Nearly 50,000 fingerlings of milkfish (Chanos chanos, locally known as poomeen ) were released into the Pallippuram backwaters in the district on Sunday as part of a State-wide effort to boost inland and brackish water fish resources.
Sunday’s release of fingerlings has taken their total number in the district’s backwaters to more than 1.5 lakh this financial year as the Department of Fisheries stepped up efforts to improve inland catch and replenish stocks. An official of the Department said Rs. 6 lakh had been allotted for sea ranching efforts in the district during 2015-16.
Fisheries officials have switched species this year from black tiger shrimp to milkfish considering its better survival rate. “They are a hardy species and survival rate is around 30 per cent,” the official said after the release of the fingerlings near Sahodaran Ayappan Boat Jetty in Pallippuram panchayat.
The problem of illegal fishing practices has persisted, the official said, pointing out that in the past small black tiger shrimp used to be trapped by fishermen using nets of small mesh size. Milkfish are expected to do better though even they can be caught when they are small.
Besides being sturdy, milkfish gain an average weight of one kg within a year. Given their survival rate, inland and brackish water bodies should be richer by about 45,000 kg of fish within a year, the official added.
Milkfish are in demand in the market and fetch an average Rs. 120 a kg when fishes are easily available and the price can go up to Rs. 200 a kg during the lean season.
The milkfish fingerlings have been sourced from the Poyya fish farm of the Department and cost Rs. 4 per fingerling.
Sea ranching has been undertaken in the backwaters in Maradu municipality; in Kallancherry in Kumbalanghi; Koonanmavu and near Cherai so far.
