The Mandapam Regional Centre of Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) launched the distribution of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) cages for the open-sea cage farming of marine fin-fishes in Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay.
Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao launched the programme by distributing the cages to the first batch of 20 beneficiaries at an event organised by the CMFRI at Mandpam on Saturday in the presence of Commandant M. Venkatesan, Commanding officer, Indian Coast Guard (ICG) station Mandapam, R. Jayakumar, Scientist in-charge, CMFRI and K. Muraleedharan, Member, Institute Management Committee ICAR-CMFRI.
Under the blue revolution scheme, the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Hyderabad, has sanctioned the sea cage farming demonstration programme - ‘Extensive demonstration of technology of open-sea cage farming of marine fin-fishes all along the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay’, officials said.
In all, the CMFRI proposed to distribute 100 cages under the NFDB subsidised scheme in a phased manner to the beneficiaries. In the first phase, 20 beneficiaries were also given 900 numbers of Cobia fish seeds per cage. The individual beneficiaries would get net profit of ₹3.03 lakh after a culture period of 6-8 months by producing 2.8 tonnes of fish per cage, officials said.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rao said the open sea cage culture was an ideal alternative to the fisherfolk to enhance their income and improve standard of living. The beneficiaries could utilise the technical expertise of CMFRI and make the programme a grand success, he said.
Fishing was next to agriculture in the district and fish production during 2018 touched 1.47 lakh tonnes, he said adding this was 20% of the State’s total fish production. The 237 km long coastline in the district was dotted with 180 fishing hamlets, he added.