City to get its own fish breeding centre in coming six months

The city will soon get its own fish breeding centre at Airoli, Navi Mumbai. The centre is presumed to be ready in next six months. It will only be the second such centre specifically dedicated to fish breeding, first being in Chennai.

“The main aim of setting up such centre is to reduce and gradually stop the exploitation of fish breeding of ornamental and tropical fishes since their demand is tremendous,” said N Vasudevan, additional principal chief conservator of forest, state mangrove cell. The centre is also a part of coastal livelihood scheme of the mangrove cell.

Breeding of around 16 species will be carried out in the centre’s hatchery initially to ensure over exploitation does not take place. The numbers will be eventually increased. “The 16 species will include clown fish (a popular aquarium pet) and the blue damsel (a saltwater aquarium fish). And since the market value of a clown fish is more than Rs1,000, we opted to go for selective breeding so that there is no exploitation,” Vasudevan added.

The centre will come up on the same premises where the first-of-its-kind centre to study India’s marine ecology, the Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Centre had come up last year. “The centre, spread across 50 metres, should come up in six months. A crumbling structure which currently lays dormant will be transformed into an ornamental fish breeding centre,” Vasudevan affirmed.

Meanwhile, fishery bodies are ecstatic with the move and are waiting for the centre to come up as soon as possible. “The best part about the centre will be that all the fishes will be bred in the hatchery itself, which increases the life of a fish. It is best for marine life if a natural stock is replenished,” said an official from the Department of Fisheries.