NOIDA: The state of Yamuna’s waters, polluted and bereft of ample oxygen, has forced officials to abandon their plan to release 1.25 lakh fish into the river in Noida. Instead, the three types of freshwater fish – rohu, nain and catla – that were being bred as part of the River Ranching Programme will be let go in Hapur, where the Ganga flows. Officials of the department of fisheries in Gautam Budh Nagar said on Tuesday that the original plan was to release 33,000 fish into the Yamuna in the NCR district by September and eventually meet the 1.25 lakh target. But the oxygen levels in the river water were found to be unsustainable for the fish to survive, prompting the change in plans. “Rohu, Catla and Nain are freshwater fish, and the quality of water and oxygen level play a major role in whether they will survive or not. Keeping this in mind, the directorate of fisheries in Lucknow shifted GB Nagar’s target to leave 1.25 lakh fish in the Yamuna to Hapur district, where they will be released in Ganga river,” said Ravindra Prasad, deputy director of the fisheries department in the district. The central government’s River Ranching Programme, launched last year under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), aims to improve the aquatic ecosystem of rivers in the country. Under this, fish are first bred in hatcheries until they reach 80-100mm in length, and then released into rivers. Around 50km of Yamuna, which enters Noida near the Okhla bird sanctuary from Delhi, flows through the district. The river is considered among the most polluted in India, according to multiple studies, which have found faecal coliform and biochemical oxygen demand (minimum oxygen required by a river to decompose organic matter) far beyond the permissible levels in NCR. Prasad said the population of fish in the Yamuna had “gone down” over the past few years “due to several factors, including fishing activities in the breeding period of monsoon”. “The river water needs to be rejuvenated before two-month-old fish are released into it. That will increase their chances of survival… and it will balance aquatic biodiversity,” he added. Officials from the UP Pollution Control Board were upfront about why the Yamuna water was found unfit for the fish. “Domestic waste, often not treated during discharge, contributes up to 85% of the river’s pollution in the district,” a UPPCB official said on the condition of anonymity. Studies have reached the same conclusion. For instance, data collected by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee in September this year showed that Yamuna waters were cleaner when they entered the city in Wazirabad, but the levels of pollutants rose as the river flowed through the capital despite heavy rains that month. This, they said, indicated that untreated sewage was being released into the river. “It’s unfortunate that plans to rejuvenate aquatic life of Yamuna meet such an end,” said Vikrant Tongad, founder of Social Action for Forest and Environment.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/yamuna-so-polluted-that-noida-wont-release-fish-in-water/articleshow/94798585.cms