The state has the distinction of being the largest fish producing state in the country.

Replying to the debate on the budgetary demands for grants for his department in the state assembly, fisheries minister Kironmoy Nanda, said on Saturday that while the World Bank-aided project at Digha was already in operation, the canning project would be inaugurated shortly.

Another fisheries project is coming up at Dadan Patrabar in Midnapore district with World Bank assistance. Claiming that fish production in West Bengal had more than doubled in just over a decade to 9.37 lakh tonnes, the minister said that utmost efforts were being made to achieve self-sufficiency in terms of fish requirement.

Besides, he said that fish seed production in the state had set a record when West Bengal had been able to meet 75 per cent of the country's total fish seed requirement. Nanda said that in theabsence of fish farms, the farmers had still to bear with the traditional fisheries.