The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has set up a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) at its Vizhinjam Research Centre to boost the seed production of commercially important marine fishes.

RAS, which filters water inside the fish tank helping to reuse the water, will be beneficial to the brood stock development of marine fishes. The CMFRI set up the RAS tank with a capacity of 30,000 litres with the aim of popularising sea cage farming to increase the production of marine species.

Inaugurating the facility, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Sudarshan Bhagat said farmer-friendly technologies should be developed to attract people into fish farming. To solve the issues in the fisheries sector following the decline in the availability of fish from the sea, steps should be taken to improve the facilities and technologies for boosting fish production through alternative ways, the minister said.

A. Gopalakrishnan, CMFRI Director, said the newly installed RAS facility could accelerate the growth of mariculture in the country. Mariculture is the hope of the future generation and CMFRI is now focusing on research to enhance mariculture activities through cage farming methods.

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