Scorching heat has adversely affected fish population in water bodies of Jajpur district with thousands of hybrid fish species having died of shock due to high temperatures in the past few days.
The water level of many ponds and other water bodies has gone down following heavy evaporation creating a serious problem for the survival of fish, said fisherman Nikunja Behera.
Fishermen and pond owners are disturbed by the high death rate of fish and have chalked out plans for netting fish. Some pond owners have also started releasing water from other sources to fill up the dry ponds for the survival of the fish population.
“We are closely monitoring the situation arising out of heat conditions in the ponds and the fishermen have been advised to catch more fish from the ponds to reduce the population of fish,” said a fishery official.
According to the assistant district fishery officer, high breed fish like Magur, Jalanga, Bhakura, Siapinas, Chinaputi and other species could not bear excess heat, resulting in large scale deaths.
He said during monsoon period, many high yielding varieties of fish perish due to the heavy downpour. Certain types of fish cannot survive shock, whether caused by excessive heat or heavy downpour, he explained.
Bhaskar Behera (45), a fisherman of Nalipur village recently suffered a loss of about Rs 10,000 as thousands of hybrid Magur fish perished last week in his pond measuring an area of one acre. Dead fish varieties are now lying floating on the pond.
In past, the fishermen used to breed only local varieties of fish which can bear the scorching heat. But to earn more money, the fishermen are now breeding hybrid fish. The hybrid fish species are vulnerable to extreme climatic situations, said the fishery official.
Each year during the peak of summer, farmers lose huge sums of money due to death of hybrid fishes. In many villages, several SHG members are breeding ornamental fish varieties with a hope to earn more. But many ornamental fish species have also died recently due to the rising temperature, said district fishermen's association president Anatha Das.
Thousands of aquaculture farmers have also suffered huge losses due to high death rate of shrimps in their farms. According to Prakash Sahoo, a shrimp farmer of lalitagiri, due to shortage of oxygen and high temperatures in the ponds, the shrimps are also dying fast and in large numbers.