Seed hatchery: Punjab fisheries department launches new scheme for capacity building

The Punjab Fisheries Department is launching a new scheme this year for capacity building of existing fish seed hatchery and nursery units for productivity enhancement aimed at production of 3.1 million additional fish seed in the province.
Sources in the department told Business Recorder here on Saturday that the department will spend Rs 30.5 million on improving infrastructure and acquiring physical assets for existing fish hatcheries in Dera Ghazi Khan, Sahiwal, Khushab, Vehari, Gujranwala, Layyah, Bhakkar, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Rawalpindi and Khanewal.
The funds will be spent for installation of tube-wells/turbines, renovation of ponds, replacement of damage/rusted water supply pipelines, construction of compound wall and barbed wire fencing, watch and ward huts. Sources said that the capacity building of hatcheries network is planned to meet expanded development needs, while it has also planned to establish two new hatcheries at Rahim Yar Khan and Chashma Barrage.
The provincial government has allocated Rs 370 million for the year 2011-12 to the fisheries department with basic thrust of development strategy on conservation, manage and developing aquatic resources in public and private sector to meet the protein requirements of growing population. Similarly, the department plans to provide technical and scientific support to private sector in up gradation of institutional and infra structural facilities are the main areas of development strategy.
For the current financial year, sources said the department has also planned to provide fish processing facilities and cold storage facility at major fish production centres for quality assurance and reduction of post harvest losses. Promoting shrimp culture in saline/brackish water and introduction of 'Fish Quality Control' to enforce regulatory regime are the other plans of the department for the current fiscal, the sources added.