Sambalpur, Dec. 19: Cage fish farming, which was stopped at Hirakud dam reservoir last year, will be resumed shortly.

District fisheries officer Adul Rashid said plans were afoot to resume the activity as soon as possible.

"A decision has been taken to resume cage fish farming on public private partnership mode. A firm has already been selected for this purpose. The department will enter into an agreement shortly," he said.

The fisheries department started the cage fish farming method in 2013 with the objective to increase fish production in a cost effective way and simplify harvesting, but the project failed to yield the desired results.

Twenty-eight cages were placed in the reservoir and 3,000 fingerlings were released.

The fingerlings of pangaus, a fast-growing species, were released in each cage phase-wise.

The target was to produce 72 tonne of fish. However, the production was disappointing as only 31 tonnes were produced by October last year. With such low production, officials thought it best to put a stop to the farming project .

It was expected that the fingerlings would grow from anything between 1kg to 1.5kg in six months, but the average weight was only around 750 gram.

Rashid said that intitally, the cage fish farming project was undertaken on an experimental basis.

Due to high-intensity winds in the area, the cage fishing did not have the expected result here, he said. The cages, which were installed under water, came floating up to the bank of the reservoir, which affected the growth of the fish.

"It was because of this that we stopped cage fish farming at that time," said Rashid.