The Fisheries Department inaugurated a new type of fish farm that should cut down the amount of space required, thus enabling farmers to construct ponds over smaller parcels of land.
This type of fish farm is known as a Backyard Mini RAS (Re-circulatory Aquaculture System).
It was inaugurated by the Director of Fisheries, AL Mawlong, today at Laitkor Rngi Wahkdait. Meanwhile, at Mawlai Nongkwar, a backyard ornamental fish rearing unit was also inaugurated by Mawlong.
Both projects were brought to fruition through the assistance of the Department of Fisheries under the central government PMMSY scheme. Mawlong congratulated the two beneficiaries, Solidarity Lyngdoh and Paul L Pyngrope for setting up the Mini Ras and ornamental fish units respectively.
Mini RAS is a kind of fish farming technology where water is recycled and reused after mechanical and biological filtration and removal of suspended matter and metabolites. This could be set up in a home’s backyard requiring minimum land area and water compared with the traditional fish farming in big fishery ponds that require a large area and volume of water.
This farming technique produces “more of less” an equally good amount of fish, a press release stated. This type of fish farming could be established even in the urban households where land availability is scarce. The director encouraged the beneficiary to take the project ahead diligently and set an example to others.
Mawlong also stated that backyard ornamental fish rearing is a good initiative and she encouraged him to rear and propagate indigenous ornamental fish such as loaches and murrel, since our region possesses a variety of species with good potential to sustain livelihoods.
