Shillong, Aug 30: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Friday said the government is setting up 50 new hatcheries to increase fish production in the state.

“Setting up of 50 new hatcheries is in the process. We are trying to increase the fish production in view that the demand is huge,” Sangma said while replying in the Assembly.

He said of these, 9 hatcheries have already been made functional and 41 will be made functional very soon.

According to him, Meghalaya is facing a shortage of close to 12,000 metric tons of fish, which is around Rs 250 crore.

He said there was a time when Meghalaya was importing almost 75 percent of fish from outside the state. “Today after all the interventions, two-thirds of the fish is being produced in the state. It takes time for us to do it on a larger scale but things are moving in the right direction,” Sangma added.

The chief minister also informed that apart from providing training to improve fish production, the government is also providing seeds upto 5 million.

Around Rs 67 to 72 crore has been spent by the government for improving the fish production during the last two to four years.

Meanwhile, the chief minister also announced the government’s decision to regulate fishing competition in the state.

“We are in the process of regulating. We are preparing the guidelines and we will be consulting the stakeholders (on the matter),” he said.

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