Avoli (pomfret) reared in freshwater will be available to city residents in some 10 months from now if an experiment at the Special Sub-jail, Poojappura, becomes a success.
Avoli is usually cultivated in salt water, but after nearly three decades of research and experiments, the Fisheries Department has concluded that Avoli can be grown in freshwater too.
On Friday, nearly 2,000 Avoli fishlings, some two to three weeks’ old, were released into a specially built pond at the jail as part of the first phase of freshwater cultivation of Avoli being undertaken in association with the Prisons and Correctional Services Department.
The fish will be reared by remand prisoners in what is yet another initiative being taken up by the jail authorities for prisoners’ welfare and rehabilitation. The prisoners were trained in fish farming for a month in association with a voluntary organisation Divine Charitable Prison Ministries.
The training is expected to provide opportunities to the prisoners to earn a living once they walk out of the jail.
R. Sreelekha, Director General of Police, Prisons and Correctional Services, who released the fishlings, said the project was also aimed at increasing earnings for the government.
Avoli was a fish that fetched good money in the market, and if the project took off, it would be implemented in other jails too. Each fish was expected to grow up to 1 kg. Besides fish food in the initial days, the fish would be fed food and vegetable waste.
Assam vala too
Nearly 950 Assam vala, another type of fish, were also being reared in a tank at the jail, officials said.
Ms. Sreelekha said plans were on to make wooden toys at the carpentry unit of the Prisons Department and to associate with the Handloom Development Corporation for making school uniforms from the next academic year. Prisoners were being already trained at the three Central Prisons and two open jails.
Jail Superintendent K. Somarajan said well water was being used to rear the fish. A soil conservation project was being planned to increase the water level.
B. Pradeep, Deputy Inspector General of Prisons (South Zone), and Director, State Institute of Correctional Administration (Thiruvananthapuram), was present.
