rear fishes in cages kept in the open sea.

PANAJI: Chonak (giant sea perch) and modso (lemon fish), two species of tasty and high-priced in Goa could turn cheap and abundant in the future. The fisheries department has finalized plans to rear them in cages kept in the open sea.

• Cages - refer to open or covered enclosed structures constructed with net, mesh or any porous material allowing natural water interchange. These structures may be floating, suspended, or fixed to the substrate but still permitting water interchange from below.

Fisheries director Sharmila Monteiro told TOI that the project is called 'open sea cage culture' and that the central government has sanctioned 2.5 crore for it. The fisheries department has already created 10 self-help groups of fishermen, all from Canacona, where the project is intended to be implemented around October this year.

Cage Farming Technology:

Fish cages are placed in lakes, bayous, ponds, rivers or oceans to contain and protect fish until they can be harvested. The method is also called "off-shore cultivation" when the cages are placed in the sea. They ...See More

19 Under the project, the fisheries department will give the self-help groups the technology and training to rear the fish in the open sea. This involves placing a circular cage of six metres diameter in the sea at a depth of between six to 10 metres. The fishermen will then release fingerlings (young fish) into the cage. Initially, only two species—chonak and modso—are planned to be reared. The fishermen will rear the fish in the open sea cages by feeding them pellet feed. Each cage is expected to yield about four tonnes of fish in about seven-eight months.

Each of the 10 Canacona self-help groups will be given five cages, which means that the Canacona seaside will be dotted with 50 such cages.

This is considered a very small-scale project and when it becomes successful the fisheries department plans to replicate it in other parts of Goa.

The project is being implemented in consultation with the central marine fisheries research institute, Kochi, through its Karwar branch. Besides installing the cages in the open sea, the project involves a mobile laboratory, the pellet feed, fingerlings, canoes for the fishermen to go to the cages, ice boxes, etc.

In the first year, the central government will bear the entire cost and the fishermen need not pay anything, but part of the earnings from the first year will have to be invested in the second year's operations. "The fishermen need not pay any money in the first year; all they have to give is their dedication," Monteiro said.