The Hindu Business Line : Aluva aqua park to be export hub

The Kerala Government has initiated steps to set up an `Aqua Technology Park' that will serve as a platform for promoting the production, conditioning and export of ornamental fish.

The State, with its climatic conditions and local varieties of ornamental fish, is in an ideal position to take up such a venture, according to industry experts.

An added advantage is the presence of a well-developed fishing industry.

The proposed site for the park, claimed to be the first of its kind in the country, is at Kodungallur near Aluva in Ernakulam district. The park will be established on a 10-acre plot of the Fisheries Department, close to the Cochin International Airport.

According to Government officials, the park will provide operators with ready-to-use space to set up marketing and export units.

It will have common facilities such as water, electricity, laboratories and quarantine, which will be under the management of a company to be formed for the purpose.

The aqua park will function as a hub for export of fish and the actual production will take place in satellite and homestead farms.

Private entrepreneurs will develop the sites identified by the aqua park company for the satellite farms.

The Fisheries Department has already identified a couple of sites for the satellite farms near Neyyar dam and at Pallom farm.

The sites are owned by the Department and the entrepreneurs can take them on lease.

Entrepreneurs can also utilise the existing ornamental fish production sites under various agencies of the Department by taking them on lease.

The public water bodies identified by the Fisheries Resources Management Society (FIRMA) can also be developed as satellite farms by the entrepreneurs.

The park will be managed by a company to be jointly floated by the Fisheries Department, KSIDC, FIRMA and SIDBI or IDBI.

The entrepreneurs who invest in the park and the satellite farms will also have representation in the company.

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