Kollam :

With the Ashtamudi lake facing depletion of crabs owing to indiscriminate fishing in the area, the government on Thursday began a programme of crab breeding in the lake near Kollam.

Under the programme, high quality crabs are brought from the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture Centre at Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and deposited in a special protective enclosure in the lake.

The mission is to prevent serious environmental problems.

The programme is being implemented by the Fisheries Department under the marine life protection programme.

Special nets have been set up in the lake to protect the crabs in the enclosure. A total of 3,657 crabs

have been deposited in the lake.

Each crab grows to have a weight of 8 kg with each kg costing `1,200.

The programme was inaugurated by district panchayat secretary K Anil Kumar. Fisheries Deputy Director Suresh was also present

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kannada / by Express News Service / April 01st, 2016