Shrimp Aquaculture: Diseases, Health Management, Exotic Introduction and Regulations

India has vast natural resources suitable for the development of aquaculture in the marine, brackishwater and freshwater environments. A long coast line 8118 km along with 3.5 million ha of estuaries and 3.9 million ha of backwaters, our potential for the development is immense. It is estimated that an area of 1.2 million ha are suitable for the development of brackishwater aquaculture. A major share of this potential area lies in the states of West Bengal (34 per cent) and Gujarat (32 per cent) where they greatly remain under utilized. Andhra Pradesh has been leading the country with its enterprising farmers both in utilization (50 per cent) of the potential land and in quantity produced. The latest estimates places the total brackishwater area developed for aquaculture at 1,90,000 ha with a national average of 16 per cent

Effects and consequences of small-scale cage culture technology adoption in Kerala

Small-scale fish farming is critical in ensuring food security and employment in many developing countries. Small-scale cage culture for Etroplus suratensis was introduced in the state by the Department of Fisheries, Government of Kerala with the same objectives. The demand for the species has shown considerable increase in the recent years and f m gate prices are as high as Rs 450kg in the peak season. Elevation to the status of State Fish has also helped the culture of the species in attracting the attention of policy makers leading to promotion of its culture. Cage culture in brackishwater bodies, a relatively new technology to the State, was popularized among the tsunami affected fishermen along with extension and technical support. The implementation of cage culture was promoted through the Brackishwater Fish Farmers' Development Agency (BFFDAs) and Agency for Development ofAquaculture Kerala (ADAK), two subsidiaries of the Department of Fisheries, Government of Kerala. The present study probes the effects and consequences of cage culture technology adoption among farmers based on primary data collected from sample respondents during the initial year of culture

Harnessing ornamental fisheries resources for sustainable growth and development: A trade perspective from Kerala, India

Ornamental fish trade has gained paramount importance with more than 125 countries involved in the freshwater and marine fishes. The global trade is estimated to be around US $ 450 million registering a growth rate of ten percent since 2001. Asia caters up to 60 per cent of the global trade while India stands with a dismal 0.9 per cent with a portfolio of 30-35 fresh water species. The ornamental fish resources of Kerala has huge potential with untapped and unexploited resources. However the performance of the sector is not worthy and production is much below the demand. The SWOL analysis - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Limitations analysis - is done to analyse the status of ornamental fish industry in Kerala. The results indicated that good export market, high demand, availability of under-utilized marine resources, potential for rural development, low cost effort, efficiency of ornamental fish marketers, institutional support for development and promotions were the major strengths. Dependence on wild caught species, inadequate data on resources, wastage of resources, unwillingness towards marine fishes, lack of trained/ skilled manpower and organized trade, lack of adept technologies, poor marketing facilities, backwardness in international market, weak market image and lack of fishing regulations were the major inherent weaknesses. The major opportunities were enhancement of species portfolio, increasing market value, less capital intensive, high popularity and demand, breeding and culture of indigenous fishes, faster market growth, entry to new market destinations, increased awareness of international buyers and support of government. Technological backwardness, technology transfer, insufficient awareness programmes, adverse government policies, competitions from neighboring countries, sustainability of resources and drastic drop in fish prices were the major limitations. The study suggests concerted efforts by the different stakeholders to enhance the production of the sector

Challenges in Food security: The Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy Perspectives in India

Food, shelter and clothing are the basic necessities of the life and among them, food plays a pivotal role in the social and economic development of the country. Demographic pressures abating the arable lands as well as the declining factor productivity in major agriculture based cropping system leaves no options with the primary stakeholders than to f ind an alternative to traditional agricultural activity. Indian fisheries sector contributes to nutritional security, provides gainful employment and earns forex earnings. The sector produces 9.3 million tonnes of f ish to the food basket generating an economic value of 81,400 crores (0.82 percent) of the total GDP as per the current market prices of 2011. The forex earnings during 2011 in terms of quantity and value are 8.70 lakh tonnes and around 3.5 billion US$ crores respectively. Eventhough capture sector is on the rise with around 3.94 million tonnes, the sector is grappled with numerous policy bottlenecks in the value chain. Thus it becomes important to harvest alternative and non-traditional sources of f isheries. Aquaculture is the fastest growing food sector in the world and there is immense scope of improving it in terms of horizontal integrations by harnessing more and more area into aquaculture in addition to the numerous policy constraints and elements required for the sustainable development of the fisheries sector to feed the ever growing population

Captive breeding of a near threatened fish, pengba Osteobrama belangeri (Valenciennes, 1844) using three different inducing agents

Farm reared pengba, Osteobrama belangeri were induced to spawn in captivity during August, 2012 by injecting three different synthetic hormones, Ovaprim, Ovatide and Gonopro-FH. Single dose (1 ml kg-1 body weight) of each hormone was administered and results were recorded. Spawning was observed within 8 h after injection. Hatching of eggs were observed after 22±2 h of incubation at 27±1OC. The mean fertilization rate was 84.05±0.36% for Ovaprim, 79.17±3.95% for Ovatide and 84.85±0.89% for Gonopro-FH treated fish. The mean hatching rate was 84.69±1.73% with Ovaprim, 75.01±1.92% with Ovatide and 86.52±0.88% with Gonopro-FH. Gonopro-FH and Ovaprim gave 5.67 and 4.88% higher fertilization rate as well as 11.5 and 9.69% more hatching rate of eggs respectively as compared to Ovatide. Ovaprim and Gonopro-FH were found to be more effective in induced breeding of O. belangeri

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Investigation of the Tribological Characteristics of Aluminum 6061-Reinforced Titanium Carbide Metal Matrix Composites

The current trend in the materials engineering sector is to develop newer materials that can replace the existing materials in various engineering sectors in order to be more and more efficient. Therefore, the present research work is aimed at fabricating and determining the physical, mechanical, and dry sliding wear properties of titanium carbide (TiC)-reinforced aluminum alloy (Al6061) metal matrix composites (MMCs). For the study, the Al6061-TiC microparticle-reinforced composites were fabricated via the liquid metallurgy route through the stir casting method, where the reinforcement of the TiC particles into the Al6061 alloy matrix was added in the range of 0 to 8.0 wt.%, i.e., in the steps of 2.0 wt.%. The synthesis procedure followed the investigation of the various mechanical properties of Al6061-TiC MMCs, such as the density and structure, as well as mechanical and dry wear experimentation. The tests performed on the casted Al6061, as well as its TiC composites, were in harmony with ASTM standards. As per the experimental outcome, it can be confirmed that the increase in the weight percentage of TiC into the Al6061 alloy substantially increases the density, hardness, and tensile strength, at the expense of the percentage of elongation. In addition, the dry wear experiments, performed on a pin-on-disc tribometer, showed that the Al6061-TiC MMCs have superior wear-resistance properties, as compared to those of pure Al6061 alloy. Furthermore, optical micrograph (OM), powdered X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were employed for the developed Al6061-TiC MMCs before and after the fracture and wear test studies. From the overall analysis of the results, it can be observed that the Al6061-TiC composite material with higher TiC reinforcement displays superior mechanical characteristics

Not Available

Not AvailableFarm reared pengba, Osteobrama belangeri were induced to spawn in captivity during August, 2012 by injecting three different synthetic hormones, Ovaprim, Ovatide and Gonopro-FH. Single dose (1 ml kg-1 body weight) of each hormone was administered and results were recorded. Spawning was observed within 8 h after injection. Hatching of eggs were observed after 22±2 h of incubation at 27±1OC. The mean fertilization rate was 84.05±0.36% for Ovaprim, 79.17±3.95% for Ovatide and 84.85±0.89% for Gonopro-FH treated fish. The mean hatching rate was 84.69±1.73% with Ovaprim, 75.01±1.92% with Ovatide and 86.52±0.88% with Gonopro-FH. Gonopro-FH and Ovaprim gave 5.67 and 4.88% higher fertilization rate as well as 11.5 and 9.69% more hatching rate of eggs respectively as compared to Ovatide. Ovaprim and Gonopro-FH were found to be more effective in induced breeding of O. belangeri.Not Availabl