Hyderabad, April 10: The Government has issued fresh guidelines for regularisation of new freshwater aquaculture units.
By a GO it has directed the farmers of unregistered and new aquaculture units to submit their applications on or before May 31.
According to the new guidelines, the farmers should have a clear title of land. Fertile agricultural lands shall not be permitted for conversion into freshwater aquaculture ponds except in cases where agricultural lands are less productive, fallow, low-lying and prone to waterlogging. No freshwater aquaculture farm shall be permitted using water drawn from borewells except for supplementing the evaporation/seepage of water in the pond during culture period.
Only the fish/prawn species, as permitted in the AP State Aquaculture Seed (Quality Control) Act, 2006, shall be permitted for culture. All the existing unregistered freshwater aquaculture farmers shall register their farms with the District Fisheries Officer concerned within the time limit fixed by the government.
–Agencies