INDIANANGLER

Hi guys

Please read article Indian Express dated today 18/06 ref Destroyed Mahseer Fish stock in Badi Himachal Pradesh due to effluent discharge by Industrial units.

Seems that this has been going for a long time and serious damage has been now reported in the newspaper.

Anglers in Himachal and Punjab need to coordinate action on this -
* follow up with the administration on the tests they are conducting on the water and with which labs
* conduct visit to the river and meet the villagers to get on site reports
* keep samples, photographs and maintain proper records of all parameters relating to this issue - including samples of vegetation around as chemical content can also be analysed with the heavy metals present ib vegetation in the banks
* follow up with the DFOs and coordinate action providing support to the DFOs
* follow up with the Pollution Department and check what is going on and what are the rules in discharging water into the river and which units are manufacturing products which have discharge
* provide all such information on an open platform such as this and also directly to the Indian Express to maintain the pressure on the administration to close down all such polluting units

I suggest that group of anglers adopt rivers / lakes / etc in their areas to coordinate monitoring and conservation acitivities.

Without strong action and beliefs - nothing will survive.

man this is so sad!!!

I think the only place my kids will ever see the mahseer is in a glass jar or if they are lucky in a WASI lake!!!

First, on the original post.

Even I did not know there was Mahseer fishing around Baddi [Dist.Solan, HP]. Could you guide us on the specifics of the water body effected.

Second, on Santosh's post.

No, you could have many units capable of pollution in Baddi.

If we can get the specifics then members could send a mail to "HP Environment Protection & Pollution Control Board" at :-

http://hppcb.gov.in/

Has there been any action? If not does anybody have details of who to contact in HP?

I have heard that the Environment Engineer, HP-Env Protection & PCB [HP-EP& PCB] at Baddi has been transferred due to fish deaths in a river. The officer had given a clean chit to industries and then the the seniors at Shimla sent a team to check water discharge quality the same was not OK.

Otherwise, on Mahseer front we need to focus on the stretch of Beas leading upto Pong Dam. If we are able to do something in this stretch we can progress to the next.

On contact details in HP specific to Sport Fishing they are :-

Mr.KB Ralhan [Secretary General- Himachal Angling Association]
E Mail=himachal_angling@yahoo.com, smctrust@bsnl.in.
Phone=01894-232502, 94180-20620.

Well, to be truthful in HP there are a lot of meetings followed by drinks & dinner to plan what to do on the destruction Mahseer/Trout waters but nothing seems to be done at ground level. No time bound road map here.

Hi Ashok...
you gotta kick Mr. A. Bhimbat in his butt for nothing being done!!! he is too busy doing a lot of other hanky panky!!!

The problem seems to be typical - the system can destroy and be a nuisance in a jiffy, but is unable to do good despite good intentions - and anyone who tries to do otherwise is considered impractical.

It seems to me that we are getting somewhere? How many of us our members of an Angling Association? One association that I am a part of is the "Environment & Anglers Association". This society was established by several eminent people who are avid anglers - most of the members have been angling for 50 years and are true conservationists.

Maybe more of us could join this society and then utilize the Society to work on conservation. I feel that individuals will find it difficult to work the system..maybe an institutional mechanism is the way to go..

Anybody interested in the Society, can write to Mr. M.M.Nath at m_m_nath@hotmail.com; he's the secretaryand General Jasbir Singh is the President.

Could you post some more details on the society, its history and work done by its members.

Gentlemen,
I am in appriciation of the efforts by all on this topic , and given time and space "This" pollution battle will be won. this is still small here compared to what happens Haridwar downwards .
I wonder if anyone has thought of our apple orchards up the hills and "Gigantic" quantities of insecticides used there .They all drain into our rivers and hats off to our fish -who survive the onslaught. Mr Ralhan once presented some frightening figures -but the fish still live on and give good sport (in the sense that they are healthy).
Warm Wishes...Ham

The challanges are so many - politicains, corruption, pollution, education et. al. In this forum we must stick to sport fishing, protection of sport fishing waters and promotion of sport fishing. If we can manage this single thing we would have achieved much.