GUJAR KHAN, Feb 22: The Punjab government has offered soft loans to fish farmers to enable them to produce high quality fish locally.

This was stated by Mr. Ehsan Mahmood Bhatti, deputy director fisheries and the provincial coordinator publicity of the department while delivering a lecture to the students of Sarwar Shaheed (NH) Government College, Gujar Khan.

The lecture was aimed at creating awareness of the utility of fish intake among the youth and introducing to them different varieties of fish.

The officer told the students that fish meat was rich in protein with low ingredients of cholesterol. He also highlighted the medicinal importance of the fish.

Mr Bhatti said that the fish farming would not only help in meeting the nutritional needs of the areas around the ponds but would create employment opportunities among youth.

The officer said hat the fish hatcheries established in different districts of the Punjab were supplying fish seeds all over the country while parts of Afghanistan were also getting seeds from Punjab.

According to the officer the research was under way to improve certain varieties of fish to get more meat with lesser number of spines.