uJ. Freshwater Biol. 6 (2) : 197-202 (1992) Adoption of Composite Fish Culture Technology by the Rural Fisherfolks of Sundarbans B. K. MAHAPATRA, N. C, DATTA*, P, CHATTOPADHYAY and D, SAHA R. K, Ashram Krishi Vigyan Kendra, P.O. Nimpith Ashram-742338 South 24-Parganas, West Bengal, INDIA, “Fishery and Ecology Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta, 36, B.C, Road, Calcutta-700 019, INDIA. Received: 9.11.92; Accepted: 3.4.93 Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Nimpith has been transferring need based technologies in the field of pisciculture since a decade in 19 blocks of the Sundarbans. Extensive survey and study have been made to assess the motivational changes leading to adoption of the technology of composite fish culture and its subsequent modification. The present communication portrays the results of the investigation based on 20 case studies from 6 villages. These case studies reveal a 6 fold increment in fish production by adopting scientific pisciculture. A production of 1,731.62 kg. per hectare over the existiny average of 288.60 kg. was recorded, The cost of fish production as observed from the case studies was Rs. 4.44 and the sale value of fish was Rs. 17.18. Key words : Fish culture, Technology, Sundarbans, Introduction Thus, a potentiality of brackishwater fish Sundarbans, the southern most part of West Bengal covering an area of epproxi- mately 4,266 sq. km., is situated within 21°N to 23°N latitude and 87°E to 89°E longitude. This area is said to be the largest delta in the world and is criss-crossed with innumerable rivers and rivulets, creeks and channels receiving tidal water from the saline source, cniture is already existing in this region. After the establishment of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (agricultural science centre) at Nimpith under the developmental block of Jaynagar-Il_ which also belongs to the Sun- darbans area, extensive studies have been undertaken to explore the freshwater fishery resources of the villages of this region. It198 Mahapatra et a/, Table—1. Details of fish Ponds Water Depth (m) Specles ratio area (ha) cs 4 0.07 3.1 2:3: 3:2 cs 2 0.05 29 cs; 3 0.03 3.0 cs 4 0.06 34 Csi 0.10 3.0 cs 6 0.03 25 CBee 7. 0.03 2.8 cs-8 0.08 34 CS-3. 003 29 cs 10 0.06 27 cs 1 0.06 3.2 cs=12 0.06 3.2 cs 13 0.05 28 cs 14 0.04 3.0 cs 15 0.12 35 C:R:M:SC — :: 2:3:3:2 cs 16 0.08 29 C:R:M:SC: PJs: 1, 5: 3:3: 1.8:1 cs 17 0.05 27 C: R: M: 3:3 cs 18 0.05 29 C: R: M: SC: CC cs 19 0.06 3.0 C: R: M: PS cs 20 0.10 3.1 C:R:MComposite fish culture in Sundarbans 199 production and profit. Stocking rate Cultural cost Fish production Sale value Protit (Nos./ha) (Rs/ha) (kg/ha) (Rsjha) (Rs/ha) 8,214 8,606.00 1,557.14 22.857.14 14 251.14 7,500 9,183.20 1,700.00 39,980.00 30,796.80 7,500 10,530.00 2,067.00 45,833.34 35,303 34 8,000 8,862.34 2,000.00 36,250.00 27,387.66 9,000 9,962.90 2,500.00 38,750 00 28,787.10 8,500 7,175.66 1,900.00 31,666.67 24,491.01 9,500 7,556.70 2,333,30 28,000.00 2 443.30 8,587 6,874.50 1,562.50 25,312.60 18,438.00 10,500 7,509.33 1,666.67 23,333.38 15,824.05 9,375 6,323.66 1,416.67 21,958.38 15,634.75 9,750 6,323.66 1,583,33 26,916.61 20,592.95 8,667 6,362.67 1,500.00 25,500.00 19,137.33 8,000 6,491.20 1,540.00 24,640.00 18,148.80 10,000 7,180.00 1,737.50 31,902.84 24,722.84 8,000 8,019.16 1,566.67 29,766.73 21,747.57 8,500 7184.25 1,740,00 28,050,26 20,866.01 7,500 7,183.20 1,640.00 24,600.00 17,416.80 8,500 7,183.20 1,680.00 33,355.55 26,172.35 9,000 8,195.67 1,641.67 31,191.73 22,996.06 7,500 7,185.00 1,400.00 25,200.00 18,013.00 C = Catla ; M = Mrigal ; CC Common Carp ; BH = Big Head ; R = Rohu ; SC = Silver Carp ; PJ = Java Punti ; CS = Case Study.Table—2. Physico-chemical properties of water and soil of the studied ponds. WATER SOIL Ponds Transparency Temperature PH EC DO; pH EC Organic Available carbon P2Os (cm) (°c) (umhos/cm) (ppm) (umhos/com) — (%) (kg/ha) cs 1 7.65 26.00 712 0.66 6.2 74 1.55 0.60 144.00 cs 2 6.70 28.00 7.25 0.47 5.8 74 0.93 0.63 173.00 cs 3 12,50 27.50 7.64 0.97 75 6.2 2.95 047 81.50 cs 4 10.55 29.00 7.00 0.29 48 6.9. 1.40 0.57 149,00 cs 5. 8.50 25.00 7.30 0.61 4.2 65 0.95 141 302.00 cs 6 5.55 26.50 7.33 0.63 75 6.6 3.00 0.62 300.00 cs 7 6.50 30,00 7.80 0.52 6.1 64 290 0.48 85.10 cs 8 9.65 31.50 7.56 0.91 58 75 235 1,06 108.00 cs'9 8.75 29.00 7.28 0.88 59 = = = = cs 10 6.65 28.00 7.60 1.04 61 56 2.25 0.55 165.00 cs 11 7.85 28.50 7.30 0.49 6.2 73 0.93 0.64 175.00 cs 12 8.95 27.00 6.60 0.70 85 7.4 1,50 0.57 122.00 cs 13 10.65 26.69 7.54 0.75 66 5.5 230 0.50 169.00 cs 14 12.75 28.00 6.98 0.49 Te 6.4 590 0.88 261.00 cs 15 14,50 27.00 7.35 3.35 5.0 6.6 3.10 0.61 297.00 cs 16 6.25 30.50 7.00 0.91 56 61 1.15 0.61 275.00 cs 17 9.75 29.00 7.10 0.33 68 5.0 0.71 0.47 148.00 cs 18 10.50 28,00 7.46 0.30 7A 76 2.40 1.09 110.00 cs 19 715 27.50 7.25 0.42 6.2 72 1.60 0.45 121.00 cs 20 5.55 26.50 7A5 0.89 5.9 6.5 1.90 0.23 $3.00 Jewenedeyew 007has come out from an initial survey that even a small village measuring 4 sq. km. possesses about 80-90 small ponds. These small ponds are mainly excavated to raise the land utilised either for domestic purposes or for cultivating a suitable field crop other than rice. Meteorological data reveals that the Sundarbans region experiences an annual rainfall of about 1600-1800 mm, out of which 87% occurs in the period between July to September. Thus, all such excava- ted ponds are filled to the brim with rain-fed freshwater. Fish culture in these ponds is nothing new to their owners but KVK, Nimoith has been able to bring about considerable motivational change in them, by means of On-Campus and Off-Campus training and demonstration, to accept the scientific com- posite fish culture technology in place of age-old conventional fish culture practices. During training, the experts of the KVK have highlighted the technologies of composite fish culture as mentioned by various workers (Anon, 1980; Chakraborty, 1972; Chatterjee, 1978 ; Chowdhury et a/., 1975; Jhingran, 1982 ; Sinha, 1979; Sreenivasan etal,, 1976) to the fish farmers and moti- vated them to adopt the said technology. It has been observed that after a few years the farmers have accepted the technology and modified it according to their need and suitability. The present communication brings into focus the range of production of fish by the farmers who adopted the techno- logy and the economics of the cultural practice. Materials and Methods Extensive studies have been made to appraise the outcome of the adoption of composite fish culture technology in different Composite fish culture in Sundarbans 201 villages under the 19 developmental blocks of the Sundarbans, out of which 20 ponds in 5 different locations were selected as Tepresentative case studies. In order to get idea of the ecological condition of the studied ponds, analysis of water and sojl were made following Standard Methods for the examination of water and waste water (APHA, 1975) and Soil and Water Testing Methods ( Ghosh et al, 1983). Results Details of the 20 case studies (CS) indicat- ing the fish species, stocking rate, species ratio, fish production and economic aspects are presented in table 1. The physico- chemical profiles of water and soil of 20 ponds are presented in table 2. The area and depth of the studied ponds ranged from 0,03 ha to 0.12 ha and 2.5m to 3.5 m respectively. The main. species which were introduced were mostly the Indian major carps, viz., Catla catla, Labeo rohita and Cirrhinus mrigala with a few exceptions where exotic carps like Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, _Aristichthys nobilis, Puntius javonicus and Cyprinus carpio were also introduced, The stocking rate varied from 7600 nos/ha to 10,500 nos/ ha, As the water from pond is being utilised by the farmers to cultivate a second crop in their field, the period of fish culture is generally restricted to a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 8 months. The total cost of culture varied from Rs. 6,323.66 to Rs, 10,530.00 per hectare water area due to variable stocking densities, culture periods and other management procedures. The maximum fish production was found to be 2500 kg/ha in pond CS-5 and the minimum202 Mahapatra et al. was 1400 kg/ha in pond CS-20. The profit per hectare of water area was calculated and was found to be a maximum of Rs, 35,303.34 from pond CS-3 and a minimum of Rs. 14,251.14 from pond CS-1. Discussion Motivation of fisherfolks for adopting scientific methods in fish culture is one of the most important components of the extension programme in fishery. The rural fisherfolks of Sundarbans readily responded to adopt various technologies offered by the Fishery department of KVK. Menagement schedules such as liming, manuring, appli- cation of supplementary feed, etc. which were hitherto not followed by them, got due importance thus providing a great promise for the adoption of composite fish culture technology in this locality. In this connection it may be mentioned here that due to short culture period (6 to8 months) the fish production and the net profit per hectare of water body apparently References A.P.H,A. (1975): Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Waste Water. 14th Ed., American Public Health Association N, Y. Extension Anon, (1980) : Intensive Fish Farr pamphlet, CIFRI, Barrackpore : 8p. ing, Chakraborty, R. D. (1972): Composite culture of Indian and Exotic fishes. Souvenir Silver Jubilee of CIFRI, Barrackpore : pp 25-29. Chatterjee, D. K. (1978) : Pond fertilisation. Summer Institute on Inland Aquaculture, CIFRI (ICAR), Barrackpore : 6 p. Choudhury, H., Chakraborty, R. D.. Sen, P.R., Rao, N, G. and Jena, S. (1975) : A new high in fish production in India with record yields by com- posite fish culture in fresh water ponds. Aqua- culture, 6 : 343-35. seem to below. Ont'e other hand, as the same labourers were employed for both pisciculture and agricclture the labour cost for pond management such as manuring, liming etc. was low and therefore, the pro- duction cost of fish also became reduced considerably to Rs. 4.44 per kg. However, if the profits from both the practices are added together the farmers’ income increased considerably (Table 2). The above case study reveals that the technology of composite fish culture has been adopted by the rural fisherfolks of Sindarbans after introducing their own modifications within their limited financial capabilities, Acknowledgement The authors are greatly indebted to the authorities of the R. K. Ashram Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Nimpith for providing facilities to carry out this research work. Ghosh, A. B., Bajaj. J. C., Hasan, R. and Singh, A. (1983): Soi! and water testing methods (IAR}): 80 p. Jhingran, V. G, (1982): Fish and Fisheries of India, Hindustan Publishing Corporation (India), Delhi. 2nd Ed, Sinha, V. R. P. (1979): Contribution of supplemen- tary feed in increasing fish production through composite fish culture in India, pp. 565-574, In Fin fish nutrition and fish feed technology Vol, | (J.£. Halver and K. Tiens eds.) Heememann Verlogsgesettschatt, Berlin, Sreenivasan, A. and Pillai, K.V. (1976): Ferilisa- tion of fishery water: Experimental fertilisation of small reservoir. J. Inland Fish. Soc. India, 8:117p.