High-tech packing plant to boost Himalayan fish

One of the rarest and tastiest Himalayan river fishes could soon be preserved for six months instead of a day, with the Himachal Pradesh government's plans to set up a high-tech packaging plant.

"Once we are able to package the trout(fish) in vacuum packing, like other processed foods this would not only considerably enhance the shelf life of the fish, but also promote its production by the private and government fish farms in the state," a top official of the state fisheries department said.

"The vacuum-packaging unit is proposed to set up in the Kullu valley, which is the only major government farm commercially producing trout," the official added.

Government sources said Himachal Pradesh's idea was given a nod by the central agriculture ministry during a recent national fisheries conference in Goa.

"A detailed project proposal to establish the vacuum-packaging unit for the trout would be soon submitted to the agriculture ministry," the official said.

The estimated cost of the proposed packaging unit is unclear at this stage. Experts however, said once the lifespan of the much sought after trout goes up considerably, it can then be easily exported to all the major centres across the country and even overseas.

"At present, major Delhi hoteliers come to our Kullu plant and have to make their own painstaking ice-packaging arrangements to ship them by truck to Delhi as it is highly perishable. Both government and private producers have to currently make their own arrangements to transport the fish to Delhi and other nearby centres in northern India," another official of the fisheries department told Business Standard.

One kilogram fetches around Rs 200 in Delhi to the seller.The cost of producing a kilogram of the trout is estimated at around Rs 120.

Officials said the current production of the trout is around 24 tonnes in half a dozen trout farms in the state. Almost 30 tonnes is also produced by 26 private fish farms across the hill state.

The target in the next five years is to produce 500 tonnes in both the government and private sector.

Trout is found only in crystal-clear, snow-fed streams and in waters with temperature below 12 degrees celsius.