Government plans 11 shrimp farms

[LahoreEstate]

Sunday, December 20, 2009
By Shahid Shah

KARACHI: The federal government is starting work on its first model shrimp farm on Monday at Jiwani, Balochistan.

The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock has initiated a seven-year (2007-13) ‘Aquaculture and Shrimp Farming Project’ at a cost of Rs1.99 billion. Under this project, the government would establish 11 shrimp farms, three at Sindh coast and eight at Balochistan coast. Each of these farms would occupy 10 hectares of land.

Mohammad Moazzam Khan, Chief Executive Fisheries Development Board and Managing Director Marine Fisheries Department, told The News that land has been identified for two more farms in Balochistan at Ormara and Somiani and three farms in Sindh, two at Thatta and one at Badin.

He said that identifying land was not an easy process, which took time, but he hoped to make all the 11 farms functional by 2013. The provincial government will provide land for the establishment of these model-cum-demonstration shrimp farms. After completion of the project, the farms will be handed over to the provinces, progressive farmers, partners and potential stakeholders. These farms will serve as centres for technical training to potential shrimp/fish farmers in the coastal belt.

Besides shrimp farms, the government is going to build 3 hatcheries with the cost of Rs35 million, develop cage culture with cost of Rs19 million. One such model cage farm has been established at Keenjhar lake, where fish seed was stocked recently, Khan informed. Besides shrimp and cage farming by the public sector, Rs500 million have been earmarked as support to private sector entrepreneurs in the field of cage farming, shrimp farming, trout farming and to nursery units for support of cage farming.

The provincial governments will provide land on lease to the interested shrimp farmers, on recommendation of the Fisheries Development Board and the project will provide the financial incentive to them. Fish in cages are provided with artificial feed that are harvested from cages without draining water bodies. Cage culture is an advanced and highly profitable technology for fish culture and is being used in far eastern countries on large scale.

Cages are usually made of a rigid frame and netting material through which water can easily flow but fish cannot escape. The advantage of cage culture is that fish can be confined to facilitate feeding, harvesting and other management practices.

Fish yield in cage culture is higher than in open pond. The project also included establishment of six state of the art fish markets to improve quality of fish and reduce post harvest loses. Total production from inland resources in the country is about 200 thousand tons annually.

Owing to improper transportation, storage and marketing facilities 25 to 30 per cent of the produce is wasted. Almost all fish markets except in Karachi, said one official, are unregulated. Highly unhygienic conditions prevail in these markets. A huge amount of fish catches is wasted due to non-availability of refrigerated vans for transportation and suitable cold storage facilities in the fish markets.

“These losses can be avoided through establishment of modern markets equipped with proper storage, transportation and handling equipment,” said Khan.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=214259