500K trout ova dispatched from Kashmir to Arunachal, Nagaland & U’khand for rearing
From Asia’s largest trout farm in south Kashmir’s Kokernag, 500,000 trout ova were dispatched to Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Uttarakhand for rearing.
Brown and rainbow trouts are cold water fish that were introduced in Kashmir over 100 years ago.
The chief trout farming project officer at Kokernag, Mohammad Muzaffar Bazaz, said that 500,000 trout ova were dispatched from the farm to Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Bhimtal in Uttarakhand where the directorate of cold water research centre has been established by Indian Council of the Agriculture Research.
Bazaz said that the 500,00 trout ova were airlifted so the progeny reach the respective destinations safe and unharmed.
“Our staff at the farm worked overnight so these trout ova reach the respective destinations undamaged. The facilities were provided by the principal secretary of the animal husbandry department through the PMMSY scheme.”
Spread over 20 hectares, the farm was set up 36 years ago with support from the European Economic Committee.
It started with a single hatchery which has now been upgraded to three hatcheries that supply millions of eyed ova and seeds to beneficiaries, including private fish farmers.
Bazaz said that Kashmir has two types of fisheries, warm and cold water.
“For trout culture, the temperature shouldn’t exceed 20 degrees Celsius. Brown trouts are in abundance in the upper reaches,” he says.
Kashmir is also known as an anglers’ paradise — tourists, particularly foreigners, head for high-altitude water bodies as brown trout is found in highaltitude lakes and streams.