Effect of low cost feed on the production of walking catfish, Clarias batrachus in farmer's ponds

A feeding trial was conducted for six months in farmer's ponds to assess the performance of BFRI formulated catfish feed on the growth and survival of Clarias batrachus (L.). Nine interested farmers and their ponds (size range: 10-15 dec) in the Barera union of Mymensingh Sadar were selected. The ponds were divided into 3 treatments each with 3 replications. Among the three treatment diets, two diets - traditional (F1) and BFRI formulated (F3) were prepared by using low cost agro-based locally available ingredients and the commercial diets was Saudi-Bangla Grower-1 (F2). The diets were designed as F1, F2 and F3 for traditional (20.40% protein), Commercial (31% protein) and BFRI formulated (30.44% protein) diets respectively. The fingerlings of catfish (7.3 g) were collected from local fish vendors and stocked at the rate of 100/dec. Feeding rates were adjusted by weight after fortnightly sampling of fish. Feeding rate were 10 and 8% of the total body weight respectively for 1st, 2nd month and 5% for the rest of the experimental period. The range of some selected water quality parameters were as follows: dissolved oxygen 4.0 - 7.4 mg/l, temperature 24.0°- 33.9°C, pH 6.8 - 8.00, and transparency 17.0 - 32.00 cm. Which showed suitability of the ponds for rearing fish. At the end of the experiment, significantly highest gain (p<0.05) in weight (1210.96% ±87) and lowest gain in weight (865.25% ±90) were observed in the group of fish fed on diets F3 and F1 respectively. However, no significant differences in growth (p>0.05) was observed in fish fed on commercial diet (F2) and BFRI formulated diet (F3). The FCR value ranged between 2.00 and 2.80 with the traditional diet (F1) showing significantly lower FCR. The total production of fish ranged between 1398.08 and 2145.34 kg/ha with F3 diet resulting in the highest production and net profit. A simple economic analysis showed that fish fed with BFRI formulated (F3) diet resulted in the highest net profit in farmer's pond.

Technologies and Methodologies for the Detection of Harmful Algae and Their Toxins, St Petersburg, Florida, Oct 22-24 2008 : workshop proceedings

The Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) Workshop "Technologies and Methodologies for the Detection of Harmful Algae and their Toxins" convened in St. Petersburg, Florida, October 22- 24, 2008 and was co-sponsored by ACT (http://act-us.info); the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET, http://ciceet.unh.edu); and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC, http://www.myfwc.com). Participants from various sectors, including researchers, coastal decision makers, and technology vendors, collaborated to exchange information and build consensus. They focused on the status of currently available detection technologies and methodologies for harmful algae (HA) and their toxins, provided direction for developing operational use of existing technology, and addressed requirements for future technology developments in this area. Harmful algal blooms (HABs) in marine and freshwater systems are increasingly common worldwide and are known to cause extensive ecological, economic, and human health problems. In US waters, HABs are encountered in a growing number of locations and are also increasing in duration and severity. This expansion in HABs has led to elevated incidences of poisonous seafood, toxin-contaminated drinking water, mortality of fish and other animals dependent upon aquatic resources (including protected species), public health and economic impacts in coastal and lakeside communities, losses to aquaculture enterprises, and long-term aquatic ecosystem changes. This meeting represented the fourth ACT sponsored workshop that has addressed technology developments for improved monitoring of water-born pathogens and HA species in some form. A primary motivation was to assess the need and community support for an ACT-led Performance Demonstration of Harmful Algae Detection Technologies and Methodologies in order to facilitate their integration into regional ocean observing systems operations. The workshop focused on the identification of region-specific monitoring needs and available technologies and methodologies for detection/quantification of harmful algal species and their toxins along the US marine and freshwater coasts. To address this critical environmental issue, several technologies and methodologies have been, or are being, developed to detect and quantify various harmful algae and their associated toxins in coastal marine and freshwater environments. There are many challenges to nationwide adoption of HAB detection as part of a core monitoring infrastructure: the geographic uniqueness of primary algal species of concern around the country, the variety of HAB impacts, and the need for a clear vision of the operational requirements for monitoring the various species. Nonetheless, it was a consensus of the workshop participants that ACT should support the development of HA detection technology performance demonstrations but that these would need to be tuned regionally to algal species and toxins of concern in order to promote the adoption of state of the art technologies into HAR monitoring networks. [PDF contains 36 pages]

Women fish vendors in Mumbai: a study report

Government development programmes and policies in fisheries are focused on the problems and needs of men though women are known to dominate the post-harvest sector in artisanal fisheries and are involved, to varying degrees, in pre-harvest and harvest activities. A lack of women’s participation in decision-making bodies within communities, fisheries organizations and government has resulted in a general neglect of their interests. This has led to a constant demand by women’s-rights activists and organizations to address market-related issues of women vendors. This study, “Women Fish Vendors in Mumbai”, aims to provide insights into the challenges faced by women fish vendors in the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay).

Factors influencing the livelihood index and level of aspiration of fisherwomen

A study was conducted among fifty women fish vendors in Kancheepuram and Chennai districts to determine the factors influencing the livelihood index and level of aspiration. The independent variables such as annual income, scientific orientation, expenditure per year and savings per year were found to have highest factor loadings on livelihood index and level of aspiration of fisherwomen. Besides most of the fisherwomen had a high level (score of <50) of livelihood index and a high level (score greater than 13) of aspiration.

Hard days and nights: hardships at work, a lack of support at home, and little or no social security combine to create a bleak future for women fishsellers in Mangalore, India

Mangalore is a port city situated in the west coast state of Karnataka in India. The city hosts both large-scale and small-scale fisheries along its coastline. Traditionally, fishermen catch the product and sell it at a daily auction in the harbour to women vendors, who thereafter transport the goods to the market for commercial sale. The trade starts early in the morning, when the fishermen return to the harbour from their nightly fishing.