Panaji, April 16 (PTI): Goa's mussel shellfish, a regular part of the state's cuisine, has got a fresh lease of life after the Indian Council for Agricultural Research embarked on a project to arrest the rapid decline of the species.

Mussel is the common name used for members of several families of clams from saltwater and freshwater habitats.

In the wake of the poor availability of mussel last year, a team of ICAR scientists started working with the local community to revive the mussel and other two indigenous fish varieties, that have been rapidly depleting, despite them fetching handsome returns in the market.

"There was no mussel spat available last year," Manju Lakshmi N, scientist with the Fishing Resources Management Division of ICAR, said.

Factors like pollution, climate change and sand mining has resulted in the dwindling number of mussel, found in the state's estuarine waters, she said.

According to her, the shifting of monsoon patterns from its traditional calendar also contributed to it.

As part of the mariculture project initiated in August last year and being carried out at Betim and Goa-Velha, both near Panaji in river Mandovi, the ICAR scientists first collected the seeds from Kerala.

The scientists are also breeding pearl spot (kalunder) and mullet (shevto) fish species, which are indigenous and has a great market value, just like mussels. "These fish are high in demand, but their culture was not practised in Goa," she said.

The ICAR has now cultured these varieties on periphyton-based system wherein the fish are fed on algae.

"Wooden sticks or bamboos are dipped in water, which creates algae so that fish feeds on it," the scientist explained.

Manju, who was part of the team that actually began the cultivation since November last year, said that for fishermen it can provide secondary livelihood.

"This culture can be practised in pond or creek-like structures," she said, adding that the total time required for harvesting is six months.

Next month, the first lot of the cultured fish would be harvested, thereby completing the first phase of the project.

The scientists claimed that the mortality rate in mussel is very high while in case of pearl spot and mullet, the success rate is encouraging.