WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • JUNE 2016 47 Fisheries and aquaculture play an important role in the Indian economy by contributing to national income, employment and foreign exchange. This sector is undergoing transformation in response to market processes and technological changes. Economic liberalization policies initiated in 1991 opened up new opportunity for growth of this sector. This article focuses on the introduction of mariculture and the scope for its expansion in India. Field observations indicate that emergence of commercial aquaculture along the coasts has resulted in positive and negative impacts. Land adjacent to estuaries and adjoining rivers was converted into modern shrimp farms during the early 1990s. However, setting up farms required huge capital and technology investments that were not easily accessible to local fishing and farming communities. With an increase in demand and declining fish supply from inshore areas, farmers started venturing into small-scale mariculture enterprises through cage culture and other culture systems. Cage farming is a viable alternative livelihood option for small-scale fishers to use waterbodies for fish production in a sustainable manner. Cage culture is attractive because of advantages of relatively low investment cost, safety from predators and high yield of fish with good economic returns (Imelda et al. 2009). The development of cage culture started in 1800 in Southeast Asia and modern marine cage farming dates to 1950 with culture of yellowtail (Gopakumar 2009). Cage culture in inland water bodies of India was promoted by the Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI), which was the pioneer in beginning open-sea floating cage demonstrations across India. Open sea-cage culture systems in India were promoted by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) to enhance production of candidate fishes such as seabass and red snapper, demonstrated since 2009. The National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) started funding large-scale cage farming in open seas through huge subsidies and loans, along with supporting capacity development programs. At present, success stories of open sea-cage culture in India are limited because of many environmental and socioeconomic problems. Inspired by the open-sea cage culture demonstration by CMFRI in Uppunda, a few artisanal fishers attempted to set up rectangular Small-scale Cage Culture of Asian Seabass in Kundapur Region, Karnataka, India Sunil Kumar S Ail and Ramachandra Bhatta cages in estuaries, which is relatively more stable and free from wave action. These farmers were part of the group exposed to the CMFRI-demonstrated Capture Based Aquaculture technology in Uppunda (Dineshbabu et al. 2012). With a small introduction of four cages during 2009, the number of cages increased to around 40 cages in Yedamavina hole. The Uppunda region currently has 23 fishers practicing cage culture in estuaries. The main species cultured are Asian seabass, mangrove red snapper and trevally. The seed of seabass are procured from the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture (RGCA) hatchery and fingerlings of other species are collected from the wild. At present, cage culture has extended into Mulky estuary, Saligrama, Gangoli and Kundapur area. In Mulky, CMFRI is currently demonstrating similar cage culture practices to traditional fishers. Estuary-based cage culture farms are likely to be expanded to Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts within a few years, considering the importance given by research and development organizations and economic profitability with fewer risks. This article describes the development of mariculture in India and Karnataka and traces the experiences of cage culture practiced in Uppunda region by traditional fishers. The study was based on site visits, interaction with cage farmers and meetings with CMFRI scientists. The study also provides a realistic estimate of the enterprise budget of small-scale cage culture farms. The following section provides the experience of 5-6 farmers who were interviewed about cage culture practices, from cage construction to harvesting, during May-July 2015. Focus group discussion was carried out to know about history of activities and economic turnover. Farmers were briefed about cage construction, maintenance, stocking, seed transportation, feeding, disease occurrence, harvesting and marketing. Discussion with experts from CMFRI Mangalore and Karwar was done to know research activities and how far cage culture will become successful. Expert consultation was also taken to know about sustainability of such an activity. (CONTINUED ON PAGE 48) FIGURE 1. Communities and coastal area of Karnataka, India involved in small-scale cage culture of Asian seabass.
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