Coldwater Fisheries Potentials For Development

By Ratna Bir Tamrakar

THE perennial snow-fed rivers flowing in abundance throughout the country and small lakes scattered across the hills and the ponds in the Terai belt of Nepal hold great prospects for the development of fisheries with various species of fish.

However, these great prospects have been tapped only in a minuscule scale to date. Due to negligence of government and concerned sectors, a number of water bodies such as rivers, lakes, reservoirs, ponds swamps and paddy fields, wherein fish can be reared in abundance, are being wasted. It is indeed high time that the government came up with proper plans to realise what is possible for fisheries development in the country.

Nepal is among the least developed countries where more than half of the population survive in absolute poverty. They are in a state of malnutrition and cannot afford to spend money for nutrient food. As such it is to be noted that fish can provide necessary vitamins and proteins for a majority of Nepalese at a minimum cost.

The snow-fed rivers are ideal for various types of trouts. The attractions of trout fishing as a sports in Nepal’s rivers can bring in a sizeable number of tourists from foreign countries thus widening in the horizons of tourism industry.

The development of fisheries industry can also generate employment prospects and income to a large number of people.

Nepal is rich in water resources. The Himalayan range which covers the entire northern boundary with China is the main source of many famous rivers and lakes. There are about 186 varieties of fishes including exotic fish. They are often found at ranging from a few hundred meter above sea level to as high as 400 metres.

Of the total 186 species, 59 native and 2 exotic species have been identified as coldwater fish of commercial value. The most important indigenous coldwater fish species are Katle, Snow trout and Sahari. They are excellent from the economic and sport fishing point of view. The other fishes are caught for subsistence.

Brown trout and rainbow trout are being studied for commercial production. The other three commercially high value warm water species-grass carp, silver carp and bighead carp-are being cultured. Currently, studies are also being undertaken for the commercial production of three high value indigenous coldwater fish species namely Asala, Katle and Mahaseer.

A feasible study on various river basin and system indicates, an addition of about 78,000 ha. of reservoirs upon their completion.

There are three major rivers such as Koshi, Gandaki and Karnali in Nepal. These rivers are fed by hundred of small rivers originating in the snow-capped high Himalayan, Mahabharat and Siwalik mountain regions. The rivers in Nepal cover an estimated area of about 395,000 hectors. In addition, there is a considerable water surface area present in village ponds (around 6,500 hectares). This indicates an existence of a wide range of scope for developing fisheries in Nepal.

Fisheries usually yield 4 times higher than any of cereal crops, 3 times higher than livestocks and the vegetables and 2 times higher than high value crop in the farming system. Moreover, developed marketing system can facilitate in making consume more fish in the internal market which in turn will create more demand to the fish growers. Thus fishery is undoubtedly one of the potentially important sub-sectors of aquaculture in Nepal. There is a great potential for development of fish production in many places of Nepal. Presently, its gross domestic production (GDP) contribution is 1.5 per cent of the agriculture share. Although the present relative economic importance of fisheries appear to be rather low, the potential for increasing its economic contribution in the future through aquaculture is estimated to be high because of the existing potentials for an expansion of cultural areas. but the fishermen living along rivers and lakes are found using their traditional fishing gear mainly for subsistence production, generating only marginal economic benefits.

However, in view of the importance and potential of natural water fisheries management to promote fish production, initial steps have been taken to study captivity breeding of few indigenous high value cold water species such as Asala, Mahaseer and Katle.

Hence, it is generally acknowledged that it can play a significant role providing supplementary protein, income generating, employment opportunities to the growing population as well as help in balancing the ecology of the country through the proper use of land and water resources. At the same time yields can also be substantially increased by relatively improved management techniques.

Fish production in Nepal due to its landlockedness is restricted mainly to inland water bodies such as rivers, lakes and reservoirs in capture fisheries and aquaculture in ponds and cage culture in lakes and reservoirs. The total inland water areas including rivers, lakes reservoirs and ponds have been estimated to be 745,000 hectares, out of which around 6,500 hectares is estimated as ponds and around 500 hectares of lakes and 1500 hectares of reservoirs.

All of the major rivers above Mahabharat ranges are difficult for the effective management to increase fish production from them due to their high gradient and torrential in nature. Regarding, lakes and reservoirs, lakes of Pokhara Valley, Kulekhani reservoirs and some other small reservoirs lie within the warm climate zone where management can be done to increase fish production.

Among the existing reservoirs, the indra Sarobar reservoirs, Kulekhani are considered suitable reservoirs which are being utilised for the fisheries Development. The government with the technical assistance from IDRC, Canada, launched a project inland Fishery Project at indrasarobar Hydro-electric Reservoir at Kulekhani in 1984 to explore the potentials for cage fish culture and water stocking for increasing fish production.

The negligence of the government towards proper development of fisheries in the country is spawning malpractices by some individuals or groups including the spraying of insecticides at the sources where fish originate and the practice of using explosives to catch fish by some fishermen is very common. All these are creating a highly negative impact in the development of fisheries.

Siltation, Road construction, Dam construction and electric shock are all major problems that effect river ecology, resulting in the loss of breeding and nurshing ground of reverine fish species. So protective measures should be taken prior to daming river in the country in order to safeguard the existing natural fish fauna of the rivers.

The vast natural water resources in the fauna of rivers, lakes, reservoirs and ponds which constitute a great potential for increased fish productions for the country should be able to harness the productive benefits by adopting proper management technique of the existing water bodies in the country.

Work Stress And Its Management

By Dr. Niranjan Prasad Upadhyay

MOST of us are aware the employee stress is an increasing problem in an organisation. Stress is a dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, constraint, or demand related to what he or she desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important. A noted psychologist has remarked that jobs where temperatures, noise, or other working conditions are dangerous can increase anxiety. Generally, lack of social support from colleagues and poor interpersonal relationship can cause considerable stress, especially among employees with a high social need. Excessive rules and lack of participation in decision that affect employees are examples of structural variables that might be potential sources of stress.

Stress shows itself in other psychological states for instance, tension anxiety, irritability and boredom. The psychological research indicates that when people are placed in the jobs that make multiple and conflicting demands or in which there is a lack of clarity authorities, and responsibilities, either stress or dissatisfaction is increased. Psychologically, the less control people have over the pace of their work, the greater the stress or dissatisfaction.

Stress is borrowed from physics and engineering. The term stress refers to the psychological state, which derives from the personal appraisal of the success with which he or she can adjust to the demands of the environment .It is intimately interwoven in all facets of life .It covers wide areas i.e. management, administration industry, politics and psychology.

Behaviourally related stress symptoms include changes in productivity, absences, and turnover, as well as changes in eating habits, increased smoking or consumption of alcohol, rapid speech and sleep disorders.

The stress performance relationship may be compared with the strings on a violin. When there is either too little or too much tension on the strings, music becomes a noise. Leukel, F. (1985) has remarked that an individual may have a high stress tolerance for one variety of stress and low stress tolerance for another variety, depending on age physical conditioning, learned behaviour adjustment, and many others factors.

Changing the degree of stress potential associated with a situation requires an understanding of individual, organisational, and interactive stressors encountered in work settings. Critical issues for this approach include job design and redesign, human factors engineering, skills and safety training and selection and placement decisions.

There is general agreement that individual differences play a major moderating role in the stress process. Women may experience stress unique to their gender such as sex discrimination, harassment, and pay inequity. Some evidence indicates that in the same work setting men and women may experience stress differently with respect to system and threat appraisal.

Managers achieve organisational goals by getting the jobs done with and through people. They must strike an optimum balance between jobs and people to increase organisational effectiveness. This is essential to achieve goals through efficient acquisition and use of available resources. Planning, implementation and control serve as the means to achieve goals. Stress has become a major concern of modern managers in all types of organisations. Its potential role on health and productivity has become a cause for concern. Estimates indicate that almost 80 per cent of physical diseases occur due to stress alone. Stress has become part of everyday life. By understanding stress, managers can understand behavioural problems of individuals in organisational settings.

The modern age has been called the age of anxiety and life is not so simple as most of us think. Stress is common in the world of day-to-day activities. Stress at a minimal level may not be hazardous to individuals. But when individuals experience extreme stress it affects all aspects of human behaviour including the work in which he/she is actively involved. Nature and type of stress vary from individual to individual. An individual’s official stress may be reflected in the family setting. So, both types of stresses i.e. home and office interrelates each other. The process of transfer of stress emerges from the three well- defined primary domains the individual, the family and the work. Some personality factors such as personality, hardy personality, obsessionality, over- identification, low risk taking and low sensation seeking play an important functional role in the experience and development of stress. Personal values, needs and spirituality also influence the development of stress. Stress is generated when an individual’s values or needs are threatened.

When an individual is inspired to achieve a certain level of proficiency in the performance of task, failure or threat of failure to achieve certain goal produces stress. Working under pressures of time also creates stress. In Nepalese working climate, high stress is caused by various factors i.e. deadline pressures, inadequate career development opportunities and lack of opportunities to travel abroad. Deuba, A. (1996) in a research on the status and situation of women in management in Nepal concludes that the predominantly patriarchal culture leads to discrimination of women in the work place. Findings further highlight that colleagues and seniors underestimate women co-workers and are biased while assigning work. The junior staffs have no authority to make independent decisions. This leads to psychological stress in those at the receiving end. In the Nepalese environment, women’s double roles i.e. reproductive and productive, puts them at a disadvantage in meeting deadlines, which causes maximum stress.

In Nepalese organisations the managers exhibits various types of behaviour viz. shifting responsibility to others, lack of managing stress, lack of interest and motive, lack of negotiation capability and tendency of sharing undue benefits.

Especially, in the organisation managers can help their subordinates by promoting employee awareness and fitness, providing social support by evaluating the redesign of work and managing time. Redesigning jobs give employees more responsibility; more meaningful work, more autonomy, increase feedback and their participation can reduce stress. These factors give the employee greater control over work activity and minimise their dependence on others. Organisations must develop stress management programmes to help employees to cope with stress. Coping refers to those actions and thoughts that raise the capability of the employee to handle difficult situations. Management experts refer to stress coping as changing cognitive and behavioural aspects of specific external and internal demands. In this course of management, psychological counselling will be more effective to raise a better environment in the work place.

Finally, individual and organisation have attempted to deal with stress in various ways. Individuals for example may try to reduce stress through better management of their time, healthful nutrition, exercises, career planning, meditation and prayer. Organisations may provide psychological counselling, recreation facilities or may improve job design by matching the person with the job.

Synopsis Of The Anglo-Nepal Relation I

By Guna Dev Bhattarai

VASCO-da-Gama, the first European and the representative of the ruler of Portugal, discovered the sea-route to India in 1498, reached the sea-shore of Calicut. For a long time the Portuguese monopolised the trade in India. The Dutch, the English and the French followed their suit. By 1764 the English had become the unchallenged master of Bengal and Bihar. The British East India Company which was given a Charter in 1600 by the last ruler of the Tudor Dynasty, Queen Elizabeth I, became a political power in India.

When the British were spreading their suzerainty in Bengal and Bihar Prithivinarayan Shah was rapidly spreading the Gorkha dominion round the Nepal valley. Jayaprakashmalla, the last ruler of Kathmandu, sought the military assistance of the English. Capt. Kinloch was deputed by the English to drive out Prithivinarayan Shah from the valley but his expedition proved fruitless to the effect Prithivinarayan Shah lost no time to occupy the valley. As long as Prithivinarayan Shah was alive the relation between Nepal and the Company government remained to some extent cordial. The British recognised the existence of the new kingdom of Nepal. Many missions of the Company could not materialise their designs on Nepal. During the Nepal-Tibetan war China had offered military assistance to Tibet. In the meantime Nepal concluded the Commercial Treaty on March 1, 1792 with the representative of the Company so that the British might help Nepal against China but Lord Cornwallis (1786-93), The Governnor General of the Company, desired to mediate between the warring parties. The Nepal Government realised the evil designs of the English Fortunately Nepal and China came to terms and there was no need for any help from any quarter.

With a view to implement the Commercial Treaty of 1792 the British representative, Capt Kirkpatrick visited Nepal. Though he could not succeed in materialising the main purpose he made himself acquainted with Nepal. Besides, he had written the history of Nepal in his own way. The British were keenly watching the prevailing upheaval in Nepal. In the meantime Rana Bahadur Shah was forced to leave Nepal for Banaras. His arrival in Banaras sprouted the hope of the British to exploit the prevailing situation in Nepal. That is to say the British calculated that, if Rana Bahadur Shah could be restored to power with the British help, he would be obliged to the British and would not hesitate to offer ample concessions to furthering their trade interest in Nepal.

The influential courtiers did not want the return of Rana Bahadur Shah at any cost. In order to avoid the return of the fugitive King Nepal signed a thirteen point Treaty of Friendship on October 26, 1801. After the ratification of the treaty by both the parties Capt. Knox was appointed British Resident to Nepal in accordance with the provision of the said treaty. There was one separate article for the settlement of Jagir of Rana Bahadur Shah to the effect he was to be paid annually eight two thousand rupees in cash and kind. In short he was outwitted by the courtiers of Nepal for the time being. ‘Man proposes, God disposes’ goes an adage. Capt Knox did not find any congenial atmosphere in Nepal for his stay. On the other hand the British who had wanted to bring Nepal into their sphere of influence were equally outwitted. Capt Knox found himself uneasy because of indifferent attitude of the countiers of Nepal. After nine months the British declared the treaty of 1801 null and void.

Rana Bahadur Shah was permitted to go back home but he was assassinated by his half brother, Sher Bahadur Shahi. In the meantime Bhimsen Thapa, the most trusted courtier of Rana Bahadur Shah seized the opportunity to come to power by eliminating all his rivals.

After the downfall of Napoleon Bonaparta of French the British got rid of their formidable enemy. By 1814 the Sultans of Mysore, the Marathas and to some extent the Sikhs had been subdued by the British. The British having no danger from any quarter of India began to seek pretext to wage war against Nepal. Lord Hastings, Governor General of the British India, induced the Nepal Government to evacuate the disputed territories and Butwal in particular. On May 29, 1814 the principal police establishment at Butwal was attached and destroyed by the Nepalese forces. On November 1, 1814 Lord Hastings declared war against Nepal. The war was terminated by the Treaty of Sugauli signed on December 2, 1816 and ratified in March 1816.

The Treaty of Sugauli ushered in an era of friendly relationship between Nepal and the British. The British appreciating the bravery of the Nepalese troops recruited the Gorkhalis who had fled to India. Bhimsen Thapa vainly tried to regain the lost territories from the British. The military expansion of Nepal came to a standshill to the effect court intrigues continued for some years until the rise of Jung Bahadur Rana.