The state government’s mariculture initiative is yet to find any takers. We notified the Goa State Mariculture Policy 2020 in August. Now, it is the public that needs to step forward and apply for permits. This would be the best time to apply for it since the cultured fish require about six to seven months to grow, a fisheries department official said. Fisheries department sources said that so far seafarers who returned to Goa due to the pandemic and people who lost their jobs due to the lockdown earlier this year, have been inquiring with them about sea cage culture however, the department hasn’t received any applications so far. The fisheries department had planned to source the fish seeds from the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture (RGCA) in Chennai for the fish farmers in Goa. If there is demand for seeds that are not available with the RGCA, the fisheries department is also willing to write to the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) for help. TOI had reported in August that the state government has formulated a leasing policy to introduce systematic management strategies both for conservation and sustained fish production. It was aimed at encouraging artisanal fishers to take up offshore open sea cage culture such that they shift from capture fisheries regime to culture fisheries regime. To implement cage fish farming as per the Goa State Mariculture Policy 2020, the state government also proposed to constitute an expert committee for zonation and demarcation of the marine waters for mariculture.