About 64 acres of land near Muttukadu under Salt board, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, has been handed over to ICAR-CIBA on August 20, 2020, to expand its research and development activities. CIBA, with the mandate of sustainable brackishwater development in the country, will be using the area with new facilities for brackishwater farms with shellfish and finfish, brood banks, nursery banks and other allied activities. Also looking forward, for the establishment of a center of excellence in brackishwater aquaculture for the South Asia region by consolidating the existing R&D facilities at Muttukkadu experimental station (MES) of CIBA. The sixty-four plus acres of land is located between the east coast road (ECR), and Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR). The land comprised of stretches of ponds, canals and inundated hyper-saline stretches, ideal for the development of diversified farming systems for seabass, milkfish, redsnapper, mudcrab, penaeid shrimp (tiger shrimp, American white shrimp, Indian white shrimp, artemia, polychaetes etc. This site is just a kilometer away from the MES and about 35 km from headquarters of CIBA, which will be developed as 3rdcampus at Chennai, Centre of Excellence in Brackishwater Aquaculture for South Asia (CEBAS), Kovalam
