Diversification of aquaculture for empowerment to fisheries through institution village linkage programme (IVLP) in Kerala, India

Technology Assessment and Refinement through the Institution Village Linkage Programme (IVLP) is the latest participatory extension model successfully undertaken by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in India. The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute has been implementing IVLP since 2001 to assess and refine the technologies of the coastal agro ecosystems at Elamkunnapuzha village (Vypeen Island) in the Ernakulam District of Kerala. A series of need based location specific technology intervention plans have been introduced to overcome the social and biological constraints on farming practices in fisheries, livestock and agriculture, and implemented with the active participation of the stakeholders. The inferences drawn from IVLP ultimately form a package suitable for enhanced production in the costal agro ecosystem for replication to other areas with similar characteristics. This paper gives a brief account of the treatment packages applied in fisheries through various technological interventions and discusses the consequent yield and benefits obtained. The ‘integrated whole village development’ through the involvement of multi institutional teams and a participatory approach was accorded prime importance in the IVLP of Elamkunnapuzha, with a greater emphasis on marginal and small farmers and specifically focusing on women for poverty alleviation and equity under the coastal agro e

Twenty sea cucumbers from seas around India

Twenty species of sea cucumbers from India are described briefly, with photographs which will enable research workers and farmers to identify them

Length-weight relationships of commercially important marine fishes and shellfishes of the southern coast of Karnataka, India

The parameters of the length-weight relationship of the form W = aLb are presented for 51 species of commercially important marine fishes and shellfishes caught along the southern coast of Karnataka, India. Samples from commercial (trawl, purse seines, gill nets) and artisanal gears were taken during August 1999 to May 2001. The ‘b’ value ranged between 1.942 and 3.616 with a mean of 2.80, standard deviation of 0.32, and mode of 3

Spawning and hatching performance of the silvery black porgy Sparidentex hasta under hypersaline conditions

Abu Al Abyad island is characterized by harsh environmental conditions. A preliminary trial conducted at the island to investigate the spawning and hatching performance of the blue finned sea bream Sparidentex hasta indicated that the fish can be successfully bred at high salinity levels exceeding 50 ppt

Seaweed resources of the Tuticorin-Tiruchendur coast, Tamil Nadu, India

The southern coast of Tamil Nadu (Mandapam to Kanyakumari) supports luxuriant growth of economic seaweeds. The entire indigenous phycocoUoid industry of the country gets the raw material from this region and during the last two decades, due to indiscriminate harvesting, there has been over-exploitation of the resource. The present paper deals with survey conducted in the first sector from Tuticorin to Tiruchendur during December 1986—March 1987. In this study 58 species of marine algae were recorded of which 7 belong to Chlorophyta, 12 to Phaeophyta and 39 to Rhodophyta besides 3 species of seagrasses namely Cymodocea seiriilata, Halophila ovalis and //. ovata within 650 sq. km area surveyed. The total standing crop of the seaweeds was estimated at 9,100 tonnes (wt.). The estimates for the dominant species are Dictyota maxima 530 t, Sargassum tenerrium 640 t, D. bartayresiana 8601, Selieria rebusta 2,0901 and Hypnea valemiae 2,4301. The seaweed potential for commercial exploitation has been briefly discussed

Environmental stress induced fish diseases

Diseases have been known to occur among fishes from time immemoria

Clam fisheries of Vembanad Lake, Kerala with observations on the socio economic conditions of the clam fisheries

Vembanad Lake is the main estuary system which harbours rich resources of clams along the south west coast of India. Villorita cyprinoides) is the main resource followed by Meretrix cata, Paphia malabarica and Suneta scripta.Annualy about 31650 tonnes of clams are harvested and out of which 31430 tonnes is contributed by the black clam

Phenol Oxidase

Phenol oxidase is an enzyme which is responsible for hydroxylation of phenols and dehydrogenation of O. diphenols into quinone. It is known to be distributed in the blood as well as in the cuticle of crustaceans (Summers, 1967). The enzyme can be assayed either spectrophotometrically, by measuring the dopa chrome formed (Preston & Taylor, 1970) or monometrically by measuring the oxygen. consumed during the oxidation of the substrates (Hackman & Goldberg, 1967). The spectrophotometry method of assaying the enzyme of blood from Scylla serrata is presented here

The status of prawn fishery at Jakhau, Gujarat

During the past one decade, Jakhau has become an important seasonal (September to March) fishing centre In Kutch, attracting an increasing number of fishermen and traders from different parts of Gujarat. The prawn fishery contributed 24% of the total trawl landings during the 1985-86 season. The prawn fishery is chiefly supported by penaeids like Penaeus monodon, P. indlcus, P. semlsulcalua, Metapenaaus brevlconis, M. ktachansis, and non penaeids like HIppolysmata enslrostris and Exopataemon styllferus. The peak season for the fishery is from October to January. The average catch per Unit effort for prawns showed a clear decline during 1985-86 and 1986-87 seasons. This is apparently attributed to the fact that increasing number of migrant fishermen come here to fish, leading to over fishing. Management measures that should be taken to conserve the stock in these fishing grounds are suggested

Crustacea (Crab)

Brachyuran crabs, a bioenergetically significant group constitute one of the most dominant macrobenthic faunal components in all the mangrove ecosystems of the world. Several species of commercially important crabs like - Scylla serrata occur in mangroves. Brachyuran crabs play significant role to maintain the steady state condition of mangrove ecosystems several ways. The feedig activities of detritivore crabs such as - Uca, Macrophthalmus, Dotilla, Sesarma etc. help in the degradation of organic matter, especially mangrove litters and decaying woods. They also influence the functioning of mangrove ecosystems as burrowers since their repeated burrowing and reburrowing activities enhance the soil aeration, mixing of different soil profiles, nutrient cycling, maintaining of fluidity etc. (Montague, 1980, 1982 ; Bertness, 1985). Furthermore, crabs create a wide variety of bioturbation structures which are very significant for trapping sediments and mangrove seeds (Choudhury and Choudhury, 1994). In India several taxonomic works on estuarine and mangrove brachyuran crabs have been done (Chakraborty et al.,1986; Mandal and Nandi, 1989; Chakraborty and Choudhury, 1992; Dev Roy and Das, 2000 etc.). A total of 55 species of brachyuran crabs under 31 genera have been reported earlier from the mangrove habitats of India (Dev Roy and Das, 2000). Eighteen species of brachyuran crabs under 9 genera and 4 families were identified from Sundarbans Mangrove Ecosystems (Chakraborty and Choudhury, 1992)