Sea cage culture involves growing fishes in the sea while being enclosed in a net cage which allows free flow of water. It is a production system comprising of a floating frame of varying dimensions and shape, net materials and mooring system, to hold and culture a large number of fishes.
Advantages of Sea Cage Farming
- Cage farming can be undertaken in open seas, sheltered bays or lagoons having suitable water quality and with prior permission from concerned government authorities. Thus, the vast unutilized areas in the sea can be brought under mariculture practices.
- Production per unit (m3) in cage culture is 50 times more than shore based systems.
- Recurring expenditure associated with development and maintenance of infrastructure are lower in cage farming compared to shore based farming practices.
- Stock monitoring is simple in cage farming, facilitating regular observation of behavior, feeding and growth that are critical in avoiding problems related to stress and disease outbreak.
- Harvesting is easy and can be planned as per the demand, offering better quality product at higher price.
Quality of fish seed is of vital importance for the success of grow-out culture in cages. Uniform size seeds appropriate for the mesh size of the fish net cage should be stocked to prevent their escape. This will also help in selecting the correct sized feed for fishes, avoid wastage of feed and reduce cannibalism. Seeds should be healthy, free from diseases and deformities.
The most vital issue for the expansion of the sea cage farming in India is the shortage of fish seeds. Presently seed of Cobia, Pompano, Seabass and Groupers are being produced in a few hatcheries in the country. Apart from these species, seeds of fishes like Mullets, Snappers, Milkfish, etc. collected from the wild can also be used for cage farming. To meet the growing demand from farmers, there is an urgent need to produce sufficient quantity of seed either through commercial hatchery production or by importing till we achieve self-sufficiency in seed production.
List of Marine Fish Hatcheries
- CMFRI, Mandapam, Tamil Nadu - Cobia, Pompano
- CMFRI, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh - Grouper, Pompano
- RGCA (MPEDA), Pozhiyoor, Kerala - Seabass, Cobia, Pompano
- CIBA, Chennai, Tamil Nadu - Seabass
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