Kerala   

A rich haul from the sea

Photo: Vipin Chandran

High RETURN: B. Madhusoodana Kurup (left), adviser to the State Fisheries Minister, and N.G.K. Pillai (centre), director of CMFRI, with Lisa Paul, the mussel farmer of Gothuruthu near North Paravur, at the venue of mussel harvesting on Thursday.

As Paul Dominic and Lisa Paul drew the rope line studded with fully grown mussels from the depths of the North Paravur backwaters on Thursday, the villagers cheered the couple.

The harvesting brought to shore rich dividends to the mussel farmers as well as the scientists of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Kochi.

There was every reason for the villagers and the researchers of the institute to cheer about the mussel farming.

The framing was done by a team of 10 women from the village who didn’t have any prior experience in mussel farming.

The Pauls, who were trained by the researchers of the CMFRI, shared the knowledge they acquired among the womenfolk and encouraged them to take up the initiative, thus creating a new chapter in the extension of knowledge from the research labs to fields.

The mussel farming was undertaken as part of the Frontline Demonstration Programme of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Narakkal, of the institute.

The mussel seeds that were deposited four months back have grown to maturity and are expected to fetch good price in the market - both domestic and international.

Each rope had 3kg of seeds attached to them when they were first deposited.

Over the past 4 months, they have gained weight and grown in size.

The 250 ropes dipped in the backwaters would now weigh around 3 tonne.

The institute had been supporting the farmers in providing seeds and facilities for the farming.

B. Madhusoodana Kurup, Professor of the School of Industrial Fisheries of the Cochin University of Science and Technology, formally inaugurated the harvesting in the presence of N.G.K. Pillai, director of the institute.

Satyadas, Sunilkumar Muhammad, Lakshmi Narayanan, Aboobecker, researchers of the institute, were present to witness the harvesting.

Now, you can order farm-fresh mussel meat and the Pauls would bring them live from the backwaters for you.

K. S. Sudhi

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