Himalayan News Service

Baireni (Tanahun), June 5:

The Fish Development Directorate of Balaju, Fish Research Centre of Begnas Lake, and Agriculture Development Office of Tanahun, have released 20,000 fingerlings of Sahar species in the Madi river from Bote village of Baireni. Bishnu Prasad Aryal, chief of district agriculture office, inaugurated the programme by releasing the fingerlings into the river and said the fish are released in the river every year to support the Bote people financially who earn their livelihood by fishing in the Madi river.

Bishnu Bahadur Silwal, technical assistant at the FDD, Balaju, said that apart from helping the Bote people, this would help in preserving the fish species adding fingerlings worth Rs 40,000 have been released. Govinda Adhikary, agriculture promotion executive, said releasing the fish would help conserve environment and maintaining the ecosystem too. The Botes pointed out that though fingerlings are released annually, rampant use of pesticides and electricity has worsened the problem of conserving the fish species. Jeet Bahadur Bote said they fail to net any Sahar species fish despite the fingerlings being released in the river every year. He also called for punishment of people who use pesticides in the river for fishing. It is learnt that the Botes were provided with technical knowledge and proper feed for the fingerlings and 100 kg of feed was also dissolved in the river.