Why In News?

The ICAR-Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (ICAR-CIBA), Chennai, introduced deboning technology for Milkfish to enhance post-harvest value addition.

What is Milkfish?

Scientific Name: Chanos chanos. It belongs to the family Chanidae and is popularly referred to as the "Brackishwater Carp".

Habitat: It naturally inhabits tropical marine and estuarine/brackishwater environments across the Indo-Pacific region and thrives in tropical brackishwater culture ponds.

Brackishwater Aquaculture: Highly suited for tropical brackishwater pond culture due to its rapid growth rate, disease tolerance, and broad environmental adaptability. 

  • Grow-out farming of milkfish has been adopted across coastal Indian states including Odisha, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and Goa.

Nutritional Value: It is a high-protein and low-fat finfish characterized by delicate white flesh. 

  • It is rich in essential amino acids such as Glutamic acid, Aspartic acid, Lysine, and Leucine, as well as Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs) including Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) and Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA).

What is Deboning Technology?

Deboning technology is the mechanical, automated, or robotic systems used to separate meat, poultry, or fish from bone structures efficiently and hygienically

Types of Deboning Technology

  • Robotic & Optical Systems: Uses smart arms, cameras, and sensors to scan individual pieces of meat and make precise cuts around bones, preserving the quality of high-value cuts.  

  • Mechanical Separators: Applies pressure via drums, belts, or augers to squeeze residual meat away from hard or soft bones, commonly used for mass processing.  

  • X-Ray & Vision Inspection: Employs advanced X-rays to detect tiny bone fragments and cartilage left behind, ensuring safety.  

  • Vertical/In-line Systems: Hangs carcasses (like pork or poultry) from overhead tracks so gravity helps guide clean, precise cuts. 

What are the Benefits?

  • Better Consumer Acceptance: Overcomes the inconvenience of fine intermuscular bones, expanding domestic consumer interest and regular purchases.

  • Higher Value Addition: Transitions the sector from raw commodity sales to higher-value processed products.

  • Improved Marketability: Unlocks institutional market access, including retail chains, seafood restaurants, and the HoReCa (Hotels, Restaurants, and Catering) sector.

  • New Processing Opportunities: Stimulates micro-processing units, fish-drying infrastructure, and ready-to-eat seafood snack production.

  • Farmer Income Generation: Enhances price realization beyond raw fish sales, doubling returns relative to the baseline production cost.

  • Rural Employment: Creates local employment in filleting, primary processing, and packaging, particularly empowering coastal Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and women collectives.

Conclusion

ICAR-CIBA’s deboning technology resolves milkfish processing challenges, boosting species diversification, value addition, and coastal livelihoods under the Blue Economy framework.

Source: THEHINDU

 

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q. With reference to Milkfish (Chanos chanos), consider the following statements:

  1. It is a fast-growing, herbivorous finfish commonly referred to as the Brackishwater Carp.

  2. It can attain a marketable size of 500 grams within six months under optimal farming conditions.

  3. It is an obligate freshwater species incapable of surviving in brackishwater environments.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 only

(d) 1, 2, and 3

Answer: (a)

Explanation:

Statement 1 is correct: Milkfish (Chanos chanos) is a fast-growing, herbivorous finfish that is often referred to as the "Brackishwater Carp". It is highly valued for diversifying the brackishwater aquaculture sector because it feeds primarily on natural pond biota like algae and organic matter, making it economical to farm.

Statement 2 is correct: Under optimal or suitable farming conditions, the species exhibits a rapid growth rate and can easily attain a marketable size of around 500 grams within six months.  

Statement 3 is incorrect: Milkfish is not an obligate freshwater species. It is a highly euryhaline fish, meaning it can tolerate wide fluctuations in salinity and thrive in freshwater, brackish water, and fully marine environments.