Technology demonstration on mussel culture
Technology demonstration on mussel culture
Goa has an enormous water resource potential for mariculture development while only a few people are engaged in coastal mariculture. Hence effective technology transfer and management measures are the need of the hour. Goa being a tourist destination and more than 90% of Goan population is fish eating population; finfish as well as shellfish hold huge demand in the state. In this regard, ICAR Research Complex for Goa initiated demonstration on mussel culture in a 500 sq. m. semi enclosed water body of Mr. Antonio Bosco Menezes, an entrepreneur in Goavelha on 29th November 2013. The high value species green mussel, Perna viridis was the candidate species used for culture. The rack culture method was followed with dimension 5*5 m made of bamboo poles.
This demonstration was conducted in connection with the Institute project on “Development of Coastal mariculture in brackish water areas of Goa” co-ordinated by Principal Investigator, Ms. Manju Lekshmi. N., Scientist (FRM) under the technical guidance of Dr. K. K. Philipose, SIC, Karwar Research Centre of CMFRI. Sreekanth G.B., Co-investigator, Scientist (FRM) has given scientific support for the conduct of the project. Dr. Narendra Pratap Singh, Director, ICAR, Research Complex for Goa was instrumental in providing all necessary support for the programme.
Regular monitoring and advisories through scientific biweekly sampling procedure was followed. The physico-chemical and biological parameters of water and sediment were monitored regularly. Moreover, growth, length-weight progression and meat quality of mussels were monitored. The mussels reached an average weight of 32.5g in 6 months of culture. After culture period, mussels were harvested on 28/05/2014. The farmer has got reasonably high production of about 186 kg from 60 kg mussel seed. The mussels were sold at a price of Rs. 5/each. The total production cost for the culture operation of a single rack was Rs. 12,000. The total returns from the operation were Rs. 28,510. Thus, the net profit earned from the culture was Rs.16, 510. The culture operation has revealed enterprising results for the coastal mariculture in Goa. This method is found to be eco-friendly as there is no involvement of additional nutrient inputs to the culture system. The mussels will thrive on the plankton which enters through the tidal forcing by filter feeding.
Ms. Manju Lekshmi. N and her team in ICAR Research Complex for Goa (Ms. Pastta, Edward Crasta, Giri and Suresh) through this project will target to provide low cost technologies on mussel, oyster, small scale cage culture, capture based culture techniques and integrated farming systems at suitable sites for the farmer groups in Goa. The institute has received requests from around 15 farmers to carry out the mussel culture operations in estuarine coastal waters of Goa during the next season.