ELURU: The State government is planning to set up hatcheries to supply fish seed to aqua farmers through the Fisheries Department, Minister for Fisheries and Animal Husbandry Ch Adinarayana Reddy has said.
The minister toured Yalamanchili, Bhimavaram and Palacole mandals and inspected aqua labs on Saturday.
Speaking to newsmen at Chinchinada in Yalamanchili mandal, where he inspected Sri Varma Hatchery along with Palacole MLA Nimmala Rama Naidu and MLC Angara Ramamohan, Adinarayana Reddy said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu took special interest in promoting aquaculture in the State in a big way to achieve higher growth rate.
West Godavari district stood first in the State in aquaculture. About 2 lakh acres are under aquaculture in the district. There is further scope to extend the area under aquaculture. Aqua farmers need to adopt modern methods to increase the yield, he said.Fisheries Commissioner Rama Sankar Naik, Joint Director of Fisheries S Anjali, Deputy Director of Fisheries Mani Prakash and others accompanied the minister.