Mohit Rathod – Pune
WestCoast Group, one of India’s leading manufacturers and distributors of frozen food, has adopted cage culture for its tilapia fish rearing, at the 1,200-hectare Varasgaon reservior and 800-hectare Panshet reservior near Pune, Maharashtra. WestCoast has taken these reserviors on lease and has currently installed 70 cages. The company plans increase it to 2,000 cages in the next two years. Cage culture is a technology of rearing fish in net enclosure with minimum predatory pressure. This newly introduced technology in India is practised in confined water bodies where fish is reared sustainably on closely-monitored probiotic diet and is aimed at maintaining the quality of the fish and preventing environmental degradation. WestCoast’s cage culture setup uses 0.1 per cent of the total reservior and each cage provides an annual output of about five tonnes. The company plans to increase its tilapia production capacity from 400 tonnes to 10,000 tonnes anually in the next two years and focus its efforts on the domestic market.
Speaking to Food & Hospitality World, Shivam Gupta, director, WestCoast Group, said, “The oceans, rivers and lakes of the world are facing a terrible situation of over fishing, which is causing extinction of fish, environmental pollution and degradation. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, the situation is so bad that if this rate of overfishing continues, the world’s current seafood production will collapse by 2048. Our answer to this growing problem is cage culture, which ensures sustainability. The quality of the fish is completely under our control as we are fully integrated and maintain full traceability of each fish from farm to fork.”
“As tilapia cage culture is done locally, it aligns with the ‘Make in India’ campaign and generates more income for the economy. A large quantum of fish is imported into India from nearby Asian countries which could be immediately stopped, given the 4.5 million hectare of reservoirs in India that are ideal for fish culture,” added Gupta.
WestCoast is targeting hotels, restaurants and caterers in Indian metros to market tilapia. The company aims to promote tilapia as a base fish in the India market, which is presently controlled by Basa fish mainly imported from Vietnam. WestCoast also sells live tilapia at its flagship retail outlet, Cambay Tiger Seafood Mart, in Mumbai.
Commenting on expansion plans, Gupta informed, “More state governments are now realising the potential of cage culture. We are in talks with various state governments for expansion. We will increase awareness about the traceability and hygiene factor associated with cage culture and make tilapia a popular fish. Annual fish consumption of the world is 18.4 kg per capita, whereas in India, it is less than two kg. Our objective is to increase the per capita consumption of fish in the country, which is a rich and less expensive source of proteins. And tilapia is a great way to do that without harming the coastline.”