Oyster culture at Tuticorin

Oyster culture as a food producing subsystem, can be undertaken effectively and profitably in India. The success of this centre can have far reaching results in solving the demand for cheap animal protein from the sea and as an income generating avocation for fishermen, investigations carried out at Tuticorin to find out the feasibility of oyster farming in coastal areas were successful. Effective methods have been developed for large-scale oyster spat collection by using lime-coated country tiles. For growing the oysters to marketable size in short period 'rack culture' technique was effectively employed. Production of 119 tonnes of oysters per hectare could be achieved in 12 months time. Applicability of the technology developed in popularising oyster farming along the Indian coasts is discussed in detail.