KOCHI: The Centre has granted Rs 9 crore to the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute CMFRI ) to establish national broodbanks of two marine fishes namely cobia and pompano.The Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DADF) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare approved CMFRI’s proposal to enhance production of farmed cobia (Rachycentron canadum) and pompano (Trachinotus blochii) through the establishment of their broodbanks and supply of larvae to all coastal States for seed production.The broodbank will be set up at Mandapam and Vizhinjam regional centres of the CMFRI and the regional hatcheries will be established in all maritime states. The broodbank will have quarantine facility, broodstock holding tanks, recirculation aquaculture systems and photothermal control systems. The proposed facility will sustainably produce fertilized eggs and newly hatched larvae from bio-secure broodstocks of cobia and pompano fed with suitable diets under controlled water quality parameters and photoperiod.According to Dr A Gopalakrishnan , CMFRI director, the new project will help solve the issue of scarcity of quality seeds of cobia and pompano which are among the most suitable species for sea cage farming in Indian waters. “Since the present marine capture fisheries is unable to meet growing seafood demand, we have to focus on increasing the marine fish production through mariculture activities. However, scarcity of quality seeds is a major impediment to the mariculture industry in the country. The proposed broodbanks and regional hatchery facilities will cater to the requirements of quality seeds of cobia and pompano in all the maritime States”, he said.With the establishment of the broodbanks, production of 48 million newly hatched larvae of pompano and 30.72 million newly hatched larvae of cobia could be achieved per year, Dr Gopalakrishnan said.“There is a network of over 1000 cages spread across the country under the technical guidance of the CMFRI. Lack of adequate seed supply often hamper the mariculture industry and so a broodbanks of marine finfish as a national facility is the need of the hour”, he said.