The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Government of India has taken several initiatives to promote natural pearl farming in collaboration with the State Governments, Research Institutes, and other concerned agencies. The major initiative taken by the Department of Fisheries includes (i) 2307 Bivalve cultivation (including mussels, clams, pearl etc.) units approved under Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) at a total cost of Rs.461.00 lakh to States and Union Territories (ii) Support to pearl farmers to showcase the natural pearl farming and its economic importance at various international and national forums organized by the Department of Fisheries (iii) Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for development of clusters in fisheries and Aquaculture sector including Pearl cluster under PMMSY circulated to all States and UTs. (iv) Notification and development of the first Pearl farming cluster in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand in collaboration with Govt. of Jharkhand and (v) To enhance the natural population of the marine pearl oyster, the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has ranched 1.65 crore hatchery produced seed in Tuticorin area of Tamil Nadu coast.     

Pearl culture practice carried out in some pockets of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar, Odisha, Kerala, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Goa and Tripura. State-wise natural pearl production data is not reported by State Governments. National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) has reported that 1.02 lakh pearl produced from Hazaribagh District of Jharkhand. The Department of Fisheries, Government of India has conducted several meetings with State Governments and other stakeholders to strengthen the market linkages of natural pearls.

The DoF, MoFAH&D, GoI has onboarded Fisheries Institutes of ICAR in Pearl Cluster Development for research and technical support. ICAR has reported that ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA), Bhubaneshwar has conducted 15 training programmes on different aspects of freshwater pearl farming to over 1500 participants in collaboration with State Fisheries Departments during the last five years and ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Kochi provided training on different aspects of marine pearl farming to over 400 participants in Kerala in regional language.

This information was given by the Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Shri Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on 4^th December 2024.

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