Kerala’s abandoned granite quarries seem to be opening up new investment opportunities for the owners, who are facing threat from environmental agencies and anti-pollution forums.

A unique cage fish culture demonstrated by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute in Ernakulam is turning into a money-spinner for several quarry owners confused about how they could effectively utilise the abandoned quarries.

The Kendra has successfully demonstrated cage fish cultures in 50 cents of the abandoned quarries owned by Shaji Varghese, a farmer at nearby Kothamangalam. This has yielded results with the average production of high local demand fishes like pearl spot and tilapia going up to ₹100-150 kg per cage.

PA Vikas, Subject Matter Specialist (Fisheries) of KVK told BusinessLine that the operational cost for one cage was ₹10,000 including seed and feed. Today, Varghese is earning a gross income of ₹24,300 from one cage. Earlier, he could hardly earn ₹5,000 per year from this quarry through traditional carp farming, Vikas said, adding that one cent of granite quarry can accommodate seven such cages.

According to him, small floating cages were fabricated and erected in the farmer’s quarry After eight months fish of harvestable size were produced and the average survival rate was 90 per cent. These types of cages can be used for at least five years.

Exapansion plans

Shinoj Subramannian, Programme Coordinator, said that KVK plans to replicate this model in five more locations in the district this year. However, the need of the hour is to create awareness among granite quarry owners on its profitability.

There are about 800 large and small quarries in the district and majority of them are abandoned. These granite quarries are reservoirs of fresh water. Even the State government’s initiative to utilise these quarries as source of potable water also failed to start off.

Given the situation, he said a viable model of controlled fish farming is the only practical approach. As the area is far away from the coastline, there is scarcity of fresh fish in the foothills of the Western Ghats. Thus, granite quarries can be converted into a potential location for cage fish culture.

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