INTRODUCTION
TO FISHERIES/BASICS OF AQUACULTURE
1.1 Definition, Significance and
History of Aquaculture
Definition
The cultivation of aquatic animals and plants,
especially fish, shellfish, and seaweed, in natural or controlled marine or
freshwater environments is called Aquaculture.
It has been called as the rearing of aquatic
organisms under controlled or semi controlled condition - thus it is underwater
agriculture.
Significance
Fish touch our lives in countless ways in terms of
providing food, nutrition, livelihood, employment, recreation, and many more.
Fish is an excellent source of protein and it
provides more than 25% of the world’s dietary protein. Human population
annually consumes over 100 million metric tons of fish.
Fish is an aquatic animal. There are nearly 22000 species of
fishes. Fish form the most important
protein rich and fatless food to humans.
Fish is a good and readily digestible protein. Most of fishes contain 15-25% protein and
1-5% fats. Fish is a good source of
vitamin A, D and B. fish meat also
contain rich amounts of Calcium and Iodine.
Fish is a good source for Omega3 fatty acids which reduce blood
cholesterol.
History
of Fisheries
Fisheries and agricultural farming have evolved
rather parallel in the history of human civilization. Interest in fish
eating dates back to the prehistoric times. At the dwelling sites of the
old stone age (40thousand years ago) heaps of refuse of shellfish or seafish
have been found. In new stone age (10000 BC), evidences are found that
fishes were sundried, smoked to preserve them.
In roman empire (400BC) highly organized fisheries
were found. Mullets and other fish were cultivated along the Italian coast by the Romans. Egypt pyramids show tilapia hieroglyphics.
China cultivated carps 2500 years ago. Sushrutha made reference about
classification of fishes in 600BC. Kautilya mentioned in his arthashastra
(300BC) about the culture of fishes as a source of income.
Bloch published a book on Indian fishes in 1785. Russel described 200 species of India in
1803. Hamilton made a description of 289 species of fishes from Ganges. Francis Day 1878-1889) provided vast
description of fishes of India.
Scope
of Aqua culture
1. To
increase the production for per capita consumption and per capita income by
which national income will be higher.
2.
Ornamental purpose like culture of angel fish, black molly, red sword tail,
blue gourami, kissing gourami etc.
3.
Sports and game purpose like culture of trouts and mahseers.
4.
Available natural waer resource utilization.
5.
Earning foreign exchange
6.
Upliftment of socio-economic status of the people.
7.
Create employment opportunity.
8.
Utlization of by-products of fish like isinglass, pearl essence, fish liver oil,
fish protein concentrate, fish glue etc.
9.
Controlling parasites like mosquito larae by larvicidal fishes (Lebistes, reticuilaus,
Gambossia affinis).
10.
Utlization of medicinal added value of fishery products
1.2 Present status of Aquaculture –
Global and National scenario
India is the second largest fish producing country in
the world with the current estimated fish production of 12.6 million metric
tonnes during 2017-18.
Fish and fish products have presently emerged as one
of the largest groups in agricultural exports of India with 13.77 lakh tonnes
in terms of quantity and Rs. 45,106.89 crore in value.
Indian Fisheries | |
Global position | 3rd in Fisheries 2nd in Aquaculture |
Contribution of Fisheries to GDP (%) | 0.91 |
Contribution to Agril. GDP (%) | 5.23 |
Per capita fish availability (Kg.) | 9.0 |
Annual Export earnings (Rs. In Crore) | 45,106.89 |
Employment in sector (million) | 14.0 |
The fishery sector in India (culture and capture
fisheries combined) contributes 5.23% to the Gross Domestic Production (GDP) of
the agriculture sector and 0.91% to the total GDP of the country.
Globally, annual fisheries exports are valued at 85
to 90 billion dollars. Fisheries and aquaculture provide employment to more
than 43 million individuals worldwide. In India, Fisheries and aquaculture
provide gainful employment and livelihood support to more than 14 million
people by engaging them in different fisheries and related activities
Fisheries in India is a very important economic
activity and a flourishing sector with varied resources and potentials. There
is a 11–fold increase that India
achieved in fish production in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes
in 1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13. This made India Second
Largest country in the world after china in aquaculture production.
Resources | |
Coastline | 8118 kms |
Exclusive Economic Zone | 2.02 million sq. km |
Continental Shelf | 0.530 million sq. km |
Rivers and Canals | 1,95,210 km |
Reservoirs | 3.150 million ha |
Ponds and Tanks | 2.414 million ha |
Flood Plains lakes and derelict waters | 0.798 million ha |
Brackishwaters | 1.240 million ha |
Estuaries | 0.290 million ha |
Freshwater aquaculture showed an overwhelming
ten-fold growth from 0.37 million tonnes in 1980 to 4.03 million tonnes in
2010;
The freshwater aquaculture comprises of the culture
of carp fishes, culture of catfishes (air breathing and non-air breathing), culture
of freshwater prawns, culture of pangasius, and culture of tilapia.
In addition, in brackishwater sector, the aquaculture
includes culture of shrimp varieties mainly, the native giant tiger prawn
(Penaeus monodon) and exotic whitelegshrimp (Penaeus vannamei).
The three Indian major carps, namely catla (Catla
catla), rohu (Labeo rohita) and mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigala) contribute the bulk
of production to the extent of 70 to 75 percent of the total fresh water fish
production.
Catfishes forming a second important group
contributing the balance of 25 to 30 percent.
It is estimated that only about 40 percent of the
available area of 2.36 million hectares of ponds and tanks has been put to use
and an immense scope for expansion of area exists under freshwater aquaculture
The national mean production levels from still-water
ponds has gone up from about 600 kg/hectare/year in 1974 to over 2 900
kg/hectare/annum at present and several farmers are even demonstrating higher
production levels of 8–12 tonnes/hectare/year. (Handbook of Fisheries and
Aquaculture, 2013, ICAR publication, India).
The technologies of induced carp breeding and
polyculture in static ponds and tanks virtually revolutionized the freshwater
aquaculture sector and turned the sector into a fast growing commercial sector.
Some Facts | |
Present fish Production (Capture) | 7.0 mmt |
Inland | 3.2 mmt |
Marine | 3.8 mmt |
Potential fish production | 8.4 mmt |
Fish seed production | 40,000 million fry |
Hatcheries | 1,604 units |
The freshwater prawn farming has received increased
attention only in the last two decades due to its high consumer demand. The
giant river prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, the largest and fastest growing
prawn species, is cultured either under monoculture or polyculture with major
carps.
Culture for mariculture species has been initiated in
the country and is presently carried out to a limited extent for seaweeds, and
mussels as a commercial activity and some fish species like seabass and cobia
on an experimental basis to standardize the technology.
In addition, there is contribution from cold water
fisheries. They constitute about 1% of total fish production. Important food
fishes of cold waters are tor tor,
mahaseer etc.
India has an estimated total estuarine area of 3.9
million hectares; Of this, about 15 percent of the potential area has been put
into aquaculture purpose.
Apart from the giant tiger prawn (P. monodon),
certain marine/brackish water fish/shrimp species such as milkfish, pearl-spot
and mullets have shown a lot of promises for commercial aquaculture
India's aquaculture production basically can be
classified into freshwater and brackish water production. Some of the important species cultured in
India are the Indian major carps and shrimp. Besides these, ornamental fish
culture and seaweed farming, are slowly gaining importance
Induced breeding of carps and catfishes helped in
rapid growth of aquaculture. Production
of 4–5 tonnes under carp polyculture is quite common, farmers of several
regions are able to produce 8–12 tonnes/ha/year.
Integrated fish farming with livestock and
horticulture has not only been able to utilize the by-products/wastes as
principal inputs, but also made the farming practice highly remunerative and
farmers’ friendly.
Development of genitically improved rohu (Jayanti)
through selective breeding with a record of 17 percent higher growth is a mile
stone in indian carp industry.
Availability
of balanced supplementary feed for different life stages for various organisms
also paved the way for the strengthning of this field.
Mariculture in India, although limited to the farming
of mussels and edible oysters undertaken in some coastal region of Kerala over
the years, has successfully produced sea cage farming in recent years,
initially with seabass and most recently cobia, which has shown the prospects
of commercial mariculture in the country.
Andhrapradesh
fisheries
Andhra Pradesh has been contributing significantly to
the fish basket of the country in the recent years through an effective
strategy in both coastal and freshwater aquaculture and marketing.
The state has 5.17 lakh ha of freshwater ponds and
tanks, 11,514 km of rivers and canals, 4.58 lakh ha of reservoirs and 150,000
ha of water areas suitable for coastal aquaculture. The inland fish production
is 6.8 lakh tonnes, with the mean yield of pond aquaculture is around 3.5
tonnes/ha/year, above the national average.
Further, by virtue of its 974 km long coastline, the
state produces 2.97 lakh tonnes of marine fish annually.
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