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In a major relief from a harrowing struggle to meet their livelihood due to the pandemic, a group of fish farmers from the scheduled caste community in Ernakulam has earned good profit through a bumper harvest of pearl spot ( Karimeen ) from their cage fish farming venture.
A self-help group named 'P uzhayoram’ in Maradu recorded a yield of 600 kg of pearl spot from a 4x4m square-sized cage fish installed in Maradu-Nettoor backwaters.
The cage farming was part of a special programme of the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) for the SC community.
The harvested fish was completely sold out on the spot itself and the SC families in the region reaped a profit of ₹2,73,000 from a 10-month long farming that started in October last year by stocking 2,000 seeds of pearl spot, said K Madhu, Principal Scientist of the CMFRI and the Principal Investigator of the project. The fish attained a growth rate of average 380g with 95 per cent of survival rate and the fish sold out for ₹450 per kg.
Cage farming
As part of the programme, the CMFRI had provided the group with cage, seeds, feed for the entire farming period and other ancillary facilities free of cost and the researchers from the institute guided the farmers during all the phases of the farming.
“With no income and unemployment, the Covid-19 pandemic and following lockdown had a cascading effect on the lives of the SC families in the region. However, the cage farming venture has helped them sustain their livelihood to a certain extent,” Madhu said adding that besides cage farming, pen culture and bio-floc fish farming were also in progress for the community in different parts of the State.
A Gopalakrishnan, CMFRI Director said, “The cage farming technology and other fish farming activities of CMFRI have proved its potential to accelerate the pace of development of the SC and ST families, and for their socio-economic development. The institute is always focused on empowering the marginalised section of the society through small-scale enterprises by extending its technologies to them.”
Many fish farmers in poor backgrounds in the country are greatly benefitted through CMFRI’s SCSP and Tribal Sub Plan programmes which are aimed at mainstreaming the marginalised community. Efforts are also in progress to extend support to the transgenders in SC and ST community in a way that helps them earn a living through cage fish farming and allied activities, he added.
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