Increasing pollution in rivers like Mahanadi, Ang and Suktel has hit freshwater fish production in Subarnapur district.
According to experts, the presence of toxic waste has affected aquatic life in the three rivers in the district. To add to the problems, fishermen are blasting portions of the rivers regularly to catch fish in large quantities at a time. As a result, reproduction of fish has been hit in these days.
There are 3,779 water bodies under various gram panchayats in the district. This apart, there are 102 water bodies under the control of Revenue Department, 572 private water bodies and the Hariharjor Water Irrigation Project.
While these water bodies have been filled with silt and wild vegetation over the years, the concerned authorities are not cleaning them.
Thus, water holding capacity has gone down drastically. As per the report of the State Government, the district produces around 8,000 tonne of fresh water fish and 50 tonne of fresh water prawns. The quantum is not enough to meet the local demand of 12,000 tonne.