Inland Fisheries Society of India organized a National Seminar on "Management Challenges in Fisheries of Rivers and Associated Ecosystems- Issues and Strategies" in collaboration with Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, from 16^th to 17^th April 2005 at Barrackpore. Dr. Mangala Rai, the Secretary DARE, Government of India and Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, inaugurated the seminar in the forenoon of 16th April, 2005. The other dignitaries present were Dr. P. V. Dehadrai former DDG (Fisheries), Dr. S. Ayyappan, DDG (Fisheries) ICAR, Dr. A. K. Bandopadhyay, Vice-chancellor, West-Bengal University of Animal & Fishery Science and Dr. K. K. Vass, President, Inland Fisheries Society of India & Director, CIFRI, Dr.(Mrs.) Sarojini Pillay; Prof. M. N. Kutty, former FAO/UN Expert in Aquaculture & Fisheries; Dr. M. Y. Kamal former Vice-Chancellor SKUAST, Kashmir; Prof. H. P. C. Shetty former Director of Instructions, Mangalore Fisheries College; Dr. S. D. Tripathi former Director CIFE; Dr. P. Das former Director NBFGR, Lucknow; Dr. R. K. Chakraborty, Director River Research Institute, Kolkata; Dr. M. Sinha, former Director CIFRI, presently Advisor Fisheries, Govt. of Tripura; Shri Apurba Ghosh former Director CIFRI; Dr. N. Sarangi, Director CIFA; Prof. N. C. Dutta, former Head, Zoology & Fisheries, Calcutta University; Dr. B. R. Sharma IWMI, New Delhi; Dr. B. P. Das former Water Resources Advisor Govt. of Orissa & consultant to FAO/UN; Prof. Amalesh Choudhury former Head, Marine Sciences, Calcutta University; Prof. S. K. Konar, former Head, Department of Zoology Kalyani University; Prof Brij Gopal, JNU, New Delhi; Prof. R. K. Sinha, Patna University, Prof. A. R. Khudabaksh, Deparment of Zoology, Kalyani University; Prof. B. B. Jana, Department of Zoology, Kalyani University; Dr. T. K. Ghosh, NEERI, Nagpur; Dr. H. K. Sen, Director, CRIJAF, Kolkata; Dr. D. Sarkar, NBSS, Kolkata and about 250 delegates from different part of the country.

Dr. K. K. Vass, President IFSI and Director, CIFRI, welcomed the dignitaries and delegates and presented a brief account of the society's activities, highlighted the scope of the seminar and informed about the Memorial lecture on honour Late Dr. T. V. R Pillay, a great promoter of aquaculture at global level. Dr. S. Ayyappan, DDG (Fy) ICAR, In his presidential address highlighted future thrust areas on inland open-water.

On this occassion Dr. A. K. Bandopadhyay, Dr. P. V. Dehadrai and Dr. S. Ayyappan, DDG (Fy) also gave their valuable remarks on the Seminar theme. The Chief Guest Dr. Mangala Rai released six publications, three in Hindi and three in English, apart from the Seminar Souvenir. On this occassion eminent fishery and aquatic ecologists in the country were conferred Fellowships of Inland Fisheries Society of India (FIFSI). The recipients of the Fellowships were Prof. M. N. Kutty; Prof. Brij Gopal; Prof. S. K. Konar; Shri Apurba Ghosh and Dr. B. N. Saigal.

A poster presentation was also organized and best two presentations were awarded. The recipients were Mr. S. Dasgupta and Mr. A. K. Dutta, CIFA, Rahara and Miss P. Patnaik and Dr. B. C. Jha, CIFRI, Barrackpore. After the inaugural function, Dr. T. V. R. Pillay memorial lecture was delivered by Prof. M. N. Kutty and the function was presided over by Dr. Mangala Rai, DG, ICAR. On this occassion wife of late Dr. Pillay, Mrs. (Dr.) Sarojini Pillay was felicitated by the Inland Fisheries Society of India.

Technical Session:

The issues related to fisheries management in rivers and associated ecosystems were discussed in three technical sessions spread over for two days.

The first session, "River Systems and Water Management" was chaired by Dr. P. V. Dehadrai with Dr. S. D. Tripathi as the co-chairman. Three theme lectures were delivered by Dr. B. R. Sharma of IWMI, New Delhi; Prof. Brij Gopal of JNU, New Delhi and Dr. R. M. Chakraborty of River Research Institute, Kolkata.

Dr. M. Y. Kamal chaired the second session, "Aquatic Resources, Biodiversity And Environment" with Dr. M. Sinha as the co-chairman. There were four theme lectures delivered in this session by Dr. R. K. Sinha of Patna University; Dr. B. P. Das from Orissa; Prof. N. C. Dutta from Kolkata and Dr.(Mrs.) Sangolkar, NEERI, Nagpur.

The third session, "Fisheries Enhancements, Stakeholders and Policies" was chaired by Prof. H. P. C. Shetty with Dr. P. Das as the co-chair person. The four theme speakers were Dr. M. Y. Kamal; Dr. P. V. Dehadrai; Dr. S. D. Tripathi and Dr. M. Sinha.

The Plenary session was chaired by Dr. S. Ayyappan, DDG (Fisheries) and Dr. K. K. Vass as the co-chairman. Dr. Manas Das presented the salient features and recommendations of various technical sessions for discussion and final approval. All the delegates adopted a declaration to "Ensure Water for Ecosystem & Fish" in the Seminar.

Recommendations:

• It is unlikely that any of the existing riverine ecosystems changes are likely to be reserved significantaly and it would imply that the fisheries that are already affected negatively by over fishing and environmental degradation would be placed under increasing pressures.
• It will result in two scenarios either the inland fish from open-waters will decline as a major resource for human diets, or serve as marginal germplasm conservation goals.
• Alternatively fisheries have to continue to provide valuable protein food in appreciable quantities; therefore, some form of intensification of management will have to occur, with a focus on promising species.
• These measures can also only be effective if a holistic approach to fisheries management is adopted, whereby the land and water resources necessary to the fishery are negotiated with other users of river and lake resources.
• An assessment of the status of freshwater ecosystems show that their capacity to provide the full range of goods and services are drastically degraded. Many freshwater species are facing rapid population decline or are threatened, and yields from many open-water fishery resources have dwindled as a result of regulated flows, habitat degradation and pollution.
• In order to sustain the ability of freshwater dependent ecosystems to support food production and biodiversity, environmental flows must be established scientifically, made legitimate and maintained but their understanding and quantification in majority of ecosystems remains poorly understood.
• We will have to do research and evaluate impact on fishery and its biodiversity by building different scenarios of hydrological regimes.
• It will help in developing implementable in-situ and ex-situ technologies to conserve and protect the fish stocks in our river systems by ensuring, natural breeding, habitat restoration and unstressed food-chain.
• We need to work out the desirable and realistic water demand in our river systems to sustain, the biodiversity required for normal ecological functioning and human population sustaining on their onsite and offsite benefits.
• Standardization of the ecosystem based bio-manipulation techniques.
• Alternative strategies have to be formulated to compensate the fish yield decline, from river systems, as far as possible, through ecological management of other manageable open-water ecosystems.
• Introduction of most of the enhancement options will lead to considerable social change with a movement away from open access and public ownership towards controlled access and private control of the resources.
• This will involve recognization of riparian communities, changes in river regulation and participatory approach of all stakeholders, for which necessary policy support needs to be provided.