Mariculture offers bright business prospect for India’s coastal region

Kochi: Mariculture has emerged as a promising business opportunity for India’s coastal regions, offering decent income to the coastal people even as extreme weather events like cyclones are leading to the reduction of fishing days every year, according to a new study by the ICAR–Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI). Cage fish farming in the open sea and coastal waters could yield an additional income of up to Rs.3 lakhs per unit, the study found. The study examined the social, environmental, technical and economic aspects of 159 mariculture units such as cage farming, seaweed cultivation and Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) in six coastal states including Kerala. The innovative practice of IMTA, which combines mussel or seaweed cultivation with cage fish farming, was found to generate even higher profits of Rs.3.25 lakhs per unit. Higher profitability for coastal water cage farms in Kerala Kerala exhibited higher profitability in coastal water cage ...