In 2023, they launched a targeted campaign to boost production in partnership with the ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI) located in Bhimtal, Uttarakhand, the nation’s only cold-water fisheries research institute.

Chandel, along with the nodal officer, visited ICAR-CIFRI Bhimtal to pinpoint areas needing improvement, and their reform efforts yielded impressive results. In 2024–25, the Machhyal farm produced 87,000 fingerlings.

The state government now plans to cultivate fingerlings at a newly established fish farm in Sunni, located in the Shimla district. This initiative aims to address immediate threats to the species in the wild while ensuring a sustainable source for long-term revival efforts.

The golden mahseer is crucial for maintaining ecological balance in aquatic environments and is highly coveted by anglers. In 2024–25, over 3,700 anglers visited Himachal Pradesh, contributing to eco-tourism. This fish is prevalent in the cold waters of the Beas, Sutlej, and their tributaries, as well as in key reservoirs like Pong, Gobind Sagar, and Kol dams. Additionally, it offers high nutritional value and significantly supports local fishermen’s livelihoods.

With successful outcomes from the conservation program, the department anticipates that fingerling production will exceed one lakh this year, according to Chandel. Fish production rose from 17,025.97 metric tons in 2022-23 to 19,019.83 metric tons in 2024-25. Similarly, reservoir fish production increased from 549.35 metric tons in 2022-23 to 748.76 metric tons in 2024-25.

The mahseer, known as the longest-living freshwater fish, is indigenous to mountainous and sub-mountainous regions and belongs to the Tor genus. The Pong Dam reservoir, approximately 250 km from Shimla and 190 km from Chandigarh, hosts a robust population of the golden mahseer.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)