Strategy of fish seed production in India

In tropical countries like India, climatic conditions vary in different parts, as a result the breeding of fast growing species such as Catla and silver carps poses considerable problems due to erratic or late monsoon or prolonged dry spell. Hence it is not possible to meet the fish seed requirement of the country. Therefore: to meet the future requirement and to over-come the environmental conditions a Modern carp Hatchery CIFE D-81 was designed. The system provides optimum temperature, silt free clean, cool, highly oxygenated water, low current and continuous removal of metabolites. It has been successfully demonstrated at Rawatbhata (Rajasthan), Badkhal (Haryana), Badbhada (M.P), Guntur and East Godavari District (A.P). Recently a Modern Carp Hatchery was installed in a semi-arid zone, Damdama (Haryana), during 1984, where it has produced record 1.88 crores of fish seed and worked successfully.

A survey of process hygiene in the Sri Lankan prawn industry. 3. Critical control points

Of fifteen processing plants surveyed in Sri Lanka, only five were found to have a prawn process which was adequately controlled. Most common process faults were: inadequate chilling of prawns after a wash in 30°C, mains water, the use of large blocks of ice to cool prawns, and high ratios of prawns to ice. There was also ample scope for cross-contamination of the processed prawns.

Status of the shrimp sector in Bangladesh in the context of HACCP and trade issues: a review

Shrimp culture in Bangladesh has emerged as an important aquaculture industry over the last three decades although its culture in greater parts of the farming area is done in traditional ways. In the meantime, the government of Bangladesh has taken necessary measures along with the private sectors to increase production, upgrade processing industries and to promote export performance. Long supply chain in raw material collection, inadequate infrastructure facilities, poor level of cool chain and lack of adequate HACCP-based training on hygiene and sanitation of different groups of people involved in the field level are the main problems of quality loss of raw materials. Shortage of raw materials results in poor capacity utilization of the processing plants. The growth of bagda (P. monodon) hatchery has expanded rapidly over the last few years, remaining mostly concentrated in Cox's Bazar region is enough to meet the target production. However, there is a shortage of pelleted shrimp feed in Bangladesh. A large number of export processors are now producing increasing amounts of value-added products such as individually quick-frozen, peeled and divined, butterfly cut shrimp, as well as cooked products. The export earnings from value added products is about half of the total export value. About 95% of total fish products are exported to European countries, USA and Japan and the remaining to the Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Most of the EU approved shrimp processing industries have been upgraded with laboratory facilities and provided HACCP training to their workers. As of now, HACCP is applied on the processing plants, but to ensure the quality of raw materials and to reduce risks, shrimp farms are also required to adopt HACCP plan. There is increased pressure time to time from importing countries for fish processors to establish effective quality assurance system in processing plants. Fish Inspection and Quality Control (FIQC) of the Department of Fisheries while having moderately equipped laboratories with chemical, bio-chemical and microbiological testing facilities and qualified technical personnel, the creation of facilities for testing of antibiotics is underway. FIQC mainly supervises quality aspects of the processing plants and has little or no control over raw material supply chains from farm to processing plants. Bangladesh export consignments sometimes face rejection due to reported poor quality of the products. Three types of barriers are reported for export of shrimp to EU countries. These are:(1) government participation in trade and restrictive practices (state aid, countervailing duties, state trading enterprises, government monopoly practices), customs and administrative entry procedures (anti-dumping duties, customs valuation, classification, formalities, rules of origin); (2) technical barriers to trade or TBT (technical regulations, standards, testing, certification arrangement); (3) specific limitations (quantitative restrictions, import licensing, embargoes, exchange control, discriminatory sourcing, export restraints, measures to regulate domestic prices, requirements concerning marking, labeling and packaging).

Production and quality assessment of fish pickles from mola (Amblypharyngodon mola) fish

Fish pickles (with olive and tamarind) were prepared from mola fish (Amblypharyngodon mola) and their nutritional and food quality were assessed. The quality of the pickle prepared with olive was excellent and the pickle prepared with tamarind was found good. Moisture content of the two pickle products were 43.85% (with tamarind) and 50.89% (with olive). The protein and lipid contents of tamarind added pickle were 19.13 and 35.64% respectively; pickle with olive contained less protein (13.16%) compared to tamarind added mola pickle. Lipid contents were almost same in both cases. Ash content of two pickles was also found similar (1.00%). The quality of mola pickles stored either in cool condition (4°C) with vinegar or at room temperature with Na-benzoate were found good for consumption up to 90 days of storage. All of the fish pickles preserved under different condition were found in acceptable condition up to 240 days storage and pickle with vinegar stored at 4°C was found good for consumption at the end of 240 days.

Changes in phytoplankton communities and primary production

Lake Victoria is the second largest lake in the world (69000km2) by surface area, but it is the shallowest (69m maximum depth) of the African Great Lakes. It is situated across the equator at an altitude of 1240m and lies in a shallow basin between two uplifted ridges of the eastern and western rift valleys (Beadle 1974). Despite their tropical locations, African lakes exhibit considerable seasonality related to the alteration of warm, wet and cool, dry seasons and the accompanying changes in lucustrine stratification and mixing (Tailing, 1965; 1966; Melack 1979; Hecky& Fee 1981; Hecky& Kling,1981; 1987; Bootsma 1993; Mugidde 1992; 1993). Phytoplankton productivity, biomass and species composition change seasonally in response to variations in light environment and nutrient availability which accompany changes in mixed layer depth and erosion or stabilization of the metalimnion / hypolimnion (Spigel & Coulter 1996; Hecky et al., 1991; Tailing 1987). Over longer, millennial time scales, the phytoplankton communities of the African Great Lakes have responded to variability in the EastAfrican climate (Johnson 1996; Haberyan& Hecky, 1986) which also alters the same ecological factors (Kilham et al., 1986). Recently, over the last few decades, changes in external and or internal factors in Lake Victoria and its basin have had a profound inlluence on the planktic community of this lake (Hecky, 1993; Lipiatou et al., 1996). The lake has experienced 2-10x increases in chlorophyll and 2x increase in primary productivity since Tailing's observations in the early 1960s (Mugidde 1992, 1993). In addition to observed changes in the lake nutrient chemistry (Hecky & Mungoma, 1990; Hecky & Bugenyi 1992; Hecky 1993; Bootsma & Hecky 1993), the deep waters previouslyoxygenated to the sediment surface through most of the year are now regularly anoxic(Hecky et al., 1994).