Development of Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture, Jammu and Kashmir

What is the Development of Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture scheme in J&K?

Development of Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture is a centrally sponsored scheme implemented in Jammu and Kashmir by the Department of Fisheries, with directorates at the Tourist Reception Centre in Srinagar and at Nowabad Canal Road in Jammu. The Department of Fisheries describes the scheme as envisaging "the development of Fisheries in natural waters and also for augmenting fish production under controlled conditions i.e. pond Fisheries."

Jammu and Kashmir is landlocked, so the entire fisheries sector here is inland. The scheme therefore has to do two different jobs at once: manage the natural waters, the rivers, lakes and reservoirs from which professional fishermen and Mahigeers earn a living, and build up controlled aquaculture in ponds and raceways in the private sector.

According to the department, the fund pattern of this scheme is 75:25 between the Central and the State government. Central assistance for fisheries across India is now channelled principally through the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), whose components are applied for through the state or union territory fisheries department rather than directly by the beneficiary to the Centre.

What the department has taken up under the scheme

• Carp fisheries, pond-based culture of carps, the mainstay of aquaculture in the Jammu division and the warmer parts of the Kashmir valley.
• Trout fisheries, construction of new trout rearing units and upgradation of existing units to increase rearing and hatching capacity. The department names Tchansar Kulgam and Shopian as units brought under the scheme, and Kutlari, Mammer, Tchawalgam, Margund and Uri among units upgraded to create more rearing space.
• Reservoir fisheries. The Ranjit Sagar reservoir was taken up under the scheme and is open to professional fishermen of the area for fishing on a nominal fee, which the department says generates revenue while giving local fishermen a better earning avenue.
• Recreational and sport fisheries. A recreational fisheries park was established at Gulmarg to promote sport fisheries.
• Ornamental fisheries, upgradation of the fish farm at Doomi Akhnoor so that quality ornamental fish seed is produced and reared for the aquarium at Jammu and for sale to the public for home, office and hotel aquaria.

What has the scheme actually achieved?

The Department of Fisheries publishes a four-year achievements table, which is the most concrete published measure of what the sector delivers:

Trout production rose about 59 per cent in four years, from 1,663 tonnes to 2,650 tonnes, while the count of departmental trout rearing units stayed flat at 51. That gap is the point of the scheme in its current phase, production growth is coming from upgrading capacity and from the private sector, not from the department building more of its own units.

Who is eligible for support under this scheme?

You can be considered if:

• You are a resident of Jammu and Kashmir wanting to set up or expand a fish culture unit, a carp pond, a trout raceway, an ornamental unit or a hatchery.
• You own or hold on lease the land and the water source for the unit, and can produce the revenue record.
• Your site has an adequate and suitable water source. For trout this must be cold, perennial, running water; for carp a pond-feasible site with dependable water suffices.
• You are a professional fisherman or Mahigeer seeking to fish notified natural waters or reservoirs on the department's terms.
• You are a rural educated unemployed young person taking up fish culture. The department has specifically directed assistance for carp units, trout rearing units and low-cost houses at this group under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.

You cannot apply, or your case is not eligible, if:

• You have no land or leasehold and no water source. Every unit under the scheme is site-based, so there is no unit that can be sanctioned in the abstract.
• Your site has no cold running water and you are applying for a trout unit. Most of the plains of the Jammu division are not eligible for trout, though they may well qualify for carp.
• Your site fails the department's physical inspection on water quality, flow or feasibility grounds.
• The annual target for your district or division is exhausted for the financial year.

How to apply for assistance under Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture in J&K

1. Identify your site and water source and be clear whether you are applying for a carp unit, a trout rearing unit, an ornamental unit or a hatchery, since the technical requirements differ completely.
2. Visit the Assistant Director Fisheries of your district, or the Joint Director of your zone, and ask for the current year's components and targets. Contact numbers for every district office are published on the department's Contact Us page.
3. Prepare a project report or unit estimate covering the pond or raceway dimensions, water source, seed and feed requirement and expected production. District fisheries staff help prepare this — the department's Fisheries Training and Extension work exists precisely to provide technical know-how to fish farmers.
4. Submit the application with the revenue record for the site, Aadhaar, bank passbook and the project report to the Assistant Director Fisheries.
5. Allow the site inspection. Departmental officers verify the water source, flow and feasibility before a unit is sanctioned.
6. Execute the unit to the specification sanctioned, and draw fish seed and feed from the department. The department produces trout feed at its own feed mill and sells fish seed to progressive fish farmers at a nominal price.
7. Take the training offered. The department organises training programmes under Fisheries Training and Extension to motivate and equip new entrants.

How is fish seed supplied and stocked?

Two departmental projects anchor trout seed supply. The Mother Trout Fish Farming Project at Kokernag, established under European Union assistance, and the trout hatchery at Laribal, which produces quality seed of rainbow trout and brown trout. The department states that these two projects together have the capacity to produce more than 3 million eggs per year, and that a highly equipped trout feed mill imported from Holland allows it to produce quality trout feed for a better conversion ratio.

For natural waters, stocking runs through Mission Fingerling. The department stocks fish seed of fingerling size, above 70 mm, in natural water bodies, man-made water resources and private fish rearing units. Stocking is normally conducted from March onwards in the Jammu division and as prevailing environmental conditions allow in the Kashmir division. The reason for the 70 mm threshold is survival: larger seed survives better, feeds more efficiently and grows faster, which raises the eventual catch for fishermen.

Trout was introduced to Kashmir long before any of this. The department's own history records that the first batch of 10,000 trout ova arrived from the United Kingdom in 1899 and perished en route, and that a second shipment arrived in good condition from Scotland on 19 December 1900, including 1,800 fry, of which 1,000 were transferred to Panzagam Dachigam near Srinagar.

What else runs alongside this scheme?

The Department of Fisheries lists a set of centrally sponsored schemes operating together in the sector, and it helps to know which is which when you walk into a district office:

• Development of Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture. This scheme, 75:25 centre-state.
• PM's Package for creation of employment opportunities; introduced in 2004-05, funded 75:25, under which the department established 481 ponds against a target of 410 and provided seed, feed, equipment and training to fish farmers.
• Fisheries Training and Extension: technical know-how for progressive fish farmers, training programmes for unemployed youth, and fish seed at nominal price.
• National Welfare Scheme for Fishermen: low-cost houses and group accident insurance for registered professional fishermen, covered separately.
• Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY): introduced in the sector in 2009-10, providing financial assistance for carp units, trout rearing units and low-cost houses to rural educated unemployed youth.

Trout angling is administered separately. The department issues trout angling permits online for the season, with booking at angling.jkfisheries.co.in and a mobile application on the Play Store. The 2026 angling season opened on 2 April 2026. Angling permits are a recreational licence, not a livelihood benefit under this scheme.

Common reasons an application does not go through

• No revenue record for the proposed site in the applicant's name or a registered lease.
• Water source inadequate or seasonal, which is fatal for a trout unit and usually fatal for a year-round carp unit too.
• Site inspection fails on water quality, gradient or flow.
• Target exhausted for the district or division in that financial year.
• Incomplete project report, particularly where seed and feed requirement and the water budget are not worked out.

Where to get help

• Directorate of Fisheries, Kashmir, Tourist Reception Centre (TRC), Srinagar

190001. Phone 0194-2500092, 0194-2500106, 0194-2500124. Email jkfd-kmr@jk.gov.in.

• Directorate of Fisheries, Jammu, Nowabad Canal Road, Jammu. Phone 0191-2951670. Email jkfd-jmu@jk.gov.in.
• Joint Directors: South Kashmir 0194-2504415, North Kashmir 0194-2504506, Central Jammu 0191-2490949.
• Assistant Directors at district level, Srinagar 0194-2481969, Budgam 01951-255232, Anantnag 01932-227572, Kupwara 01955-252336, Pulwama 01933-241316, Baramulla 01954-222470, Shopian 01933-260232, Ganderbal 0194-2416176.
• Department website, fisheries.jk.gov.in, which carries the citizen charter, the telephone directory and the list of trout beats.

Applications and departmental fish seed are handled by the district fisheries offices directly. No agent is needed, and unit sanction is a departmental decision recorded against a district target.