Fish Federation to sell live fish in city from today

For those who repeatedly complain about the quality of fish bought from the market, here is a piece of good news. The Karnataka State Co-operative Fisheries Federation Limited, is selling live fishes for customers for the first time in the city, from today.

By selling live fish, the Federation aims to address the demand of ‘fresh fish’ from customers. The  authorities said that customers can chose the fish they want to buy from two centres in the city, at Paduvarahalli and near Kukkarahalli lake, where they will be on sale.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Managing Director of the Federation, Gangadhar V Maddikeri, said that Pangasius fish, which have been cultured in cages at Krishnaraja Sagar Reservoir, will be sold ‘live’ on an experimental basis.

Fish farming

“Pangasius species was cultured for the first time by the Federation, at KRS from August this year and is being sold in the city for the first time. The edible species is of high nutritional value,” he said.

With each fish weighing more than one kg, they will be kept in a water tank and will be shifted to an aquarium, so that the customers can choose what fish they want, he said.

While fish varieties such as catla, rohu, common carp and grass carp was in demand in and around the city, the Federation is also anticipating a demand for this new variety of fish in the coming days, he said.

Pangasius is a foreign species, from which commercial fish rearers in Andhra Pradesh had benefitted immensely from. Following its success in Andhra Pradesh, the Federation decided to culture the fish at KRS, he said.

Noting that fish rearers can benefit from this variety, he said that the said fish can weigh anywhere between one to one and half kg in about six to eight months. Also, rearers can harvest up to 400 tonnes of fish in one hectare.

Another advantage is that they are voracious eaters and feed on almost everything, he added. As an inaugural offer, live fish will cost Rs 99 per kg, Gangadhar added.