Bhubaneswar: Odisha has rolled out a new fishery policy to increase fish production which would create employment opportunities for over two lakh people, an official said on Friday.

‘The Odisha Fishery Policy 2015’ endorsed by the state cabinet led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik aims to enhance the annual fish production in the state by 2020 to 7.15 lakh tonnes from the present 4.13 lakh tonnes.

“This will create additional employment for over two lakh people,” the state’s Fishery Department secretary Bishnupada Sethi told IANS. Odisha is the first state in India to announce a special policy for its fishery sector, he said.

The new policy has highlighted the need for the improvement of riverine fisheries resources through river ranching. The government will take up regular stock enhancement programmes in selected reservoirs for enhancing the reservoir fish productivity, he said.

Similarly, unused and unproductive waterlogged areas, dead rivers will be developed into fish ponds. Use of pellet fish feed will be promoted with suitable incentives for increasing the aquaculture productivity, he said.

According to the new policy, brackish water aquaculture clusters with basic infrastructure such as inlet and outlet channels, road connectivity, electricity, ice plants, and cold storages will be encouraged and promoted by the government, Sethi said.

The government will take up modernization and shore based infrastructure development of fishing harbour to boost marine fish production, he said.

As the state’s marine fish production is hovering between 1.20 and 1.30 lakh tonnes, efforts will be made to exploit untapped deep sea fishery resources.