Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment

Evaluation on the prevailing aquaculture practices in the Indian Sundarban delta: An insight analysis

Author(s):

Sourabh Kumar Dubey ^{1, 3} *, Bimal Kinkar Chand ², Raman Kumar Trivedi ¹, Basudev Mandal ³, Sangram Keshari Rout ¹

Recieved Date: 2015-11-24, Accepted Date: 2016-03-22

Abstract:

India is the second largest fish producer in the world and dominates by the production from of West Bengal state. The Sundarban is an UNESCO declared world heritage site, situated at the southern fringes on the West Bengal state of India. Aquaculture plays a vital role in the socio-economic development of the communities living in the Sundarban eco-region. Present study encompasses the prevailing aquaculture practices and socioeconomic profile of the fish farmers of Indian Sundarban based on a multi-layered cross-sectional questionnaire based survey. The majority of fish farmers have medium sized families (60%) and the aquaculture operations are dominated by male workers (98%). The fish farmers belonged to low income group (69%) and their annual income lies within 785.75 US$. Majority of the respondent practices traditional type farming (74%) and polyculture is prevalent. Freshwater aquaculture of Sundarban is dominated by Indian Major Carps (IMCs) in combination with other exotic varieties. Composite fish culture is popular throughout the Sundarban and most preferred stocking combination is carps with tilapia (Oreochromis spp.) followed by IMCs with medium and minor carps. Of Sundarban fish farmers, 19% do not give any kind of supplementary feed. The survey revealed that the government, educational institutions and NGOs are unsuccessful to develop sustainable aquaculture practice and methods in Sundarban. Among the various problems of freshwater aquaculture of Sundarban, saline water inundation through breach of pond dykes (68%), disease outbreaks (61%), cyclones and storm surges due to climate change (53%), poor quality of fish seeds (52%), lack of extension services and technical knowledge (49%), social issues like theft (46%) and poisoning (23%) and erratic natures of rainfall (44%) are major issues. To face these challenges a strong technical, financial and extension services from government organisations and research institutions are urgently needed for sustainable development of aquaculture in Sundarban delta.

Keywords:

Freshwater aquaculture, Indian Sundarban, Indian major carps, saline water inundation

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Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2016
Volume: 14
Issue: 2
Category: Environment
Pages: 133-141

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