Kochi: The mariculture in India will get a major boost with the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) successfully developing the seed production technology of Indian pampano (Trachinotus mookalee), which has high commercial value both in domestic and international markets.
This is the fifth of its kind achievement made by the CMFRI after the institute developed seed production technology of cobia, silver pampano, orange spotted grouper and pink ear emperor. Indian pompano (locally known as Avoli Vatta) is the most suitable species for cage culture considering its fast growth rate,easy adaptability to culture conditions, quick acceptance of artificial feed, good meat quality and high consumer preference.
Breeding and seed production technology of the species was developed at the Viskapatnam Regional Centre of CMFRI after two years of research. The technology was developed with the help recirculating Aquaculture System(RAS), a new facility in fish farming.
Indian pampano belongs to the Carangidae family, which is distributed in the Indo West Pacific region and is reported to be present in 15 different countries of the Asian continent. In India, the fish is reported from both the west and the east coasts. It is marine fish with sporadic occurrences in bays and lagoonsand the adult fishes prefer shallow coastal waters with rocky areas.
According to Dr A Gopalkrishanan, Director of CMFRI, this is the first report of successful mass scale seed production of Indian pampano in the world. “The achievement is a major breakthrough in Indian mariculture business which will help the farming community to use the hatchery produced seeds of Indian pampano for cage farming”, he said adding that mariculture activitites would be diversified with CMFRI developing seed production technology of one more high value marine fish.
Mariculture to increase marine fish production “At a time when present capture fishery is facing stagnation in the country, the CMFRI is more focussing on increasing marine fish production through mariculture. By 2050, India should produce at least 10.5 million tons of marine fish to meet the growing seafood demand. India’s marine fish catch is only 3.63 million tons in 2016”, Dr Gopalkrishnan said adding that CMFRI’s efforts on developing seed production technology high value marine fish was part of this objective.
Source: Aqua International