Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma declared on March 6 that the Meghalaya government had allocated Rs 10 crore for the construction of 35 more fish hatcheries in order to increase fish production in the state. There will be 96 hatcheries in Meghalaya after the construction project is finished, which is expected to start soon. Presently, 24.7 million fingerlings are produced yearly by the state’s 61 hatcheries. Fish production in the state has increased from 4,000 metric tons to 20,000 metric tons, demonstrating the efficacy of the aquaculture goal, according to Sangma.
Nevertheless, the state must import 12,000 metric tons to meet consumption needs because the demand is still 32,000 metric tons. The administration intends to start a new aquaculture mission to close this gap, but doing so will need an extra 4,000 hectares of land in order to produce enough fish for the state to be self-sufficient. A budget of Rs 976.82 crore has been approved for the construction of 3,230 fisheries ponds under various projects between 2020 and 2024, according to Fisheries Minister AL Hek.