Increasing Fish Production by Mariculture in Maharashtra

In the past 3 years, open sea floating cage farming has been successfully demonstrated by CMFRI for seabass (Khajura), pompano, cobia (Sakla or Modosa) and lobsters (Shewand) in nearshore waters. The Institute has developed a cage farming hub at Karwar, where locally available fish varieties are being tried for open sea culture.With the success of demonstration Training manual on “Cage Culture of Marine Fin fish and Shell fish in Open Sea” 5 farms, the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) has come forward for funding cage farming in big way. In the case of small scale farmers, cage farming can be easily combined with their capture fisheries operations. A floating cage (3 m dia) can be used for rearing undersized commercial varieties of fish. Most of these varieties can be fed with low value bycatch netted by the fishermen and minimize the input costs. Red snapper and some of the perches (Acanthopagrus berda) grow to marketable size within 6-8 months which can enhance their income. In addition, once the fishermen practice rearing, conservation of fish resources which are already under threat from over-exploitation in coastal waters may become easier