Increasing Fish Production by Mariculture in Maharashtra

In the past 3 years, open sea floating cage farming has been successfully demonstrated \nby CMFRI for seabass (Khajura), pompano, cobia (Sakla or Modosa) and lobsters (Shewand) \nin nearshore waters. The Institute has developed a cage farming hub at Karwar, where locally \navailable fish varieties are being tried for open sea culture.With the success of demonstration \nTraining manual on “Cage Culture of Marine Fin fish and Shell fish in Open Sea” \n5 \nfarms, the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) has come forward for funding \ncage farming in big way. In the case of small scale farmers, cage farming can be easily \ncombined with their capture fisheries operations. A floating cage (3 m dia) can be used for \nrearing undersized commercial varieties of fish. Most of these varieties can be fed with low \nvalue bycatch netted by the fishermen and minimize the input costs. Red snapper and some of \nthe perches (Acanthopagrus berda) grow to marketable size within 6-8 months which can \nenhance their income. In addition, once the fishermen practice rearing, conservation of fish \nresources which are already under threat from over-exploitation in coastal waters may \nbecome easier.