Key Highlights
- Spearheaded by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), the project is being implemented through a collaboration between the Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT administration.
- To encourage local participation, the Minister handed over seeds of deep-water seaweeds and finfish as part of two project streams, plant and animal cultivation in the open ocean.
- According to the ministry, marine finfish will be reared using cage-based systems, supported by NIOT-developed open-sea cages designed to operate in natural oceanic conditions.
- Singh said that while the current initiatives are being undertaken through government-led collaboration, the experience gained and feasibility assessments could allow the projects to be scaled up through public- private participation models in the future.
- Such an approach, he added, would help accelerate deployment, expand livelihood opportunities, and strengthen India’s ‘Blue Economy’ ecosystem.