Gusheinzed Waikhom

India and its neighboring countries in South-East Asia are home to rich genetic resources of freshwater fishes. They are widely distributed in inland water bodies and are highly favoured for commercial farming. The reasons for the popularity of carps in aquaculture include enormity of resources and good range of varieties for selection, relatively simple and well-tested culture techniques etc. Apart from the fast growing exotic and Indian major carps, a large diversity of indigenous species, an important component of aquatic biodiversity, are found in the different freshwater bodies in the Indian region of the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot supporting commercially important capture and culture fisheries. Considering these facts, the research programme of the division is currently focused on “development of induced breeding techniques for indigenous fishes of North-East India and genetic improvement through selective breeding”.