'Amur'- new variety fish to be launched

Kolkata: State Fisheries Development Corporation (SFDC) will introduce a new variety of fish

before the Pujas.

Amur, the new variety of fish from Hungary look very close to Rohu and tastes better than Katla, claimed a senior officials of SFDC.

Amur will cost Rs 100 per kilogram, which is much cheaper than Rohu and Katla.

The SFDC has imported two thousand pieces of Amur.

If people like the taste of the fish, then steps will be taken to grow the variety in the hatchery.

The fingerling grows upto 2kg within 6 months, said Soumyajit Das, managing director of SFDC. He said Rohu or Katla fingerlings take nearly two years to reach 2kg weight leading to frequent shortage of supply.

This causes over dependence on the supply of fishes from Andhra Pradesh.

Amur will be grown at the Nalban hatchery where the infrastructure is ready.

It may be mentioned that the former Chief Minister Dr BC Roy had imported Niloptica popularly known as Telapia, which is rich in protein with minimum fat from Italy in the mid 1950s.

The variety was grown along with the Indian carps at the East Kolkata Wetland. Water tanks were set up in every state run hospital in Kolkata where Telapia fish was grown and was included in the daily menu of the patients.

Over the years Telapia has become a very popular fish in Bengal.