Coldwater Fisheries: Pithoragarh Cluster Reviewed Under PMMSY

Dr. Abhilaksh Likhi, Secretary of the Department of Fisheries in the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, chaired a meeting on the Pithoragarh Coldwater Fisheries Cluster at the Collectorate in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand. Trout farmers, officers of the state fisheries department and representatives of ICAR-DCFR Bhimtal, NABARD, NFDB and MPEDA joined in person and online. The meeting reviewed progress under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) and set the road ahead for the Himalayan states.

Where coldwater fisheries sit

India's coldwater fisheries are concentrated in six hilly states and union territories: Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Their glacier-fed rivers, high-altitude lakes and clean streams suit rainbow trout and other high-value coldwater species. To harness this in an organised way, the Centre has notified coldwater fisheries clusters at Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand, Kullu in Himachal Pradesh, Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir and Kargil in Ladakh.

What PMMSY has built

More than 5,600 raceways, 54 hatcheries, 293 cold storages and 260 feed mills have been sanctioned across these states under the scheme. Trout output has risen six-fold in the past decade to nearly 5,000 MT a year, and Uttarakhand made its first international export, to Nepal, in June 2026 with scientific backing from ICAR-DCFR Bhimtal.

The gaps the meeting flagged

Stakeholders pointed to clear weak links in the value chain. Seed is short, with 15 lakh fingerlings produced against a demand of 40 lakh; feed supply is constrained; productivity stands at 250 kg per raceway against a potential of 1,000 kg; and cold chain logistics remain thin. The Secretary called for mini hatcheries, feed mills, refrigerated vans, cold storages and disease surveillance laboratories to close these gaps, and asked that cold storage near airports and railway stations be examined to lift export potential. Farmers, for their part, sought training and a revision of the rate at which trout is supplied to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, citing costly feed.

Livelihoods and the road ahead

The Secretary pressed for eco-tourism, greater participation by women in cutting feed costs, and the entry of start-ups and entrepreneurs into the cluster and into fish-waste utilisation. He proposed a pilot project with the Food and Agriculture Organization at Munsiyari in Pithoragarh, where women trout farmers already run successful units. Rekha Joshi, a fish farmer at the meeting, said her outlet selling value-added products such as fish balls and fish fingers earns about Rs 5,000 a day. Converging PMMSY with the Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund and the state's Trout Protsahan Yojna, he said, can turn coldwater fisheries into a driver of rural prosperity and export competitiveness.