A high-level team of the Fisheries department will meet Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu next week to pursue the proposal for regional centres of the National Fisheries Development Board, the Central Aquaculture Authority (CAA) and the Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA), Chennai.
Additional Director K. Seetaramaraju said on Wednesday the appointment with the Ministry had been fixed for June end. “Proposals for the regional bodies have been sent and we are speeding up the exercise,” he said at a press conference here. “The regional body of the CAA will help in preventing production of seed in unauthorised hatcheries while the CIBA regional body will address the woes in getting access to various fish species seed in the State itself,” he said.
The department, in collaboration with the CIBA, would set up a hatchery for supply of the seed of the Asian Seabass and Sylla Serreta, at Pandurangapuram in Guntur district in July. Mr. Seetaramaraju said ₹38 crore including ₹23 crore had been sanctioned for it.