6. MAHARASHTRA

Maharashtra, the third largest State of the Indian Union, both in population and geographical area, is surrounded by the Arabian Sea in the West, Andhra Pradesh in the southeast, Karnataka in the south, Gujarat in the northwest and Madhya Pradesh in the north. The State has three distinct physiographical regions, viz., the coastal belt (Konkan), the Western Ghats and the eastern plateau. The tall hills of the Western Ghats run parallel to the coastline of 720 km. The 80 km wide (average) strip of land between the Western Ghats and the sea known as Konkan, is one of the richest alluvial plains, receiving an average annual rainfall of 200 cm. The region east of the hills is a vast plateau land drained by the Godavari, Bhima, and Krishna which originate in the Western Ghats and flow eastward across the Indian peninsula into the Bay of Bengal. The rainshadow areas of the eastern Maharashtra receive rainfall of 60 to 75 cm a year or even < 50 cm in certain areas. A characteristic feature of these low rainfall districts such as Nasik, Dhule,Jalgaon, Sangali and Solapur is the traditional small irrigation impoundments. The landscape of the plateau is dotted with thousands of such small reservoirs created to tap the surface drainage (Fig. 6.1).

6.1 RESERVOIRS OF MAHARASHTRA

The State Fisheries Department of Maharashtra does not keep a list of reservoirs. Nevertheless, it has information on the total area under four different categories of water bodies, viz., <10 ha, 11 to 500 ha, 501 to 1 000 ha and >1 000 ha (Table 6.1). The water bodies below 10 ha in size have been considered as of aquaculture systems and have not been included under man-made lakes. Details of the three other categories have been presented after reclassifying them as per the format followed in this report. The small reservoirs(<1 000 ha)in Maharashtra occupy 119 515 ha (44%), out of the total 273 750 ha. Among the remaining 152 205 ha, the large reserviors (>5 000 ha)constitute 115 054 ha, the other 39 181 ha falling under the medium (1 000 to 5 000 ha) category (Table 6.2).

Information on 33 reservoirs has been gathered from Srivastava et al.(1985), Lonkar (1992) and a number of publications cited elsewhere. The eight large reservoirs in the State are Jayakwadi (39 777 ha) in Aurangabad district, Ujjaini (29 000 ha)in Solapur district, Shivsagar (11 216 ha) in Satara district, Yeldari (9 472 ha) and Darna (7 500 ha) in Parbhani district, Itiadoh (7 345 ha) in Bhandara district, Girna (5 420 ha) in Nasik district and Mula (5 324 ha) in Ahmednagar district (Table 6.3). Out of the 39 181 ha of medium reservoirs, the 17 listed in Table 6.3 cover an area of 38 860 ha. Details of only eight small reservoirs with a total waterspread of 4 302 ha are available.

Production figures in respect of 23 reservoirs are available (Tables 6.3 and 6.4), on the basis of which, the yield is estimated at 11.11 kg ha^-1. Minor fishes form a substantial component of the catch in most of the reservoirs, irrespective of the size of the water bodies or the river systems to which they belong. This indicates some lapse in the management of fish populations. In Pawana, Pus, Saikheda, Panset and Shivsagar reservoirs, the minor carps contribute 75 to 95% of the total catch.

The small reservoirs have the highest average yield (28.68 kg ha^-1), followed by the medium (14.44 kg ha^-1) and large (10.21 kg ha^-1) (Table 6.4).

n - Negligible (After Srivastava et al., 1985; Lonkar. 1992)

n= negligible (After Srivastava et al., 1985; Lonkar, 1992)

6.2 DHOM RESERVOIR

Dhom is primarily an irrigation reservoir created by damming the mainstream of the river Krishna at the village Dhom in Satara district. Situated at 17°5'N and 73°33'E, the 241 m long masonry dam impounds 382 million m³ of water at the FRL of 741.7 m above MSL. The reservoir has a catchment area of 217.55 km² and the area at FRL is 2 306 ha. The two irrigation outlets of the dam have a discharge capacity of 26 m³ sec^-1.

Trivedy (1993) places the reservoir under the oligotrophic category, based on the values of specific conductivity (usually within 50 to 90 μmhos), and COD(<20 mg 1^-1). The level of dissolved oxygen is 5.6 to 12 mg 1^-1, as against 12–15 mg 1^-1, observed in organically enriched waters in the same area. Ammonia, calcium, sodium and potassium concentrations suggest oligotrophy but the high values of nitrogen and phosphorus point towards pollution. This is further confirmed by high values of organic matter and nutrients in the sediment phase. A mild faecal contamination is evident from the count of coliforms (4 to 63 100 ml^-1).

Phytoplankton density is a low 416 to 8 128 units 1^-1. Other water bodies in the area have counts of several thousands. Trivedy (op. cit.)suggests that the water body is slowly getting mesotrophic and heading for eutrophy. Chlorella, Navicula, Nitzschia, Synedra and Phormidium figuring in the Palmer's list of 60 pollution-tolerant genera in the world form a substantial part of the planktonic algae. However, the most important genus in the reservoir is Raphidiopsis, a blue-green algae, usually recorded from unpolluted water bodies. Important zooplankters are Keratella sp., Keratella serrulata, and Notholca sp.

6.3 BHATGHAR RESERVOIR

Situated near Bhor village in Pune district, the Bhatghar dam, erected in 1928 across the river Yelwandi at 18° 10'N and 73°52'E. The 1 625 m long dam created a water body that covers up to 2 800 ha at FRL and shrinks to 1 500 ha at the lowest level. The full still level is 626.28 m and the storage capacity, 672.64 million m³.

The river at the dam site has a catchment area of 336 km². The maximum length of the reservoir and the mean depth are 45 km and 24.02 m respectively. The rate of inflow varies from 5.45 to 21.94 million m³ at an average of 12.86 million m³, the maximum yield being in the third quarter. All the outflowing channels together discharge 2.07 to 7.85 million m³of water (mean 5.32 million m³). The Central Inland Capture Fisheries Research Institute has conducted detailed studies on the reservoir during 1987 to 1992.

The soil of Bhatghar reservoir is sandy and neutral to alkaline in reaction. The soil quality is poor in terms of organic carbon (0.31 to 0.46%), available phosphorus (1.5 to 2.3 mg 100 g^-1)and available nitrogen (15.5 to 22.2 mg 100 g^-1). The low values of specific conductivity (38.5 to 79.1 μ mhos) indicate poor ionic concentration. Nevertheless, the calcium and magnesium concentartions seem to be good. The values of total hardness (mean)at the intermediate and lotic sectors are 130.42, 101.45 and 97.00 mg 1^-1 respectively. Phosphate level at lentic sector is a high 0.36 mg 1^-1 and the total alkalinity ranges from 10 to 36 mg 1^-1.

The soil and water quality parameters do not indicate a high productivity, except for the high values of phosphate and total hardness. The reservoir is usually weakly stratified, with an oxyclione (8.4 mg 1^-1 to 7.1 mg 1^-1)at the bottom and increase in specific conductivity (58.2 to 63.5 μmhos) and total alkalinity (16 to 18 mg 1^-1)towards the bottom.

Gross primary production rate varies from 20.83 mg C m^-3 day ^-1 during July to 145 mg C m^-3 day^-1in November, an average of 71.20. The plankton community of Bhatghar reservoir confirms the oligotrophic nature of the water body. Total plankton count varies from 8 to 6 601 units 1^-1, with Chlorophyceae, represented by Gonatozygon, Hormidium, Eudorina, Closteridium and Kirchneriella forming the major group. The blue-green algae, Microcystis aeruginosa and other taxa indicative of organic enrichment are present in small numbers. Diatoms (Navicula, Nitzchia, Syndera, and Surirella), Dinophyceae (Ceratium) and desmids (Staurastrum) are the other forms recorded.

The periphyton community is represented by 20 genera of diatoms, 14 green algae, 5 blue-green algae, 3 desmids and one genus of Dinophyceae. The reservoir harbours very little benthic invertebrate and macrophyte communities.

Ichthyofauna

A total of 49 species of fishes have been recorded from the lake, belonging to 30 genera, representing 12 families.

Fisheries management

The State Fisheries Department has leased the fishing rights of the reservoir to the Gajanan Fisheries Cooperative Society of Bhor village. The Society has a total membership of 120. Nylon gill net is the chief fishing gear employed in the reservoir, which has a mesh bar range of 20 to 150 mm. A fishing unit comprises two fishermen and 10 to 15 units of gill nets of assorted mesh sizes. No boats are used.

Total fish landings from the reservoir during 1987 were estimated at 24.7 t, which declined to 12.7 t in 1988, 9 t in 1989 and 1990 and increased to 12.1 t during 1991 (Table 6.5). The mean fish production was 13.5 t and the yield 4.8 kg ha^-1.

Table 6.5. Fish landings (kg) of Bhatghar reservoir

	Species	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	∑		%
1.	Catla catla	140	43	26	441	420	1 070	214	1.50
2.	Labeo rohita	.9	17	-	-	-	26	5	0.04
3.	Cirrhinus mrigala	374	727	155	184	285	1 725	345	2.54
4.	Tor khudree	361	85	1 024	16	88	1 574	315	2.32
5.	Puntius dobsonii	143	427	442	-	-	1 012	202	1.49
6.	Wallago attu	368	1 126	1 440	194	318	3 446	689	5.08
7.	P.kolus	9 574	4 667	1 751	1 019	2 278	19 289	3 858	28.45
8.	Chela fulungee	10 726	5 576	4 254	1 729	2 386	24 671	4 934	36.39
9.	Chelaspp.	2 930	-	-	3 095	3 383	9 408	1 842	13.87
10.	Eels	41	-	140	-	59	240	48	0.35
11.	Murrels	17	40	-	121	485	663	132	0.98
12.	Mugilsp.	7	10	-	-	-	17	3	0.03
13.	Miscellaneous	15	4	48	2 200	2 398	4 665	933	6.88
	Total	24 705	12 722	9 280	8 999	12 100	67 806	13 520	100.00

1 to 3 major carps, 4 to 6 local major, 7, 11, 12 local minor CICFRI Barrackpore

Based on the rate of primary energy fixation, a fish yield potential of 65 kg ha^-1 has been estimated for Bhatghar reservoir. Accordingly, a stocking rate of 250 fingerlings ha^-1 has been proposed, thereby necessitating a stocking of 700 000 fingerlings a year. However, the actual stocking over the years varied from nil to 482 000 at an average rate of 27 fry ha^-1 (Table 6.6). In the absence of recruitment of fish stock, sustained stocking of adequate number of fingerlings holds the key for efficient management of the reservoir.

Table 6.6. Stocking of Bhatghar reservoir

Year	No. of fry stocked (in thousands)
1979–80	100
1980–81	482
1981–82	nil
1982–83	nil
1983–84	1
1984–85	5
1985–86	10
1986–87	25
Total	623
	77
Stocking rate ()	27.5 ha-1

6.4 OTHER RESERVOIRS

Yeldari

Yeldari reservoir is on Purna, a tributary of the Godavari. Draining a catchment area of 2 830 km², the reservoir covers 9 472 ha at FRL and 600 ha during the lowest level. The maximum depth is 40.6m. Fish catch details of the reservoir from 1973–74 to 1977–78 are given in Table 6.7.

Table 6.7. Fish production trend in Yeldari reservoir

Years	Major carps	Major carps weighing <5 kg and other fishes	Total
1973–74	11	3	14
1974–75	19	12	31
1975–76	25	14	39
1976–77	70	36	106
1977–78	72	72	144
	39	27	67

Values in t (After Valsankar, 1980)

Stocking is done jointly by the local cooperative society and the State Fisheries Department. Fry of Indian major carps (10 mm to 25 mm size) werestocked during 1959–70 at an average rate of 0.3 million year^-1.

Jayakwadi reservoir

The 39 777 ha Jayakwadi reservoir is the largest man-made lake of Maharashtra, formed by constructing a 10 200 m dam across river Godavari at Paithan in the district of Aurangabad. The river at the reservoir site has a fertile catchment area of 21 750 km² (Desai, 1980). The reservoir produces 20 t fish per year, equivalent to 0.5 kg ha^-1.

Bhandardara reservoir

One of the oldest reservoirs in Maharashtra, Bhandardara was impounded in 1910 across the river Pravara near Bhandardara village, a holiday resort in Ahmednagar district. The 1 822 ha reservoir shrinks to 259 ha during the dry season. The catchment area comprises of 121.37 km² of hilly forested areas of the Western Ghats, receiving a rainfall of 544 cm annually. The climate is cool, being located at an altitude of 741.51 m above MSL. Velsangkar(1993) estimated an annual fish production of 21.23 t (11.5 kg ha^-1)from the reservoir.

Major component (65.48%) of the landings is trash fish (13.9t), represented by Chelasp. Indian and exotic major carps, viz., Catla catla, Labeo rohita, Cirrhinus mrigala and Cyprinus carpio form 22.60% of the catch (4.8 t), followed by the mahseer, Tor khudree which contributes 11.92% (2.53 t).

Girna reservoir

Girna reservoir is located in the arid zone of the Malegaon Tahsil of Nashik district. The 5 420 ha reservoir has a storage capacity of 609 million m³, with maximum and minimum depths of 43 m and 10 m respectively. The catchment area of 4 279 km² is hilly and it receives high rainfall (200 cm). On its way to the reservoir, water is stored in irrigation tanks, such as the Chankapur and Kelzar tanks. The reservoir was understocked in the past (Valsangkar, 1987). Arbitrary stocking was done during 1974–75, and 1977–78 by the State Government. Although regular stocking at the rate of 100 000 fish fry had been carried out by the local cooperative society since 1983–84, the stocking rate is inadequate. One significant feature of the Girna reservoir is the consistency of common carp fishery. Total fish production from the reservoir registered an increase from 73.35 t in 1980–81 to 117.58 t in 1985–86. The peak production was recorded in 1982–83 (222.5 t). Common carp has gained a steady foothold in the reservoir, perhaps at the cost of local major carps (Table 6.8). Valsangkar (op. cit.)attributes its success to the favourable conditions during the water renewal stage.

(After Valsangkar, 1987)

Figure 7.1. Distribution of reservoirs in Madhya Pradesh