All eyes on ornamental fish culture

Ornamental fish culture is a field that one can consider for setting up a profitable enterprise to promote aquarium culture. Aquarium culture is catching up all over the country, particularly in cities and towns. As both government and private offices are increasingly focussing on workspace ambience and making their establishments look attractive and acceptable to stake holders, ‘ornamental aquarium culture’ is soon becoming a profitable proposition for young entrepreneurs.

An estimated 300 exotic varieties of ornamental fish are traded in India.

The National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) has a number of schemes for setting up ornamental fish units. It is promoting backyard hatcheries for the domestic sector, wherein homemakers and youth can play an active role. A unit can be set up with just Rs 2 lakh while 50 per cent of the cost of the unit is given as subsidy by the NFDB. Similarly a medium scale ornamental fish breeding unit can be set up by entrepreneurs at a cost of Rs 4 lakh. 90 per cent subsidy is given to state fishery departments and other government organisations while 50 per cent subsidy is given to individuals. Similarly an integrated ornamental fish breeding unit can be set up at a cost of Rs 15 lakh with a subsidy component of 50 per cent for individual entrepreneurs, which means that only Rs 7.5 lakh would be invested by an entrepreneur.

Also, aquarium fabrication units can be set up with an investment of Rs 2 lakh with 50 per cent subsidy provision to self help groups, cooperative societies, and 25 per cent to individuals. Education institutions can use the ornamental fish aquarium culture to educate children on the nutritional values of fish consumption. While ornamental fish aquariums is one aspect, the very subject of promoting fish as a nutritious diet goes a long way in establishing a healthy society.

NFDB chief executive Dr MV Rao says that the proposal to increase the unit costs is in the offing and will make schemes more attractive. NFDB has supported 2,447 ornamental fish units at a cost of Rs 15.04 crore. He says, “India is endowed with a rich bio-diversity of 400 marine and 375 fresh water varieties of native ornamental fishes. If one is ambitious, export units can also be set up, the details of which can be worked out with the NFDB or fisheries department offices located in every district.”

Dr Rao adds that future strategies include zoning of ornamental fish estates and strengthening of infrastructure of hatcheries, nurseries and aeration systems, setting up of one-stop-shop under PPP mode for production, marketing, quarantine and green certification, promotion of intensive culture systems and in international trading hub supported by logistics, training, extension and incentives.