Beach Hatchery to set up plant for koral farming
The farming of a sea bass variety—popularly known as koral or vetki—is set to begin in Bangladesh as Beach Hatchery Ltd plans to establish a Tk 250 crore plant to grow the fish locally.
The local company will establish the farm on 24 bighas of land in Teknaf.
The plant will have a capacity to grow 2,400 tonnes of the fish annually. Initially, it will produce 1,200 tonnes, according to Md Shariful Islam, chairman of Beach Hatchery.
The produce will be sold both in the local and foreign markets.
Islam said the plant would use the recirculating aquaculture system (RAS), a greenhouse technology, and the water from the Bay of Bengal.
The businessman is going to open the letter of credit (LC) within three months to bring in the technology and all necessary equipment.
“The farming may start within eight to nine months of the LC opening,” he added.
Beach Hatchery has signed an agreement with AquaOptima, a Norwegian company, to bring in the technology.
In the first year, the Norwegian company’s technicians will look after the farming and train local people so that the latter can run the operations of the farm on their own.
The feed and medicine for sea bass will also be imported from Norway. “I hope it will be a successful project,” Islam said, adding that the same technology from AquaOptima is being used in Thailand, Indonesia and Iran where farms are making profit.
Beach Hatchery will borrow the fund from external sources in two phases. In the first phase, it targets to borrow Tk 125 crore.
In order to process the export-oriented fish, the company will set up a processing plant as well as storage facilities, said Islam, also the chairman of Meghna Sea Foods Ltd.
Cat fish, grouper fish, white fish, and Indian Salmon will also be grown at the plant, albeit in small scale and the feasibility is now being looked into.
Beach Hatchery is listed on both Dhaka and Chattogram stock exchanges.
