The inaugural function of the two-day training workshop on ‘Assessment of IUCN Red List status of Freshwater fishes from selected Northeast States of India’, organised by the Department of Zoology, Manipur University (MU), was held on Tuesday at The Castle Hotel, Palace Compound, Imphal.
Speaking on the occasion, assistant professor of Zoology department, MU, Rameshori Yumnam, highlighted that the workshop was organised as a part of the Indo-German NERAQ Project to assess sustainable utilization of aquatic resources in four North Eastern states of India (Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya).
Rameshori further pointed out that assessment and threat category analysis of endemic fish species in Manipur will also be conducted during the workshop.
“A similar project was conducted in 2010 at Nepal to assess the conditions of diverse freshwater fish species in the Eastern Himalaya stretch; this time, the project will be conducted state wise to mete out suitable priority conservation measures for threatened fish species in the respective states,” she added.
The professor mentioned that 25 per cent of fish species could not be assessed properly in the 2010 project due to data deficiency. But the project revealed the North East region of India as the most threatened area for numerous fish species, she added.
“The findings of the project mentioned that Ngatup (Schistura manipurensis), Ngakha meiganbi (Pethia manipurensis) are two of the most threatened fish species in Manipur while the state fish Pengba (Osteobrama belangeri) was included in the ‘likely to be extinct in the wild’ category,” she said.
She further claimed that out of nearly 200 fish species in Manipur most of the species are falling into the ‘threatened’ category.
Rameshori noted that anthropogenic activities, habitat destruction and over exploitation of certain fish species in the state had led to the alarming situation. She also stated that the final report of the assessment project of fish species in the state will be published by the end of 2023.
Principal chief conservator of Forests and head of Forests force, Manipur AK Joshi; former vice chancellor of Central Agricultural university M Premjit singh, dean of School of Life Sciences, Manipur University professor R Varatharajan; head of Department of Zoology professor Th Binoy singh along with experts from IUCN Red List authority were present during the inaugural function.
