Minister of State for Forest, Fisheries and Cooperatives, Mir Zahoor Ahmad today visited Trout Culture Farm Laribal Dachigam to take stock of various works undertaken by the department here.During his visit, the Minister was briefed about the development in terms of egg production, seed capacity at the farm, sale and revenue generated through the sale of trout fish. He was also apprised about the two-trout species, Rainbow trout and Brown trout fish being cultured at farm Laribal.The Minister was informed that while Rainbow Trout is cultured for commercial production, Brown Trout is for stocking at various streams for angling purpose. He was further informed that four lakh Trout eggs were supplied to Sikkim from Laribal farm to meet their needs. Earlier, the seed was supplied from Kokernag farm.It was revealed that the production of trout has been 5.2 tons this year as compared to 4.5 tons last year, besides the seed was also provided to private fish farmers and departmental units.
Further, the department generated revenue of around Rs 4 crore through sale of trout fishes, eggs to private farms and individual customers.The Minister was also informed on the amount of work completed on the retail fish market at Lal Chowk and wholesale fish market at Tengpora.During the visit, discussions were also held for establishment of Aquarium in district Srinagar.Interacting with the staff, the Minister asked them to work with utmost dedication and double their efforts to ensure increase in fish production in the State besides work towards awareness creation among general masses about the benefits of the schemes meant for fish farming community. He also asked them to prepare plans for setting up of new fish ponds and submit the same to the concerned quarters for arrangement of funds.Senior Officers of Fisheries Department accompanied the Minister during his tour.