Kochi : A Website for ornamental fishes has been launched here. www.ornamentalfishes.org was unveiled here by the School for Industrial Fisheries of the Cochin University of Science and Technology. A test marketing centre for ornamental fish was also opened on the occasion. Both the site and the marketing centre are funded by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) and the fisheries school. The project is aimed at identifying the potential ornamental fish species in the State that have global demand."The project identifies the potential ornamental fish resources of the various water bodies in the State, estimates their availability, works out the seasonal fluctuations, screens them for trade and non-trade barriers, with adequate steps for their conservation and sustainable exploitation," said project principal investigator, Mr A Ramachandran. The main objective of the project was to prepare an ornamental fish map of the State and also to test the species for captive survival, feeding behaviour, captive feeding behaviour and the intricacies of transporting them.
The site is intended to act as a catalyst to trade in ornamental fishes. The site along with the marketing centre will help to offer opportunities to Keralites to enter the over $7 billion annual worldwide trade in ornamental fish. As India's share in this market was negligible, the site and the marketing centre were an attempt to tap the resources and exploit the market to the country's advantage, sources in the fisheries school said.
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