India's first ornamental fish tech park in Chennai soon

Mangaluru: India’s first Aquatic  ainbow Technology Park (ARTP) in Chennai would be operational in next three months. ARTP would be an ultra-modern exclusive facility for ornamental fish equipped with multi-species hatchery and live feed culture units and would fulfill the requirement of the industry for mass production of high value aquarium fish.”

The Rs 10-crore facility, being funded by the Tamil Nadu Innovation Initiatives of the state government, will be equipped with advanced infrastructure and technical expertise for boosting production of high value ornamental fish species, both indigenous and exotic,” MPEDA chairman Dr A. Jayathilak said during the three-day Aqua Aquaria India (AAI) 2017. MPEDA has been a part of the steering committee for the project.

The three day biennial exposition, Aqua Aquaria India (AAI) concluded at Mangaluru on Tuesday. The event was organised by the Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA), a nodal agency of the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry dealing with promotion of marine products exports and allied activities. Mangaluru is the first City in the West Coast to host AAI.

Jayathilak said that the ARTP is being developed by Fisheries College and Research Institute (FCRI), Ponneri in Tamil Nadu. After completion, it would be handed over to ornamental fish breeders and farmers on lease for three years.

The ARTP would develop breeding technologies for high value indigenous ornamental fish species and ensure quality fish seeds in bulk quantities, develop new technologies for an uninterrupted supply of live feeds and advanced disease diagnosis and treatment mechanism. It will also have a quarantine lab where exotic fish varieties imported from other countries would be treated for bacterial and viral infections.