A post-tsunami assessment of coastal living resources of Langkawi Archipelago, Peninsular Malaysia

Rapid and detailed post-tsunami surveys carried out in the Langkawi archipelago in January 2005 showed that the coral reefs dOld_ID not suffer any significant structural damage. Nevertheless, there were signs of recent sediment resuspension at the sites studied. The diversity and abundance of coral reef fishes and invertebrates were low. However, this was not attributed to the tsunami effect but rather to the present environmental conditions. The extent of damage at the villages of Kubang Badak and Kuala Teriang may indicate that intact coastal ecosystems such as mangroves have the potential to protect lives and property during natural disasters.

A relational database of post-harvest fish losses

The article describes FISHLOSS, a database of post-harvest fish losses devised by the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), UK. The database contains 450 records of post-harvest fish losses from 150 sources. The majority of the estimates are shelf-life estimates. Designed to be a reference for people studying post-harvest fish losses, it draws attention to areas requiring future research to identify significant losses and the factors which cause them. All researchers and users are encouraged to send NRI their own estimates for inclusion in revised versions of FISHLOSS.

Preliminary observations on the nursery management of post larvae of Penaeus monodon

Post larvae of tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon) of the size 10-12 mm were stocked at the rate of 10 lakhs/ha in a manured cement nursary pond which was initially fertilized with chemical manures. Water exchange was attended once in a week. Artificial feeding was given in the form of minced clam meat. After a month, the pond was harvested. The juveniles which have grown to 40-46 mm size were recovered. The percentage of survival from post larvae to juveniles was 85.45%.

Studies on the induced breeding and post-larval rearing of shing (Heteropneustes fossilis Bloch)

An experiment was conducted on induced breeding and fry rearing of shing, Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch) in the Department of Aquaculture, Bangladesh Agricultural University for a period of four months from April to July 1994. Hatching rate was calculated at 21.50h and was found to be 45 to 55 % and the survival rate of larvae was 30 to 40 % at 26 to 29°C. Survival rate and growth rate of post larvae were found to be 50 to 60% and 96.6 to 117.2% respectively. Feed-3 (F3) showed the highest survival rate and growth rate of post larvae.

Studies on the post-mortem changes in shrimp and prawn during ice storage. Pt. 1. Organoleptic and physical changes

The organoleptic characteristics such as appearance, textural condition, colour and odour indicated that the M. rosenbergii stored in ice for 5-6 days was acceptable for processing in the industry while P. monodon under similar ice storage condition was acceptable for 8-9 days. In both species, samples stored in headless condition in ice had longer shelf life than that of stored in head-on condition. Physical changes were evaluated by determining expressible moisture and breaking strength of sample of muscles. The expressible moisture increased continuously in both samples with the lapse of storage period. The expressible moisture increased up to around 44% in 4-5 days of ice stored M. rosenbergii muscle while it was around 40% in 8-9 days ice stored P. monodon. At the end of 9 days of ice storage, the expressible moisture content in M. rosenbergii increased up to 60%, while it was up to 47% in P. monodon after 11 days of ice storage. The breaking strength declined from 0. 78 kg/cm² to 0.53 kg/cm² in tiger shrimp after 8 days of ice storage, while in case of immediately killed prawn, the breaking strength of muscle was 0.8 kg/cm² which declined to 0.43 to 0.35 kg/cm².