Following successfully completing growing crops from saline water being extracted from Thar Coal mines, Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) on Tuesday announced to have successfully undertaken a pilot project to grow fish from the saline water.
SECMC, the firm mining coal at Thar Coal Field’s Block II, which successfully completed a pilot project of biosaline agriculture by growing crops on underground water, has also attained the success of marketable fish farming on the brine being extracted from the Coal Field’s 2nd and 3rd aquifers.
“About 7 species of fish including Morakhi (Mrigal Carp), Rohu (Labea Rohita), Theli, Kuriro, Gulfam, African Catfish, and Dangri (Barramundi) are being raised in a small pond inside the Ansari Green Park,” said SECMC’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Syed Abul Fazal Rizvi in a news release issued.
After the successful piloting, the company plans to raise fish on a large scale in Gorrano Reservoir some 35kms away from the mining area, he said.
“We were quite hopeful of the result we are witnessing today when we started seeding fish last year in November. Today, now that the project is becoming a success, couple it with our biosaline agriculture and it will change the landscape of Thar when it comes to livelihood opportunities,” Rizvi added.
He said that the groundwater extracted from the depth of 180m, containing around 5000ppm of TSD levels, has been used for fish farming.
“The same water is being released into the Gorrano Reservoir where the said project is planned to be extended to,” Rizvi said adding that, “Continuous monitoring for the past 04 months revealed the survival rate of the said fish at 90 percent.”
Detailing the project, he said that about 100,000 fish eggs will be released into the reservoir to have about 200,000 kilos of fish.
“Our company does not intend to earn any profit for itself, but we want to prove that the project’s success and train the local communities on fish farming to help them broaden their scope of livelihood opportunities,” concluded Rizvi.