Wildlife conservation encompasses all human activities and efforts directed to preserve wild animals from extinction. It involves both protection and scientific management of wild species and their environment. Some species have become extinct due to natural causes, but the greatest danger to wildlife results from the activities of man.

So we ourselves have created the need for conservation of wildlife. It can be viewed from several angles such as, beauty,, economic value, scientific values for research and values for snivel. The main causes of extinction of wild lives are poaching, enumerable animals and birds are hunted for meat, skin, ivory, horns etc. ruthlessly.

Hence, National Wildlife Action Plan has been adopted in 1983 for wildlife conservation. Many sanctuaries and National Parks have been established for the protection of dwindling wildlife.

Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks:

Wildlife Sanctuaries are places where the killing and capturing of any animal is prohibited except under order of the authorities concerned.

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National parks are set up for preserving flora, fauna, landscapes and historic objects of an area.

At present, protected area network comprises 398 sanctuaries and 69 national parks covering four per cent of the total geographic area of the country. It is proposed to be increased to 4.6 per cent (1% National Parks and 3.6% sanctuaries) by setting up more sanctuaries and parks. A list of some well known wildlife sancturies and national parks of is given in the table.

List of some well known Wildlife Sancturies and National Parks in India

SI. No.

Name of Sanctuary National Park

Place/ State

Area (Sq.Kms

Wildlife .) Conserved

1.

Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary

SibasaaAssam

430

Rhinocerus, elephant, wild buffalo, bison, tiger, leopard, sloth bear, sambhar, pelican, stork, eagle.

2.

Manas Wildlife Sanctuary and Tiger Reserve

Kamrup Assam

540

Tiger, panther, wild dog, bear, rhinoceros,

gaur, golden angur etc.

3.

Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary

Jalpaiguri West Bengal

65

Rhinoceros, gaur, elephant, tiger, leopard, deer, birds adrepriles.

4.

Kolameru Bird Sanctuary

Tadepallegudum Andhra Pradesh

—

A breeding place for pelican and other visiting marine birds.

5.

Chilika Lake

Chilika, Orissa

100

Waterfowl, duck, cranes, ospreys, golden plover, sandiper, stone curlews, flamingoes, etc.

6.

Vendant Hangal Bird Sanctuary

Madras Tamilnadu

0.30

Flamingoes, pelicans black buck, chitals, vvildboars.

7.

Point Calimer Wildlife Sanctuary

Thanjavur Tamirnadu

0.30

Panther, tiger, sambhar, chitals.

8.

Mundanthurai Sanctuary

Tirunelveli Tamilnadu

520

Elephants, gaurs, sambhar,leopards,ack Nilgirilangur, grey hornbill,egret

9.

Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary

Periyar,

Kerala

777

-Elephant, gaurs, sambhar, leopards, black nilgirillangur, grey hornbill, egret.

10.

Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary

Bharatpur Rajasthan

29

Cormorants, Spoonbils, whiteibis, Indian darters, egrets, open billed stork, geese, duck, Siberian cranes, deer, black duck, pythopri. blue bull wild boar

11.

Palamau National

Park

Dattongunj

West Bengal

345

Tiger, panther, sloth

bear, elephant, chital, gaur, nilgar, chinkara, leopard, deer, birds adrepriles.

chowsingha.

12.

Hazaribagh

National Park

Hazaribagh,

Bihar

184

Wild board, sambhar, Nilgai, tiger, leopard. Hyena, gaur etc.

13.

Similipal National park

Similipal, Orissa

2750

tiger, tiger, elephant, deer, chital, peafowl, talking myma,

sambhar, panther, gaur, hyena and both bear.

14

Guindy National

Park

Madras

Tamil nadu

—

Albinos or black

duck, chitals.

15

Kanha National

Park

Banjar Valley

Madhya Pradesh

940

Tiger, chital, panther,

sambhar, black duck etc.

16

Tanoba National

Park

Chandrapur

166

Tiger, sambhar, sloth bear, barking deer, blue bull, chinkara,

bison, pea fows etc.

17.

Corbett National

Park

Nainital, U.P.

525

Tiger, panther, sloth bear, hyaena, elephant, blue

deer, barking deer, Indian antelope, procupine,

pecker barbet, crocodile, python etc.

bull swamp

bulbul, wood

The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 is implemented throughout India except J & K for wild life conservation and protection of endangered species. J & K has its own Wildlife Protection Act.

Project Tiger:

‘Project Tiger’, a centrally sponsored scheme, was launched in April 1, 1973 to save tigers. It is one of the world’s most successful projects for conservation of tigers. Presently there are 45,334 of tigers surviving in 18 tiger reserves in 13 States, covering over 28, 017 sq. kms. Various steps have been initiated to protect tigers. A tiger cell has been set up to collect data.

Hunting is strictly prohibited and eco-development programmes have been initiated to increase tiger population. Along with tigers, the flora, fauna or the biodiversity as a whole is able to be conserved. Hence Project Tiger has set an example for environmental conservation. The ‘Project Elephant’ is an outcome of the success story of the ‘Project Tiger’.

Project Elephant:

The Asian elephant, which has shared a special bond with men since time immemorial, is now facing an uncertain future. Hence “Project Elephant” has been formulated in 1992 by the Ministry of Environment and Forests to protect the elephants in India. It covers in principles the entire elephant population of the country.

However, eleven elephant reserves have been identified us priority areas for special attention and financial assistance under this project. At present, India holds the largest number of Asian elephants with 20,000 to 24,000 in wild and nearly 3,000 in captivity.

Fisheries:

Fisheries in India are comprised either inland or marine. The rivers and their tributaries, canals, ponds, lakes and reservoirs are the main sources for the inland fisheries. The rivers extend over about 17,000 miles and to these subsidiary water channels comprise 70,000 miles.

The Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean are responsible for total marine resources. Indian fish production has a steady increase from 7.52 lakh tones in 1950-51 to 41.57 lakh tonnes in 1991-92. But this production is far from adequate. It is only 9 per cent of the total supply of fish in Asia whereas Japan alone contributes to the extent of 43 per cent and China coming next, to about 18 per cent. We have the vast fishery resources of 6,500 km. coastline and about 2.12 million lives in 2,408 villages draw their livelihood. The numbers of fishermen engaged in direct fishing are 4.7 lakhs.

So the resources are vast, but we cannot be able to exploit it properly. Hence during the sixth plan, the fisheries programme is given special attention to family based business. Much emphasis has been given on inland and brackish water fisheries and improving the harvesting from seas by stimulating the growth of country boats, mechanized boats and deep sea trawlers.

Development of Fisheries:

Fisheries play an important role in the economy of the country. Increase in foreign exchange earning, generating employment, augmenting food supply and raising international value by adding proteins to the food are the important contributions of fisheries. Hence the Government of India has embarked on various programmes for mechanization and modernization of the fishing industry, considering the imperative task of improving the socio-economic conditions of nearly two million fisher folks.

The emphasis has been shifted from heavy infrastructure and industry to more comprehensive programmes, aimed at providing basic services to the fishing community and achieving better income distribution within these. In terms of projects design, much attention was given in all the sectors, both traditional and new, to income distribution and employment, development of local resources and institutions, training of personnel and R & D efforts.

Inland Fisheries:

Inland fisheries is an important rural economic activity, catering to the domestic market and giving gainful employment for over 1.75 million persons. Projections of domestic demand of fish form 12.5 million tonnes to 20 million tones by the turn of the century have been made. But a lot of constraints have been observed during last two’ decades that bring stagnation and a steady decline in fisheries.

The degradation of fish habitat, the excessive flow of industrial, urban and agricultural wastes into the river water and the consequent deterioration in quality and overfishing are the important ones. Hence drastic steps are to be taken to rectify the situation.

During the fifth plan, the Govt. of India sponsored Fish Farmers Development Agencies (FFDA) to popularize fish farming in tanks and ponds. There are 147 FFDAs functioning in 17 States, bringing about 101 thousand hectares of water area under intensive fish culture and there is a target of increasing in fish yield from 50 kgs per hectare in 197 1 to 3000 kgs per hectare by the erid of this century.

The three major areas of inland fisheries; reverie fisheries, reservoir fisheries and aquaculture have positive potential for expansion. A properly planned, development programme encompassed under a national fisheries policy, could aim at achieving a four to five folds increase in production from the present level of a million tones in the coming decade.

Marine Fisheries:

High priority is being given continuously to the development of marine fisheries. The programme of mechanization of fishing crafts, providing subsidy up to 33 per cent of the cost of vessels to fishermen, permitting use of foreign fishing vessels and joint ventures, constructing 23 minor fishing harbors and 96 fish landing centers apart from four major fishing harbors i.e. Cochin, Madras, Vishkhapatnam and Roychowk for landing and breathing and developing proper facilities for preservation are the major steps taken to intensify the marine fish production.

India has vast potential of marine fishing resources comparing 20 lakh sq. kms. Of Exclusive Economic Zone for deep sea fishing.

If proper developmental programmes based on latest technologies are adopted sincerely, it can bring about a quantum jump in fish production.

Brackish Water Aquaculture:

Utilization of country’s vast brakish water resource for fish and prawn culture is the main objective of this scheme. Aquaculture in about one million hectares of brakish water, at the production rate of two tone’s a hectare, can produce two million tones of prawns. At a price of Rs.100 a kgs, this would yield Rs. 20,000 crores and can employ four million persons.

Role of Fisheries in Rural Development:

At policy, planning and executive levels, the Centre and State Governments have accepted that fisheries can play an important role in rural development and generating employment in the hinterland. This places greater responsibilities of fishery institutes, fishery scientists, technicians and banks. It is necessary to select a few thrust areas such as reproduction and fish genetics to develop hybrids which have desired traits for reproduction, disease control and higher food conversion ratio.

Fisheries development in rural areas needs simple technique, low investment and quick return. Adoption of this approach by banks to give institutional finance, can help in reversing the current trend in which the Government controls the major production resources and the fishermen and entrepreneurs contribute to exploitation and marketing only. This will help in bringing about an exponential growth in fish production and generate income and employment.

In this change, bank officials can render valuable service by understanding, evaluating and supporting the schemes which are commercially viable making way for sustained development of the fishery resources in the rural areas, putting an end to the migration of the rural people to urban areas.

Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA):

Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA), a unit of ICAR had its beginnings in the Central Inland Fisheries Research Substation, Cuttack in 1949, which was later upgraded to Freshwater Aquaculture Research and Training Centre (FARTC) in 1976, shifted to Kausalyaganga near Bhubaneswar in 1980 and was given a status of an independent institute in the seventh plan on 1 April, 1987.

It is considered as a Regional Lead Centre on Carp Farming under the FAO/UNDP Network of Aquaculture Centers in Asia (NACA). The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Department of Non-conventional Energy Sources (DNES), World Bank/ NARP (Phase-Ill) NORAD, NABARD have funded this institution in several programmes and schemes in development of aquaculture.

Objectives:

The new Institute has the following objectives:

(1) To conduct research, more specially in fish nutrition, physiology, genetics, pathology, pond environment monitoring and aquaculture engineering.

(2) To conduct specialized training and extension programmes in freshwater aquaculture to enable economic utilisation of the cultured and cultivable fresh water aquatic resources in the country.

Facilities:

The Institute has its headquarters at Kausalyaganga, 12 kms. From Bhubaneswar, is located an sprawling 147 hac. with a building complex comparing 40 laboratories, conference room, library, aquarium, hatcheries, feed mill, wet laboratory, auditorium and a fish farm with about 50^ponds including 5 reservoirs, 15 stocking ponds, 51 rearing ponds, 166 nursery ponds and 253 experimental ponds.

Production Division:

The Division has been endeavoring to maximize the production rates of fish and shell fish, i.e. carps, catfishes, prawns and fresh water pearl cultures.

Available technologies:

CIFA can provide consultancies to the entrepreneurs in the following areas:

1. Carp breeding and hatchery management.

2. Intensive carp culture.

3. Catfish breeding and culture.

4. Freshwater prawn breeding and culture.

5. Freshwater pearl culture.

6. Fish feed formulation and production.

7. Fish diseases diagnosis and control.