Not AvailableThe fisheries sector plays a vital role in the food, nutritional and livelihood security of people,
especially in the rural regions of India. Reservoirs, the man made impoundments built on rivers/
streams obstructing the surface flow, form an important resource for the fish production besides
holding up economic growth through various cultural and ecological services. India has enormous
reservoir resources to the tune of 3.42 million ha (19,386 numbers). The distribution of reservoirs is
quite uneven and most of the reservoirs are located in the southern and central Indian states. In the
last few decades, India has made tremendous progress in reservoir fisheries and overall
management strategies have been considerably innovated. The average annual fish productivity
realized from reservoirs was very low (small: 49.9, medium: 12.3 and large: 11.4 kg ha¡1
yr¡1
) against
the annual potential yield of 100, 75, and 50 kg ha¡1
yr¡1
. The fish yield from Indian reservoirs has
enhanced through fingerling stocking and adoption of improved management practices and the
average productivity increased to 33, 94, and 174 kg ha¡1
yr¡1 from large, medium, and small
reservoirs respectively. The production potential has been re-casted to a level of 100, 200, and
500 kg ha¡1
yr¡1 from large, medium and small reservoirs, respectively. The increase in fish
productivity is about one third of the present production potential and there exists scope for
developing effective and sustainable strategies for further enhancing the fish yield. The present
review synthesizes the updated information available on Indian reservoirs and the developments
during the last decade with reference to fisheries, biodiversity, potential, threats, and recommends
strategies for sustainable management of the reservoir fisheries in India.ICA
