India to triple mussel production in ten years

Kochi, Oct 18 (UNI) India, which has emerged among the top ten nations producing farmed green mussel in Asia with an annual production of more than 10,000 tonnes, is targeting to triple its output in the next ten years.

Inaugurating a seminar on 'Celebrating the Success of Mussel and Oyster Farming', organised by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Insititute (CMFRI) here today, Advisor to Kerala Government Dr Madhusudhana Kurup said the southern state was at the forefront of mussel and oyster production in the country.

A master plan for the fisheries sector was being formulated by the Kerala Government and tripling the country's mussel production in the next ten years will be among its targets, he said.

The technology to farm the green mussel and edible oyster was developed by the Kochi-based CMFRI in the 1970s but it was accepted as an aquaculture practice in the shallow backwaters of the coastal villages of Kerala only in 1996, Dr Kurup said.

Within a span of ten years, India had become one of the top ten farmed mussel producers in Asia due to Kerala's contribution. The edible oyster production had also increased to 1500 tonnes mainly from the southern districts of Kerala.

Dr K Sunil Mohamed, Head, Molluscan Fisheries Division, CMFRI, said while India had made big strides in the field in the past ten years, it was way behind China, whose annual mussel production was half a million tonnes.

The pioneers of the mussel farming technology, Dr P S Kuriakose, Dr K K Appukuttan and Mr G P K Achary, were felicitated on the occasion.

UNI