Agartala: At a fish production plant at College Tilla in Agartala, it’s not uncommon to see young seedlings battling for their lives in oxygen-filled water bags. The government-owned facility, which places limits on visitors, serves as a scientific fish breeding facility for a particular species that is in high demand in Tripura’s local market.

An initial glance at the fishlings swimming around aimlessly in the carefully created water tanks may lead someone to believe they are nothing more than mosquito larva, as we see them in the dirty city drains, but in fact they are freshwater prawns generated using artificial means.

The facility’s fishery officer, Hirak Sarkar, noted that Tripura is not naturally suited for raising fresh water prawns and that, as a result, scientific intervention is required for shrimp production.

“The fresh water prawns are a very unique species. They stay in fresh water but breed in maritime water. Being a landlocked state, we don’t have direct contact with sea geographically, which is why we are preparing the maritime water artificially to make the animal feel he is in the suitable condition of spawning. The eggs are preserved and after it reaches the juvenile stage, fish farmers are allowed to take them for further rearing in the bigger aquatic atmosphere such as ponds and lakes,” Sarkar told media.

The freshwater giant prawns are high in demand in the state’s markets. Even as this species does not belong to the fish family scientifically, it is very much a part of the fish business across the state. At the mature stage, the average price of the lower-layer water animal in the markets ranges from Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,600 per kg.

During festivals like Bijaya Dashami, Pohela Boishakh and Jamai Sasti, the prices shoot up to optimum level which is beyond Rs 1,600.

According to the officials, the food that is used for prawn fry comes all the way from America. “The cost of the prawn fry is high because we have to spend a lot for their fodder. A special kind of fodder is brought here and processed in the Artemia hatching unit to prepare the fodder for the baby prawns,” said another official.

Hirak Sarkar provided more information, stating that “We gather the female berried prawns from the ponds of neighbourhood progressive fish farmers. They are brought to our facility, where they are placed in salted water. Here, they carry out a number of scientific procedures before they deposit the eggs.

He claims that the freshwater giant prawn production hatchery he oversees also trains forward-thinking fish producers and gives young prawns to those who are eligible for government programmes. Many farmers who are working without assistance from the state government have recently demonstrated expertise in establishing prawn cultures in their water bodies, according to Sarkar.