Cage aquaculture is defined as rearing of aquatic organisms in a volume of water enclosed on all sides with cage netting materials including bottom while permitting free circulation of water through the mesh of cages. The technology is suitable for almost all kinds of water bodies provided there is sufficient water depth so that the bottom cage net is at least 2 m above the bottom of the waterbody.

Several species of fish and shellfish are being successfully cultured in marine cage facilities around the world. Culture of a few species of fish in inland and marine cage facilities have been successfully demonstrated and popularized in India. When it comes to Northeast India, cage aquaculture of major carps (Labeo rohita, Cirrhinus mrigala mainly for seed raising), minor carps (L. bata, L. gonius), exotic carps (Ctenopharyngodon idella, Cyprinus carpio) is being carried out on experimental basis with moderate success in certain floodplain wetlands (beels) of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, Loktak lake of Manipur, reservoirs of Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya.

ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore in collaboration with Department of Fisheries, Govt. of Manipur initiated an ambitious project of culturing Osteobrama belangeri, locally known as ‘pengba’ in cages installed in Takmu pat, Sendra, Bishnupur district, Manipur. The fish was declared as the State Fish of Manipur in 2007 due to its importance and vulnerability in the state. The fish is highly relished and has a ready demand in the market due to its better taste and meat quality. Therefore, the fish is one of the most potential fish species for aquaculture. It is suitable for composite fish culture along with other carps partially replacing rohu and common carp. Scientists of ICAR-CIFRI feel that research on standardizing package-of-practice of cage culture technology with respect to pengba is required for profitably culturing the species.

The present project of culturing Pengba as table-fish in cages installed in Takmu pat, Sendra, Bishnupur district, Manipur could be initiated with financial support from ICAR-CIFRI’s Northeast Hill Component and Scientists involved are Dr. B.K. Das, Director; Dr. B.K. Bhattacharjya, Principal Scientist & Head; Dr. Dipesh Debnath, Dr. Sona Yengkokpam, Senior Scientists, Dr. N. Samarendra Singh, Scientist with active support from  N. Gojendro, Director of Fisheries; T. Shyamananda Singh, DFDO, Bishnupur District; N. Hemchandra, FO and other officials of Department of Fisheries, Govt. of Manipur.

Dr. Debnath explained that the project aims at standardizing stocking density of pengba, i.e., how many fish can be profitably cultured per unit area of a cage. After this important parameter is standardized, it will be required to standardize feeds and feeding ration so as to obtain maximum growth of fish.