Inland farmers urges to focus on farming of native fish species

Dr A Gopalakrishnan, Director of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) who inaugurated the programme said native fish species such as Malabar Labeo (Pullan in local parlance), yellow catfish (manjakkoori) and seabass would help farmers fetch better income, and preserve the indigenous fishery resources.

Inland fish farmers have been urged to concentrate on farming of indigenous fish species. They were also warned of farming illegal exotic fishes during a skill development programme on inland fisheries management for livelihood improvement organised by the Kochi Centre of the Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CIFRI) headed by Dr Basanta Kumar Das, Director.

Dr A Gopalakrishnan, Director of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) who inaugurated the programme said native fish species such as Malabar Labeo (Pullan in local parlance), yellow catfish (manjakkoori) and seabass would help farmers fetch better income, and preserve the indigenous fishery resources. "At the same time, farmers should ensure that illegal exotic species such as Araipama, Malaysian catfish, nutter and alligator gar are not being farmed to avoid risking the ecosystem of native species", he said, adding that the recent flood showed that such illegal practices were prevalent across the state.

Dr Rani Palaniswamy, Officer in Charge and Principal Scientist at the Kochi Centre of CIFRI welcomed the gathering mentioning that the skill development programme with the support of National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) was aimed at training the inland fish farmers in advanced farming practices in inland open water resources as a better livelihood option. The programme was coordinated by scientists Dr Deepa Sudheesan and Ms Thankam Theresa Paul. The programme included training in various fish production enhancement strategies such as cage or pen fish farming, budgeting, marketing, etc.