(From Top) The retail outlet of Chilika fish at Badagada and toxic-free prawn fish. Crabs for sale at the market. Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, April 1: Chilika fish is now available in the capital city. The Chilika Fisheries Central Co-operative Society today opened an exclusive sales outlet at Badagada BMC market for fish coming from Asia’s largest brackish water lake. Fisheries and animal resources minister Dr Damodar Rout inaugurated the outlet in the presence of Bhubaneswar mayor Ananta Narayan Jena. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Ajit Pattnaik, president, Chilika Fisheries Central Co-operative Society and chief executive of Chilka Development Authority (CDA), said: “The society’s initiative will boost the business of Chilika fishers as they’ll get the legitimate price for their catch. The fish would be brought from Chilika directly so that consumers in Bhubaneswar get ‘lake fresh’ fresh stock.”

The fresh Chilika fish would be brought from the fishermen by maintaining the cold chain. The Fisheries Central Co-operative Society has provided 1,500 insulated fish boxes to the fishermen, which can hold the fish in natural and fresh conditions for more than 24 hours.

Claiming that Chilika fish was scientifically proved to be completely toxic-free, Pattnaik said: “Consumers, who are health conscious and fond of fresh fish varieties, would get the lake fresh Chilika fish at reasonable rates from this outlet.” The marketing would be done exclusively by the central society to avoid intervention of any intermediaries.

“Nearly two lakh fishermen living in and around the lakes will benefit from this initiative,” he added. Stating that Chilika fish is safest to eat, Pattnaik said: “As per the study done by the Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI), Barrackpore, there is no trace of any insecticide, pesticide or heavy metals in the fish or shell fish of Chilika Lake.”

The fish fauna of Chilika is characterised by the composite of freshwater, brackish and marine elements. During this financial year the annual production from the lake is likely to exceed the 12,000 metric-tonne mark. Mahendra Kumar Badehi, marketing manager, said: “On the first day, the outlet sold 75 kg of fishes. The prices of the fishes vary from Rs 120 to Rs 300 depending on the quality and varieties of the fishes. Many more outlets would be opened in the city.” Six economic species of fishes such as ilishi (tenualosa ilisha), nahama (elops machnata), paniakhia (megalops cyprinoides), kalakhuranta (acanthopagrus berda), kekenda (rhynomugil corsula) and sebakhainga (chanos chanos), which were thought to have become extinct from the lake before its restoration, have gradually reappeared during the post-restoration period.