New Delhi, Jan 18 (UNI) Minister of Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh on Sunday launched India’s first open-sea marine fish farming project in the Andaman Sea, marking a pilot initiative aimed at creating livelihood opportunities while advancing the country’s ‘Blue Economy’ ambitions.
The project was launched at North Bay in Sri Vijaya Puram during the Minister’s field visit to the open waters of the Andaman Sea. Ministry officials said the pilot initiative focuses on cultivating marine finfish and seaweed in natural ocean conditions to create livelihood opportunities for local communities.
Spearheaded by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), the project is being implemented through a collaboration between the Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT administration.
To encourage local participation, the Minister handed over seeds of deep-water seaweeds and finfish as part of two project streams, plant and animal cultivation in the open ocean. According to the ministry, marine finfish will be reared using cage-based systems, supported by NIOT-developed open-sea cages designed to operate in natural oceanic conditions.
Singh said that while the current initiatives are being undertaken through government-led collaboration, the experience gained and feasibility assessments could allow the projects to be scaled up through public- private participation models in the future. Such an approach, he added, would help accelerate deployment, expand livelihood opportunities, and strengthen India’s ‘Blue Economy’ ecosystem.
