New trends in farming mussels and edible oyster in India

The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) by setting up demonstration farms and conducting training programmes to fishers was able to popularize bivalve farming in Kerala State. Simultaneously, through interactions with the State government officials and members oflocal governing bodies, project proposals on oyster and mussel farming were recognized .as financially viable schemes for rural development and self-employment. Since 1995, edible bivalves like the Indian backwater oyster, Crassotrea madrasensis and the green mussel, Perna viridis are farmed on a commercial scale in the estuaries of Keral