The wealth of aquatic resources was assumed to be an unlimited gift of nature. However, with increased knowledge and the dynamic development of fisheries and aquaculture sector, this myth has faded in face of the realization that aquatic resources, although renewable, are not infinite and need to be properly managed, if their contribution to the nutritional, economic and social well-being of the growing world's population is to be sustained. With a view to this, all the agri-allied sector workers have to have a though understanding about these resources for the growth and development of this sector s responsible manager. To give this prior importance, a four day (12-15 October, 2011) training programme on Capacity Building of Extension Personnel of N. E. Region with Special Reference to Hill Aquaculture was organized by the Directorate of Extension Education, CAU at College of Fisheries, CAU, Lembucherra, Tripura. Articles received from different resource persons have been compiled and documented in one place and published as university publication in the form of a book entitled "Aquaculture in Hill Area" to help the students as well as the agn-allied sector workers to maintain the ecosystem integrity of the region, based on the best available scientific information.

The success of aquatic farming ventures depends largely on the efficient use of a piece of water body as well as adjacent land with specific target and ultimately marketing of the products. This book is an outcome of our longstanding interest in location specific scientific planning of freshwater aquaculture in the northeastern hill region of India where more than 95% people are fish eater. The information given in this book comes from many sources, the most valuable and timely contributions of different resource persons of various specializations.

Our purpose in the book is to give an overview to start the location specific fish based farming system in the land locked states of the NE Region of India where suitable land is constrain for aquaculture. We are confident that this guidebook will prove helpful as a reference to fisheries/ agriculture/ horticulture/ forestry/ veterinary students, entrepreneurs, farm managers, extension workers and others to maintain a responsible sustainable fish based farming system in a particular area.

It is indeed a matter of great pleasure for us to involve ourselves in the task of development of this guidebook entitled "Aquaculture in Hill Area". This is an urgent and timely need for the students, teachers, consultants, scientists as well as for the workers those who are actively involved in different agri-allied practices in the region to get knowledge about location specific integration in one place.

We are very much grateful to Dr. S. N. Puri, Vice-Chancellor, Central Agricul tural University, Imphal, Manipur for his keen interest, valuable guidance, cooperation and permitting us to publish this book for wider accessibility. The editors are highly indebted to Dr. M. Rohinikumar Singh, Director of Research, Central Agricultural University, Imphal and Professor J. R. Dhanze, Dean, College of Fisheries, CAU, Lembucherra, Tripura for their all types of support, suggestions and guidance in compilation of this guidebook. We are very much indebted to Dr. M. Sinha, Ex-Director (CIERI, Barrackpore, Kolkata) & Advisor, Department of Fisheries, Government of Tripura, for his suggestion for making this guidebook as user friendly.

Dr. M. Premjit Singh (b.1955), Director of Extension Education, Central Agricultural University. Imphal passed his M.Sc. (Life Sciences) in 1981 from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and stood first position for the Centre of PG Studies, Imphal. He obtained his M. Phil and Ph. D. Degree in Zoology from Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. Dr. Singh started his service career in erstwhile Manipur Agricultural College, Imphal as Assistant Professor (Entomology) in 1986 and be- came Associate Professor in 1990 and Professor in 1998 in Central Agricultural University, Imphal. Besides professional positions, he acted as Registrar, Deputy Registrar (Academic), Assistant Registrar (Academic) and Research Co-ordinator (Oilseed crops) in Central Agricultural University, Imphal for more than a decade. The Young Scientist award was conferred to Dr. Singh in 1992 by DST, New Delhi for his research project entitled "Studies on bee pollination of oilseed crops". Dr. Singh has undertaken six research projects funded by external agencies and supervised 5 (five) Ph. D. and 10 (ten) M.Sc. (Ag) theses. He attended 8 International Conferences, 70 National Conferences and 5 training courses. To his credit he has got 95 research papers, 5 books, 10 technical bulletins and many popular articles. He is the Chief Editor of CAU Farm Magazine quarterly published in 7 languages. He has vast experience in North East Agriculture and credited with memberships in a number of high level committees, Expert groups, Professional bodies, University bodies etc.

Dr. Ratan K. Saha (b. 1959), Associate Professor & Head, Depart- ment of Fish Health & Environment, College of Fisheries, Central Agricultural University, Lembucherra- 799210, Tripura (West), India passed his B. Sc. (Zoology, Hons) in 1979 and M. Sc. (Life Science, Applied Zoology) in 1981 from the Calcutta University. Later on he completed one year PG certificate course on Inland Fisheries Development & Administration from Central Institute of Fisheries Education, CIFE (Deemed University) in 1984 and did his Ph. D. degree in Zoology (Aquatic Ecology) from the Calcutta University in 1991. As in-service candidate he completed Diploma in Fisheries Science (D. F. Sc) from Central Institute of Fisheries Education, CIFE (Deemed University) in 1998. He has under gone several advanced train- ing programme on PRA techniques in aquaculture, Research Project Planning, Project Moni- toring and Evaluation, Disaster Management for Fisheries Sector Scientists, Leadership for Innovation in Agriculture etc. apart from the field of fisheries and aquaculture.

Dr. Saha started his service career in the Divyodaya Krishi Vigyan Kendra (ICAR Financed) as Training Associate (Fisheries), Chebri, Tripura (West), India in 1988. Thereaf- ter, he joined in the Tripura Fisheries Training Institute (TFTI), Department of Fisheries, Government of Tripura as Fishery Officer in 1992 and continued his service there up to 1998 and later joined College of Fisheries, Central Agricultural University in 1998 as Assistant Professor. He became Associate Professor in the Department of Fish Health & Environment, College of Fisheries, Central Agricultural University, Lembucherra, Tripura in 2006.

About the

He has conducted number of research projects sponsored by DST, CAU till dine Dr. Sala is now engaged as Team Leader of the NAIP (ICAR), Component III projeci of Dhalai district of Tripura and also as Pl of NFDB funded project entitled "National Surved lance Programme for Aquatic Animal Diseases of Tripura State as collaborating, center along with NBFGR in consortium mode, Co-Pls in DBT twining and DST projects, Associated Investigator in Center of Excellence Project, Co-PIs in CAU sponsored research project Two more projects from DST (SSTP) and DBT (Twining) with CIFE have already sanctioned on his credit as Pl. Till date under him one PhD student had awarded from CIFE ander collaboration and two more students are pursuing their PhD work under Tripura University (A Central University) and CIFE, Mumbai.

He has published a series of research papers in journals of national and interna tional repute and also reviews articles/chapters in books. He has already published four books and out of them two are with sole author. He has been actively engaged in soil and water quality for fish culture, limnological, fish based farming system, fish parasitology and toxico logical research since almost last twenty five years. He has more than twenty five years teach ing and field experience in different capacity in vanous institutions. He has been invited to participate in several national and international seminar and symposia pertaining to the subject. He has organized number of training programme on soil and water quality manage ment, fish base farming system and fish health management etc.

Dr. Saha is invited in different institutions as guest lecturer and as an expert in the respective field. He is also an external member of different committees in various institutions He is the life members of several national and international scientific fisheries and ecological societies. He is the editor of the North East Society for Fisheries and Aquaculture (India) (NESFA). He is also act as reviewer/referee of research papers of so many reputed journals.