As a part of the recent National Fish Farmers Day 2025 celebrations, ICAR-CCARI Goa organised a Fish Ranching Programme at Shri Shantadurga Temple pond, Kavalem-Ponda, to promote conservation of Small Indigenous Fish species (SIFs) and rejuvenation of temple ponds through community participation.
Over 30 participants including the temple management committee, villagers and school students were present for the event. The event began with a welcome by Trivesh Mayekar, Scientist (FGB) and inaugural address by Dr. Parveen Kumar, Director, ICAR-CCARI, followed by addresses from Santosh Kumar Reddy, IFS, Deputy Conservator of Forests, and Dr. C. U. Rivonker, Goa University.
Lectures on Fish Conservation in Ponds and Temple Ponds and Indigenous Fish Conservation were delivered by Trivesh Mayekar and Dr. Sreekanth G. B., respectively. Over 500 fingerlings from 12 SIF species, including Mola carplet, Malabar danio, Olive barb, Filament barb, and others, were released into the temple pond. The programme was compered by Rahul Kulkarni, ACTO (Soil Science) and coordinated by Trivesh Mayekar, Dr. Sreekanth G. B., and Shri Rahul Kulkarni, with support from Vishwajeet Prajapati, Dilkush Velip, Harshvardhan Shetye, and Suyash Patil.
The initiative reinforced ICAR-CCARI’s commitment to sustainable inland fisheries and biodiversity conservation through community engagement.
