Raj Fisheries Newsletter Jan2021_01

Raj Fisheries Newsletter

(Devoted to Fisheries Education and Awareness)

Newsletter -1 (1) , January 2021

From editor's desk

From the​ Guest Editor

Raj fisheries group is in existence from the year 2017 and trying to share technical information pertaining to various aspects of fisheries.This forum comprising of our esteemed members including ex Vice chancellor,ex Deans, ex Heads of Departments and retired fisheries officers besides working University faculty members, fisheries officers,post graduate and PhD students.

Rajasthan Fisheries -in perspective and futuristic view- V.S.Durve

In the past this group has attempted to disseminate ideas and experiences on various aspects of fisheries with a particular focus on inland fisheries and aquaculture.

The educational and extension material shared in the group has helped many students for their competitive examinations.

In this context,the group has provided a series of more than 1000 objective type questions for the benefit of members. Later, it was realised that in order to consolidate useful information pertaining to fisheries in general and of relevance to Rajasthan in particular, the thought of publishing a bimonthly newsletter of the group emerged randomly.

I am glad to share the Premier issue of the newsletter of Raj fisheries group. I am grateful to our well wishers and members for their useful contributions for the preparation of this first issue of newsletter. I am hopeful that with the active contribution of the group members, we would be able to prepare subsequent issues of the newsletter. The contents of this issue are just compiled on the basis of random thoughts and I hope further enrichment would be possible in future with more scientific and technical inputs by the members.

Prof.(Dr) L.L.Sharma,(Ex Dean College of Fisheries, MPUAT) Editor

Rajfisheries Newsletter : January 2021

(Retired Professor of Limnology and Fisheries, Rajasthan Agricultural University Rajasthan, the largest state in India has the water resources in the form of reservoirs, rivers, canals, tanks and ponds, total making to 4.53 lakh hectares.

Besides, it has 80,000 hectares of waterlogged places and 1.80 lakh hectares of salt affected waters.

The total fish production from the capture and culture-cum-capture fisheries was around 24000 tonnes in 2010 which crossed 45000 tonnes in 2016 and stood at 55,848.99 tonnes in 2019. The revenue also progressively increased accordingly.The manpower involved in this profession is 16500 as fish farmers, fishers and those involved in the ​related f​ishery activities.

Though the Rajasthan water is good for the fish culture and fish growth owing to its moderate high alkalinity and other chemical factors besides the supply of natural food,there are certain climatological drawbacks for developing fish culture on a large scale.

These drawbacks are the wide degree of fluctuations in temperature from 2​o ​C to 48​o ​C and uncertainty of monsoon which adversely affects the natural fish stock of waters with low recruitment of fish ​juveniles.

The amount of rainfall also varies from 50 mm to 1500 mm. Even induced breeding many a time fails owing to the vagaries of the climatic conditions forcing the import of the fish seed from outside the state.

In spite of this, the state ranks 18th in the inland fish production in the country. This ranking is unsatisfactory in view of the large and different

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opportunities available in Rajasthan for increasing the fish production. The fisheries administration and technical personnel involved in this, need to concentrate on the adoption and improvisations in the new and already in-use technologies of fish production to push up this ranking.

Since the natural stocking of the wild waters is now greatly dwindled, and the stocking of these waters with the home produced or imported fish seed has become an age-old practice, it has become necessary to take the fish culture to pen and cage culture and also to the people involved in agriculture, home management and urban areas.

The technique of cage culture initiated in the lakes Jaisamand and Mahi-Bajaj sagar by the College of Fisheries and State Fisheries Department respectively has given moderate to good results depending probably on the fish species involved. It would be more beneficial to encourage ​monosex ​Tilapia culture in the cages instead of indigenous and other exotic fishes. Tilapia besides being hardy, has a better consumer preference than the other fishes being experimented in the cage culture system.The cage culture in wild waters is fraught with the dangers of flooding, heavy winds and rains, predation by water reptiles and birds and lastly the security factors. Many a time, in spite of taking all measures of covering of cages with nets, firm anchoring of the cages and adequate security measures, the washing away of cages and the theft of fishes occur.

The agricultural farm based aquaculture has probably not yet begun in Rajasthan on the pattern being followed in the state of Maharashtra where the cost of the farm pond and the bore-well is borne by the Government and the stocking and the technical guidance is given by the Fisheries College located in the region. ​The supplementary income generated by this system is in few lakhs to the aquaculturist. Here ag​ain, in the fish species, selective preference is for Tilapia fish. Some agriculturists do cultivate Indian fishes like Major carps, Pangasius and even Mahseer with varying results. We may also call this Homestead aquaculture.

Shifting our emphasis from the culture of the Indian Major Carps to the alternate fish species culture of the exotic fish species like Tilapia, Pangasius and Grass carps would greatly benefit the fisheries of Rajasthan.

The culture of Tilapia on a large scale in the village,

Rajfisheries Newsletter : January 2021

remote and isolated ponds in the rural set-up would provide the cheap and easily digestible proteins to our village brethren. Further, Tilapia, after all is a tasty fish and has a good market acceptability.The stocking of village ponds of less than 5 to 10 ha water spread with Tilapia has been in vogue in south Indian states especially in the state of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil nadu. This practice has greatly enhanced the fish production in these states. The fish thus is cheaper, adequate, and readily available for the fish eating populace of the villages. In continuation of this, the culture of Mahseer and if possible their breeding has to be initiated.

The days of cemented and excavated ponds for aquaculture are gone and the aquaculture has now become a very affordable enterprise for the villagers and entrepreneurs with small land holdings. The Biofloc aquaculture can be done on a small land piece using F.R.P. tanks or tarpaulin fitted to a structure or skeleton of iron/steel pipes. In Biofloc aquaculture the approximate cost of production is Rs. 50 per Kg of fish, while the returns would be between Rs. 120 to 150 per Kg giving more than double the profit.

Although the fish crop can be taken only during the 10 month period except the cold winter months in Rajasthan, the enterprise is still profit making. With the stocking of 4 to 5 thousand late fry in 15 thousands liters of water, one would obtain the saleable stock of fish each attaining the weight of 800 gram or even more. Catla has shown the growth of 3.5 kg in the Biofloc fish culture. The total investment in this enterprise is around 2 to 3 lakhs initially. Little attempts are being made in Rajasthan to popularize this technology. While all culturable fishes can find place in this system, Tilapia has again proved profitable and easy to grow.

We have to initiate urban aquaculture in the form of Aquaponics, Recirculating aquaculture and Ornamental fish culture. The recirculating aquaculture system(RAS) though saves water considerably, becomes expensive because of the heavy use of electricity. Further, filtration also becomes necessary here. A good start has already been made in the ornamental fish culture by the College of Fisheries and a private enterprise in Udaipur. However, the other two ​culture systems ​now need attention.

In this case, the role of the College of Fisheries is very important. It should build the model demonstration

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units for each of the above aquacultural systems in their premises and occasionally conduct the training courses for the villagers and start-ups in these systems. With the adoption of such game changing systems, the fish production in Rajasthan is destined to progress with leaps and bounds.

​Personality:Late R. S. Baradwaj Born in Chhindwara,M.P. on 4 July 1931 late Shri R.S.Bhardwaj was an officer of the state Fisheries Department of Rajasthan who served this Department from 1 December 1959 to 31 July 1989. Shri Bhardwaj did his Master of Science in Zoology from SagarUniversity.He joined department of Fisheries as F.D.O. During tenure of his service he occupied various positions such as FDO,Principal Fisheries Training School,CEO of FFDA,Dy Directorand Joint Director.Sh. Bharadwaj made notable contributions during his stay in the department before his superannuation in the year 1989.Mr Bhardwaj had opportunity for vigorous fisheries training for 2 years at CIFE,Mumbai.For attending SARC meeting Sri Bhardwaj had opportunity to visit 9 SARC countries in 1984. He had published several technical reports and a book namely ‘Manual of fish culture in Rajasthan and MP' jointly with Peace Corps Volunteers from USA. Sh.Bhardwaj had a pleasant personality with real zeal for fisheries development.

For developing brood bank of common carp it was the initiative of Sh. Bharadwaj to release their seed in the Gomukh kund(Pond) at famous Chittorgarh fort of Rajasthan which served as brood bank for stocking common carp ​Cyprinus Carpio communis ​elsewhere in the state in the subsequent years. After a graceful service of over 30 years Sh.Bhardwaj left this world for heavenly abode on​ 28 January, 2019​.

The Rajfisheries group expresses humble gratitude to Sh. Bharadwaj by remembering his valuable and pioneering contributions for the fisheries development in the state of Rajasthan.

--Arun Kumar Purohit,Dy Director (Retd.), Department of Fisheries, Rajasthan

Rajfisheries Newsletter : January 2021

Success story of P.S.Khinchi in Reservoir Fisheries: Shri ​Purushottam Singh Khinchi​(77) alias ‘Thakur’ is a well-known person in the field of reservoir capture fisheries in Rajasthan. For the last more than 50 years in this field with his hard work and dedicated efforts Sh.Singh has attained new heights. Born in a small village Kothariya of the District Rajsamand,he completed his early school education from the village Kothariya and then moved to Udaipur for his High School from the Lambardar School. Subsequently, he joined Maharana Bhopal College, Udaipur in 1962 for pursuing pre-university examination and then Government Seth Mathuradas Binani College of Nathdwara for graduation. Last part of his graduation remained unfinished due to his inclination towards fish and fisheries. The year 1960 was the turning point Thakur recalls, as he started catching fish in a canal running from Namana Dam to Sasera while the fish was moving upstream. In those days 3 to 4 kg of catla fish were often found in the canal.

Rao of Bansi, late Lalit Singh adviced Thakur to adopt fisheries business. Till this time he had no knowledge about fish,fishing nets etc. Then he started catching fish in a limited manner and used to sell these in Udaipur market where the rate of fish in those days was Rs 1.5 per kg.With these preliminary encouraging activities his interest in fish increased further and he started taking auctions of small water bodies in partnership with his friends. He recalls the name of late Fakeer Mohammad who was a skilled ‘Shikari’ and who taught him fishing methods. With gratefulness Thakur mentions the name of munsaf late Nanhe Khan as his mentor who guided him for the intricacies of fisheries as a business. Thereafter, from 1970 onwards Thakur started taking small Dams on auctions for capture fisheries. Stressing the need for stocking fish seed in the reservoirs, Thakur mentions that he took initiative for the stocking of IMCs seed in the reservoirs for getting better production. For this purpose, he used to get seed from Gujarat and West Bengal. In the subsequent years he obtained fishing licences and started working on reservoirs of Rajasthan namely Meeja, Udai Sagar, Rana Pratap Sagar and Guda besides several other

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small and medium sized reservoirs located in the districts Pali, Udaipur, Sirohi, Bhilwara Bundi, Dungarpur and Banswara. Thakur further recalls his working on Gandhi Sagar dam of MP where the catch used to be huge from 80 to 100 tonnes per day and it was a big challenge to manage this catch for proper capture, handling and marketing. As regards marketing of Rajasthan fish, he informed that fish captured from Rajasthan waters has a limited market in Jaipur and Kota within the state therefore, bulk of the catch goes to distant markets located in places like Delhi, Howrah and Ahmedabad. During the winter season fish is also marketed to Punjab. Referring to Tilapia proliferation in Rajasthan, Thakur stated that initially there was a problem in marketing but now because of less bones and good taste the acceptability of tilapia is increasing day by day and as such there is no problem of marketing not only in our country but it is also being exported to other countries. While asking how to obtain good production from the reservoirs, he suggested stock quality fish seed soon after rains especially in the seasonal water bodies which have high fish yields. It is also necessary to properly calculate the number of fish to be stocked in a particular water body based on its effective water spread area which may vary from year to year.While questioning about the the growth potential of fish in Rajasthan waters, he informs that growth is excellent as in a period of 1 year catla may grow up to 2 kilograms and rohu from 1 to 1.5 kg. Suggesting fishery as a means of livelihood for the entrepreneurs, he says that if it is done skillfully with full dedication either singly or in partnership to begin with, fisheries can be more rewarding than going for usual jobs.

Once a person is involved in this enterprise, gradually he will learn all the necessary elements and skills for a successful entrepreneur,he added.

The business of reservoir fisheries established by P.S.Khinchi is now also looked after by his successors as he enjoys performing yoga and pranayam to keep himself physically fit. Thakur’s journey on reservoir capture fisheries is an example of successful entrepreneurship in Rajasthan.

Fishes of Rajasthan:(1) Catla Scientific name: ​Gibelion catla (Hamilton, 1822) Common name:Catla (English), Katla (Bengali), Bhakur (Hindi), Bahkur (Oriya), Koora-kendai (Tamil), Theppu-meenu (Tamil), Chepti (Hindi), Kanavi (Tamil),

Rajfisheries Newsletter : January 2021

Japankendai (Tamil), Tambra (Gujarati) etc.

Synonyms​:​Catla buchanani ​(Valenciennes,1844), Cyprinus abramioides (Sykes, 1839), ​Cyprinus catla (Hamilton,1822), ​Hypselobarbus abramioides (Sykes,1840), ​Leuciscus catla (Hamilton, 1822).

Distribution: Catla is endemic in the riverine system of northern India.It is mainly found in rivers, reservoirs, ponds and tanks of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar etc. ​Habit & habitat:​Catla is eurythermal species that grows at water temperature between 25-32 ̊C and it is a surface feeder. It is a fast growing species of major carps. It lives in freshwater and brackish water (Day, 1989).

Food & Feeding​: Catla fry:Planktophagic feeder (Mainly on zooplankton such as rotifers and cladocerans). Adults:Planktophagous (Raj Kumar et al.

2007) with a preference for zooplankton (mainly crustaceans, rotifers, insects and protozoa, algal and plant material). ​Sexual maturity:C ​ atla attains first sexual maturity in second year but male mature earlier than females. ​Spawning Season: Catla are seasonal riverine spawners and spawning during the June to August/September (Naturally inundated shallow area of the river during flood). ​Fecundity​:1 to 2 lakhs/kg BW (FAO). ​Age and Growth​:Catla attains maximum length of 182cm TL male/unsexual (Menon, 1999) and maximum weight of 38.6 kg (Machacek, 2007).Catla attains a weight of 1-1.2 kg and size of 60 cm in the first year under normal condition (Indian reservoirs). It is reported to attain length of 95cm in 2​nd​ year and 112 cm in 3​ed​ year.

-Dr Tarang Shah,PhD from CoF,GBPUAT, Pant Nagar, Uttarakhand (Catla deserves to be declared as the STATE FISH of Rajasthan. A request in this connection was made by this group to the state Fisheries Department on 5 January,2018).

A versatile person-Late Prakash Trigunayat

Surya

A down to earth person with simplicity and sense of humour, Late Sri ​Surya Prakash Trigunayat served the Department of Fisheries Rajasthan for more than 35 years. He did his B.Sc. in the year from Govt. M.V. College,Bhilwara and joined the state fisheries

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department as the Fisheries Inspector.Subsequently he was promoted as AFDO and served till his superannuation in 2010 . He also successfully completed a diploma course from Kakinada centre of CIFE. For most part of his service Sh. Surya Prakash was posted at Bhilwara and also at Udaipur in Fisheries Training School of state Fisheries Department.

Two years back sh. Surya Prakash passed away on ​29 January ,2019 after a brief illness and donated his body to R.N.T. Medical College, Udaipur for the noble cause. Our humble tribute to the departed soul.

established in different states to cater the need for trained human resource. Referring to the vast aquatic resources of Rajasthan Dr Sharma stressed the need for optimum exploitation of fisheries resources for the livelihood of rural youths and fisheries graduates. Dr. BK Sharma, Dean, CoF,Udaipur briefly informed about celebration of Agricultural Education Day with the basic objective to attract students to agricultural and allied education after completing school education. In this online event besides university and school teachers, school students and fisheries college students participated with keen interest.

--Dr Subodh K. Sharma, PRO and Incharge Media Cell, MPUAT, Udaipur

This logo

Recent Thesis CoF, Udaipur

The two circles of logo represent two main colours of the aquatic realm from a productivity point of view. In aquaculture deliberately green water is prepared with the use of fertilizers whereas blue water is a sign of capture fisheries resources. 2017 is the year of formation of Rajfisheries group.In the centre of logo interaction of fish and water are displayed.

‘​Study on certain physico-chemical parameters, primary productivity and fisheries potential of Jawai dam, Pali, Rajasthan’ by Kavindra,MFSc under Dr S. K. Sharma,( Major Advisor), Professor and Head, Department of AEM, College of Fisheries, MPUAT, Udaipur This research work was conducted to find out the production potential of Jawai Dam of Pali district in Western Rajasthan. Attempts have been made to

On behalf of the group our cordial thanks are extended to Kapil Sharma,Asstt. Prof. Avantika University,Ujjain for nicely designing this logo for the group.

Agricultural Education Day 2020 at Fisheries College,MPUAT, Udaipur Agriculture Education Day was observed online on 3 December in the College of Fisheries, MPUAT, Udaipur. On this occasion Dr Subodh K. Sharma(Ex Dean,CoF) in his introductory categorically stated the fisheries scenario at national and international levels using powerpoint presentation. Dr Subodh outlined the opportunities for self-employment in various fields of fisheries. Presenting the key note address of this event former Professor and Dean of College Dr L.L. Sharma drew attention to expanding fisheries education in the country and emphasized the need for quality education for upgrading teaching and research. He also informed about the national fisheries institutes of ICAR and fisheries colleges

Rajfisheries Newsletter : January 2021

Jawai Dam,Pali,Rajasthan assess the water quality and primary productivity status of Jawai dam and its correlation with fish production. The Jawai Dam has water spread area of 2,590 ha at FTL and a total catchment area of 787 km 2​ . The mean depth of the dam is 7.7 M. The average water quality parameters of the dam during the study period were fairly moderate. During the study period 26 genera of zooplankton were identified in Jawai dam. The relative dominance of these zooplanktonic groups were Cladocera>Rotifera > Copepoda >Protozoa.

From the results of water quality parameters,

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productivity, zooplankton and relatively low levels of nutrients in the Jawai dam it may be acclaimed in the category of low to moderately productive water. The annual fish production potential of Jawai dam estimated on the basis of its average GPP is 112824.87 kg yr -1 i.e. 43.56 kg ha -1 yr -1 . However, the current fish production is only 72,000 kg yr -1 which indicated that there is a gap of 40,825 kg yr -1 of fish production.Thus, the fish production of Jawai Dam can be increased by 36.18 per cent annually with scientific management .The study also suggests stocking of good number of planktivorous fishes. Catla catla along with exotic carps including omnivorous fishes e.g. ​Cyprinus carpio in Jawai Dam may be considered for augmenting fish production.

New books published

Obituary Dr M.S.Johal​, Ex Professor of Zoology, Panjab University, Chandigarh-a dedicated Zoologist -recently expired due to covid-19.Dr Johal is well known for his excellent research contributions for determination of age and growth of fish using body scales. He worked on many fishes of Rajasthan waters and published several papers.He liberally shared his knowledge to young researchers who are pursuing similar work elsewhere.

We offer our humble tributes to the departed soul.

Limnological Methods ​by Dr M.S.Sharma and Dr L.L.Sharma, Publisher:Yash Publishing Bikaner(​yash_pub@yahoo.com​)

House,

Basics of Freshwater Aquaculture ​by Dr V. P. Saini, Dr Sharad R. Surnar, Dr M.L.Ojha, Dr N.C.Ujjainia, Rohitash Yadav.

Publisher:Himanshu Publications Udaipur(​himanshupublications@gmail.com​)

Announcements 1.​Raj fisheries group ​members are invited to submit short notes ,information, write up on various aspects of fisheries with focus on Rajasthan. Articles should be based on research data with a particular narrow theme.in the form of popular article in abstract form with maximum 600 words supported by relevant research data. For details you may contact the Editor.

2. ​Raj fisheries research database​:The group took an initiative to compile information on research projects, research papers published in journals/books. It is requested to provide relevant information on research papers together with your Photo image .

Brief biodata from all the MFSc & PhD supervisors/ major Advisors are also invited for inclusion in the e-directory of fisheries persons of Rajasthan.

Rajfisheries Newsletter : January 2021

Boat Race, Fateh Sagar,Udaipur-16 November,2016 Photo:Dr L.L.Sharma

Goodbye 2020….

Due to Covid-19 pandemic in the preceding year we witnessed adversities for health and the economy.

Hopefully, year 2021 will bring relief from the pandemic and the situation will revive for the entire planet.

We wish you all a very happy & cheerful new year. __________________________________ Compiled and edited for Rajfisheries group for internal circulation by Dr L.L.Sharma, Prof.& Dean(Rtd.), College of Fisheries, MPUAT,Udaipur) PN 207 Road 13, Ashok Nagar, Udaipur-313001 (M) 9829230343, (LL) 029-22940344 E mail: ​llsharma.206@gmail.com

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