World Aquaculture Magazine - June 2021

68 JUNE 2021 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S .ORG techniques for fish farming except some traditional ways. His interest in fish farming helped him to cope with the growing trends of fish farming. The Fisheries Department helped with in various ways to spread polyculture of pabda farming. Fish farmers also availed themselves of loans from the banks and strengthened their farming with modern technologies. AMud Pot Technique Developed forMixed Culture of Pabda with IMC Using mud pots on the pond bottom (5 per decimal or 1 per 8 m 2 ) is a unique indigenous technique adopted by fish farmers. In polyculture with pabda, the fish varieties commonly stocked by farmers are catla, rohu, mrigal, grass carp, silver carp, common carp and punti. In April, the farmer stocked 100,000 pabda seed with an average weight of 2 g. The fish farmer adopted the method of producing fermented products and applying them to fish ponds for better growth. Fermented products were applied periodically at 2-d intervals (locally called organic juice) produced frommolasses (12 kg), GOC (12 kg), rice dust (10 kg), wheat flour (6 kg), yeast (2 kg), and ripe banana (1 kg), mixed with three times as much water, and kept in water-tight containers for 48 h, and then applied to the pond, which gave good production of zooplankton as well as controlled the water quality. Within 40-60 days, the pabda reached 8-10 g and 50,000 fingerlings were then transferred to another 1-acre pond. Then, in mid-May, rohu and silver carp (350 of each), with an average weight of 150 g were stocked. After this, organic juice along with cow dung slurry (2 kg) was applied at 7-d intervals to keep sufficient zooplankton in pond water. Protein-rich floating feeds were applied daily at 2-3 percent of the fish biomass at night (three times feeding 1900, 2400 and 0300 h) near the mud pots, which were placed slanted in pond bottom. Pabda fingerlings preferred to hide inside the mud pots and came out to get their feed and again took shelter in the pots. This behavior decreased after gaining a weight of around 20 g. Farmers then removed pots from the pond, as these pabda fingerlings became stronger to spread out in the ponds and capable of growing normally with other IMC. I n the state of West Bengal, the success story of a fishers’ community of Haldia, a rural and urban mixed area of Purba Medinipur district, is a shining example of how technologically and innovative aquaculture methods can transform an agrarian economy and uplift the lives of farmers. In many cases diversification in aquaculture is constrained by community acceptance. Amodel for proper utilization of waterbodies by Indian major carp (IMC) culture with pabda Ompok pabda is a good example of community acceptance in Haldia. Intervention In 2017, a training meeting programwas organised by Haldia Block Fishery Department on the diversification of aquaculture, with special emphasis on endangered pabda fish farming, given by Dr. Partha PratimChakrabarti, Principal Scientist, CIFA. Most of the attending farmers realized that, if they introduced this fish in their regular IMC culture system, they might receive good profit because pabda has a high market demand due to its good taste, lack of pinbones in its muscle and its rare fresh market presence. With persuasion and timely help, a few progressive fish farmers and a lot of women involved in fisheries became involved in polyculture of pabda in their backyard ponds. Technical and financial support was provided by the Fishery Department and local banks. Farmers Sharat Chandra Bhowmik (Basanchak), Bishnupada Jana (Chaklalpur), Shubhrojyoti Sahoo (Basanchak) procured fish seed from the hatchery of a fish seed breeder trained by CIFA Kalyani. After growing out to table size in their ponds, fish were sold to retailers and wholesalers. Farmers initiated polyculture of pabda and IMC in 1-ha ponds. After getting considerable profit they had planned to develop more tanks to boost fish production in the upcoming years. In two years, they expanded fisheries and Sarat Chandra Bhowmik now has 8 ha, Shubhrojyoti Sahoo has 2 ha and Bishnupa Jana has 3 ha for pabda and IMC culture. “This could not have been possible without the support, service, technical help and motivation from the Block Fisheries Department as well as Dr. P.P. Chakrabarti, Principal Scientist, CIFA,” said Sri Bhowmik. In the beginning they were not so sure about the tools and A Unique Innovative Mud Pot Technique Developed for Mixed Culture of Pabda with Indian Major Carps in West Bengal, India Suman Kumar Sahu Pabda Ompok pabda is highly esteemed in the marketplace (Photo: Biswarup Ganguly fromWikimedia Commons).