Fisheries Minister J. Mercikutty Amma has said that freshwater fish farming will be promoted in the district.
Speaking at a meeting held at the Collectorate after visiting the Malankara and Kulamavu dams where the Fisheries Department plans to set up hatcheries, she said that fish farming would be launched at the Idukki, Mullaperiyar, Kallarkutty, Anayirangal, Erattayar, Malankara, and Kallar dams.
It would lead to 400 tonnes of fish production in the district and provide jobs to 2,000 persons for 200 days a year. A four-hectare hatchery and a two-hectare aquarium would be started at Kaipa in the Malankara dam and at Kudayathur near Thodupuzha in the next financial year, she said.
The Fisheries Department would fund the project. Indigenous fish varieties would be grown in the dams, she said.
