Odisha would soon have a world-class aquarium of fresh water and marine fishes on the lines of the famous underwater aquariums in Singapore and Dubai.
The State is all set to set up a fishery hub with the facility being available at Kausalyaganga on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar in an area of 20 acres. More than 100 species of fishes including rare and endangered species of sharks, humongous groupers and colourful aberrant fishes would be displayed in the aquarium.
Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Commissioner-cum-Secretary Bishnupada Sethi is working out the details of the project with Industries Commissioner-cum-Secretary Vishal K Dev.
The aquarium would create the reef and sandy areas, caves, corals, weeds and all necessary ingredients to provide an environment that would suit the swim and glide pattern of shark swimming and also suit the pelagic ocean fish.
The aquarium would also have tropical coral reef display, dangerous marine creatures, the weird and unusual, the mudflad and mangrove dwellers and the masters of disguise like octopus.
This project aims to educate common masses on the fishery science and it is to be realised that fish is not just kitchen’s material and the usage of fish for preparation of medicines, cosmetics and chemicals to be appreciated.
The aquarium and interpretation centre would be a “working museum” with live and static displays that would document and interpret the fishing industry, both traditional and modern fishing activities.
To serve the visitors with fish and seafood, there would be an ultramodern restaurant with a variety of regional and continental dishes of fish, shrimp, crab and oyster.
There would be a highly informative segment on fish processing, value addition activities, finished products like tinned fish, fish sausage and pickles, Director of Fisheries PK Mohan said.
A world-class 3D cinema hall would be set up for screening of educational films on life history of inland, brackish water and marine fishes of the world, he added.
Multiple water sports facilities like water park, water kingdom, snow world, rainforest, musical fountains with laser show, fish therapy spa, boating and cottages with sports facilities would be made available, official sources said.
Restaurants like KFC, Mc Donald and Dominos would also be opened, keeping in view the interest of the young visitors.
As this would attract large numbers of visitors, a parking place for at least 100 buses, 1,000 cars and 2,000 motorcycles would be in place in the Fish Hub, sources added.