Ornamental Fish Farming and Trade in West Bengal

Practices and Rituals Natural Environment

in Module

Published on: 10 October 2018

Barnamala Roy

Barnamala Roy has a MA in English from Presidency University (Kolkata, India). She has worked as Sub-Editor with Kindle Magazine based out of Kolkata where she covered articles on literature, culture, philosophy, gender and society. An avid bird watcher, bird-keeper and bird photographer, she pens poetry, fictional and non-fictional pieces which have begun to increasingly feature fauna and flora. Currently, she is exploring the community occupations around natural ecosystems and native species in remote areas of West Bengal. She also freelances as editor and translator.

Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai are the chief contributors of ornamental fish farming in India. Of these the Kolkata port (around which the ornamental fisheries are centred in West Bengal) is responsible for exporting 90 per cent of indigenous fish from the country. Notwithstanding the brief history of the ornamental fish industry in post-independent India, the trade supports 500 families solely within the Howrah region. This module explores the breeding, rearing and selling of both indigenous and exotic variety fish which continues to thrive in West Bengal's Nadia, Hooghly, South and North 24 Parganas as well as in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and the North-Eastern Hilly regions.