Sambalpur: With an objective to provide a decent livelihood to unemployed youth, the Fisheries Department has come up with a novel plan to introduce cage culture of freshwater fish in the Hirakud reservoir in Odisha’s Sambalpur district.
The local youth residing in the reservoir periphery are keen on taking up pisciculture. But they are not able to do this as there are no adequate ponds in their villages. Taking this into consideration, the department has decided to introduce cage culture of freshwater fish in the Hirakud reservoir for which it has signed a MoU with five cooperative societies of Sambalpur, Jharsuguda and Bargarh districts for five years.
The project will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on November 20.
The project will be taken up on PPP (public-private partnership) mode in which each cooperative society will deposit Rs 25,000 with the government in the first year and deposit 10 per cent more (Rs 27,500) from the next year.
It has been decided that the department will set up 10 cages in the reservoir for the five cooperative societies. Each cage will be five by five metres and four metres deep and made at a cost of Rs 25 lakh. The department will release hybrid fingerlings in these cages. Rearing these fingerlings in the cage for 7-8 months will yield 30 quintals of fish from each cage, which will enable the cooperative society to generate an income of Rs 15 lakh per annum.
The Fisheries Department had started the experimental cage culture in the reservoir and had an income of Rs 18 lakh.
