To make marine fishing more sustainable and productive, the state government is looking at perationalising the first cage culture of fish at sites along the coast at Mahim. Officials said sea bass, shrimp, lobsters and crabs could breed in such captive projects. “Cage culture is more sustainable and involves less mortality. The catch for conventional fishermen is falling,” said Arun Vidhale, commissioner, fisheries, adding this was the first such project in Maharashtra that was happening on an organised scale. The department is considering setting up a total of 200 submersible cages at 10 coastal sites. An official from the fisheries department said the sites for which they had received proposals included Mahim in Mumbai (one proposal), Satpati in Palghar district (two proposals), and Kalsuri in Raigad (two proposals). “At Mahim, the site may be on the Bandra side of the creek as it is less polluted. However, water samples will be tested before giving it the final nod. It is essential that the sea water should not have traces of chemicals as it is harmful for fish. The cages will be put in areas near the shoreline which are not used for navigation by boats,” he added, stating that sea bass, milk fish and even lobsters could be bred at these sites. “The National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) will provide subsidies and technical inputs for this pilot project. The private parties will run it on a profit-sharing basis,” the official explained. Each of the 10 sites–the rest of which are being finalised–will have 20 cages. Depending on the type of the fish and the area of the tank, each cage culture unit will hold between 5,000 and 10,000 fingerlings. “These cage culture projects provide an assured catch with just around 5-6% mortality due to controlled conditions,” the official said, adding that the commercial farming of sea bass, called jitada in Marathi, could be profitable due to the high demand and the sturdiness of the species. The department has decided to bring a maximum of 1% of the surface area of dams and reservoirs under fish cage farming to tap the untapped potential of freshwater fishing. Maharashtra has an around 4 lakh hectare reservoir area. Varieties like tilapia, pangasius, basa, Asian bass and types of shrimp will be bred in such captive projects in dams. The fisheries department had experimented with a cage culture project at Ratnagiri in the past. According to the Economic Survey of Maharashtra 2017-18, up to December 2017, marine and inland fish production (provisional) was 3.50 lakh MT and 1.15 lakh MT respectively. During 2016-17, it was 4.63 lakh MT and 2.00 lakh MT respectively. Maharashtra has a 720km coastline and around 22,000 marine fishing boats, including 15,000 that are mechanised.