India - 3 days ago

A Blue Revolution manifesting Ultra-Sonography in Pisciculture

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“The moon I see now is the same moon I saw before. Except, that before, when I looked at it, it was in anticipation of what it would be like when I got there. However, that’s behind me now”.

The historical quote of legendary scientist Buzz Aldrin, has resonance with an eventuality – The biggest benefit of Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI) was the inspiration it gave to a growing generation to get into science and pisciculture.

Taking cognizance of the abundance of aquatic, anamniotic presence in our country, particularly West Bengal, and their importance as a natural resource for humans since prehistoric times, especially as food – the Central Inland Fisheries Research Station was established in Calcutta on 17 March 1947.

In 1957 – eminent scientist Dr. Hiralal Chowdhury initiated a transformation, widely acclaimed as the Blue Revolution, in which “Induced Breeding” was performed, and it was Cirrhinus. Mrigala; C. Reba; & Labeo Rohita which were bred. Induced breeding is a technique by which the economically important fish (which generally do not breed in captive condition) are bred through artificial stimulation. It gradually demonstrated that why induced breeding is necessary for Fish Culture:

It gives pure spawn of certain species of fishes under cultivation. Spawn collected from natural water is not pure as because some undesirable wild species may come with them in culture pond. Sorting of pure seed is quite impossible in those stages. In later stages it is possible, but time consuming.

It assures timely available of pure seed, where as in nature the availability of seed is quite uncertain.

It can fulfil any quantity of demand in any time.

It also cuts short the holding potential spawners over long periods in uncertain hope of their breeding in time. Many carps take their full maturity in confined water but do not breed.

The technique is very simple and does not need too much technical assistance or knowledge. It can be easily learnt by a layman without much training.

The cost of expenditure is very low than the natural collections of spawns.

Later, in 1959, the Central Inland Fisheries Research Station was elevated to a full-fledged research institute, christened as “Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute”. In 1967, the Institute was drawn under the aegis of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Ministry of Agriculture. At the present it is Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare, New Delhi.

CIFRI, strives for knowledge-based management of inland open waters for sustainable fisheries, conservation of aquatic bio-diversity, integrity of ecological services and to derive social benefits from these waters. Headquartered at Barrackpore, West Bengal; the Regional Research Centres are located at Allahabad, Guwahati, Bangalore and Vadodara, with Research Centres at Kochi and Kolkata. The Institute is ISO 9001: 2008 certified and provide world-class service standards.

In 1971, four projects were initiated by the institute as a part of the All India Coordinated Research Projects (AICRP), namely “Composite Fish Culture”; “Riverine Fish Seed Prospecting”; “Air-breathing Fish Culture” and “Ecology and Fisheries Management of Reservoirs”. Another AICRP on “Brackish Water Fish Farming” was initiated in 1973. The first two projects were combined together as Composite Fish Culture and Fish Seed Production” in 1974. These AICRPs were proved to be the turning points in the history of inland fisheries and aquaculture in India. The resounding success of these projects has given a firm support for the development of freshwater aquaculture in the country.

CIFRI had developed Oxygen packings for long distance transportation of fish seeds resulting in lower mortality of fish seeds, while transportation. The development of induced breeding technology for Indian and Chinese major carps, during the seventies coupled with the bundh breeding of Chinese carps, nursery management techniques and composite fish culture technology gave a fillip to freshwater aquaculture development in India. Development of seed production and culture technologies for air-breathing fishes, methods of aquatic weed control and integrated fish farming systems gave additional support to the growth of freshwater aquaculture. The Institute also developed eco-system oriented management guidelines for increasing fish production from large reservoirs (> 5000 ha area).

Since 2021, the Institute has architected programmes and projects to foster the sustainability of

inland fisheries along with promoting culture based fisheries for augmenting fish production and elevate livelihood of the fisher’s population. Extensive research has been conducted for development of ecosystem-management plans for riverine and estuarine fisheries. The research so carried out fostered a vision that – ‘Developing captive breeding and rearing protocols of Hilsa (Tenualosa Ilisha)’ can bring a radical change in the conservation and revival of this valuable species; furthermore, it envisaged the mammoth economic growth for them those who are actively associated with the mongering & trading of the Hilsa Fish. Accordingly, in order to enhance & restore Hilsa population wild hilsa seeds and juveniles have been ranched.

Hilsa conservation and propagation through circular cage culture in river Ganga:

An initiative of its first kind was undertaken to develop captive hilsa brood stock through circular cages installed in river Ganga. Circular cages having diameter of 16 metres, and 8 metres depth were specifically designed for the hilsa. Total of 87 adult hilsa, with initial average weight of 275g and average length of 18.9 cm were stocked. Artificial feed was supplemented in addition to the available natural feed from the river. The preliminary results demonstrated that acclimatisation of hilsa brooders plays a crucial role in deploring ‘‘future hilsa aquaculture in captive conditions including cages”.

Cage Culture – is an aquaculture system where the fishes are reared from fry to fingerling, fingerling to table size or marketable size in an enclosed volume of water within netting or screening that allows free exchange of water with the surrounding water body.

Intervention of cage culture technology at large scale through public private partnership (PPP) mode in reservoirs can boost and bridge the gap between the current production and expected production potential.

As we know that Hilsa Fish is a sea-water fish, which usually migrates to sweet-water rivers for laying eggs during the rainy seasons. Following the laying of the eggs the Hilsa Fish returns to the sea-waters. But there are several reasons – both environmental & man-made which eventually has led to a dearth of the Hilsa Fish. It is when ICAR-CIFRI had explored the possibilities of breeding them at the backyard of the common-man.

To be continued….