Mangan (Sikkim), November 2 — Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Rajiv Ranjan Singh, also known as Lalan Singh, on Monday launched the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Organic Certification of Fisheries in the North-Eastern region during a visit to Sikkim's Mangan district to review fisheries development under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), the Sikkim Herald reported.

Source: Sikkim Herald

During the programme, the minister also inaugurated projects worth ₹375 lakh under PMMSY, covering fisheries infrastructure such as hatcheries, feed mills and cold storage, and production technologies including Biofloc and Recirculatory Aquaculture Systems (RAS), according to the report.

The SOP is meant to give the region's fish farmers a structured framework for organic production and to support traceability across the value chain, so that fish sold as organic can be certified against a common standard.

Soreng, India's first organic fisheries cluster

The certification framework builds on ground prepared earlier: Soreng district in Sikkim is India's first notified Organic Fisheries Cluster under PMMSY. The cluster promotes fish farming without harmful chemicals, antibiotics and pesticides, with a special emphasis on Amur carp, Indian Major Carps and trout. Under PMMSY, 34 fisheries production and processing clusters have been notified across the country, including organic fisheries clusters in Sikkim and Meghalaya.

Fisheries India reported that the minister's November 2–3 visit also covers Gangtok, and includes distribution of Kisan Credit Cards to fish farmers and cheques under the state scheme Mukhya Mantri Matsya Utpadhan Yojana.

Source: Fisheries India

The cluster approach links production, processing, value addition and marketing within a defined area. Monday's SOP launch does not by itself guarantee a price premium for organic fish — it puts the certification rulebook in place on which such a market would depend.