Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute 72 Introduction Sea farming is a popular area of aquaculture practice throughout the world. In Asian countries, it is rapidly growing to meet the increasing demand of high value marine fishes. Although India has a tradition of aquaculture, sea farming ventures on commercial scale were lacking. In this context, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute started open sea floating cage culture activities in 2006-07 with Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DAHD&F), Government of India assistance. Indigenous cage of 15 m diameter was fabricated following Norwegian open sea floating cage design and launched at Visakhapatnam. There was a technical setback with the design of cage, and consultation with Indian Institute of Technology, West Bengal helped to overcome technical issues with the cage structure. Open sea floating cage diameter was reduced to 6 m and 14 new open sea floating cages were launched at Sutrapada (Gujarat), Vasai (Maharashtra), Mangalore (Karnataka), Cochin (Kerala), Pulicat (Tamil Nadu), Nellore, Kakinada, Baruva (Andhra Pradesh) and Balasore (Odisha) in participation with National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB). Initial results with 6 m diameter cages were encouraging at various places for farming marine finfishes and shellfishes including Asian sea bass, cobia and spiny lobsters. But, high capital requirement of Rs. 5,50,000/- for fabrication and installation of 6 m diameter High Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) cage was unaffordable and in turn affecting adoption of technology by rural fishers along the coastline. Identification of need and desire of fishers to reduce down initial cost investment led to development of 6m diameter Galvanised Iron cage frame which successfully reduced down the initial investment from Rs. 5,50,000/- to Rs. 1,00,000/-. GI cage frame is likely to last for 4 to 5 years, making open sea floating cage culture a sustainable and economical venture. 11 CAGE CULTURE IN MAHARASHTRA: PRESENT AND FUTURE PROSPECTS Veerendra V. Singh, Anulekshmi Chellappan, Purushottama, G. B., Ramkumar, S. Karthireddy Syamala and Mhatre, V. D.