Introduced by a Scotsman in Kashmir 118 years ago, Trout farming has become a major economic activity with the establishment of 533 units in the private sector apart from trout beats set up in 142 rivers, streams and lakes of the state.
Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has recorded nearly 600 tons oftrout production in the last financial year.
“J&K has setup 533 units of trout farms in privatesector. There are 59 trout rearing units and hatcheries”, Director,Fisheries department of J&K, R N Pandita said.
Not only this, trout farming has been practised in over 142rivers, streams and lakes in Jammu and Kashmir.
“There are about 150 fishing beats spread over 40streams with an aggregate length of 500 km, besides, there are 12 high altitudelakes ranging from 8,000 feet to 12,000 feet above the sea level having BrownTrout,” Pandita said.
The first batch of Trout ova of 10,000 eggs arrived from theUK in 1899 with the courtesy of Duke of Bedford, to whom the Kashmir Maharajapresented an excellent Kashmir stag trophy through Sir Adelbert Talbot, BritishResident at Srinagar.
“Kashmir’s trout fisheries history goes back to 1898 when MrMitchel, a Scotsman, introduced trout for the first time in Kashmir with thehelp of Pandit Sodhama Miskeen and Khwaja Gafarjoo. The fish seed was obtainedfrom England. Half of it perished in transit because there were no airplanesthose days and sea route was the only option,” environmentalist and formereducationist B L Koul said.
He said from Mumbai (then Bombay) the seed had to be carriedfirst by rail up to Rawalpindi and, then by bus to Srinagar in containers ofwater.
“The water had to be changed frequently. The firstattempt failed but subsequent attempt in 1900 to breed trout succeeded,”Koul added.
The Maharaja of Kashmir was then approached and a Departmentof Fisheries with Mitchel as director and Pt Sodhama as an inspector came intoexistence.
The initially seed farms in Kashmir were established andtrout beats were established in streams such as, Lidder, Sindh, Ferozpurnullah, Madhumati, Kishenganga nullahs, Chenab and other streams of Jammuprovince. Many lakes and springs like Gangabal, Verinag were also used to stocktrout fish.
The trout fishing of Kashmir had become a great touristattraction by twenties and thirties of the last century, the Maharaja ofKashmir was requested by many princely states to supply seed and expertise tothem for the introduction of trout in their fast running streams-a preconditionfor trout to thrive, Prof Koul said, “Thus, Pt Sodhama travelled toNilgiris in the South and Himachal (then part of Punjab) and UttaraKhand (thenpart of Uttar Pradesh) and Muree (now in Pakistan) to introduce trout fishthere”, he said.
The department undertakes brood stock management to achievebetter fertilization during spawning. “These two projects have thecapacity to produce more than 3 million eggs per year. The department hasestablished a net work of 59 trout rearing units and hatcheries across thestate and, more units are coming up”, Pandita said.
The beautiful geographical variations of Jammu and Kashmir,along the course of each river and lake, offer endless possibilities foranglers, he said.”The various waterways, crisscrossing thestate, are important fishing retreats rich in trout. The state of Jammu andKashmir is known as a paradise for fishing enthusiasts”, he said.