Among the cultivable waters in

India, a total of 1.7 million ha is

brackish in nature . Brackish water is

more fertile and productive than sea

water. It is dynamic, influenced by the

tid es, currents and waves, Estuaries

were mainly useful for fish capture .

Since estuaries are found to be the

feeding and breeding places for many

of the fishes, their importance is more

felt now in view of the fisheries

development

Kuthalingam, M D K

Natarajan, P

Sundararaj, V

CMFRI Digital Repository

t ·' • Scope of Chanos Farming V. Sundararaj. P. Natarajan and M. D. K. Kuthalingam Fisheries College, Tuticorin Among the cultivable waters in Indi a, a total of 1.7 million ha is brackish in nature . Brackish water is more fertile and productive than sea water. It is dynamic, influenced by the tid es , currents and waves, Estuaries were mainly useful for fish capture . Since estuaries are found to be the feeding and breeding places for many of th e fishes, their importance is more felt now in view of the fisheries development. In the recent years of aquaculture development, brackish waters have gained more importance and suitable technologies are available for culturing fish and shell fishes. Hydrobiology of brackish waters .is paid att'ention and the suitability of the water quality is also studied throughout our country. The brackish water areas are more use-ful for natural seed collection and fish cep ture. A good number of fast gro-wing e"ryhaline fishes are present in the brackish water environment, which is highly a changing one in its master environmental factor. the salinity and the other related ones. While can-side ring the total matrix, for which the various biological . of the fish " are considered, chanos comes first in the list the cultivable brackishwater ( Hanson , 1974). necember 1981 arriving features Chanos among fishes The area for culture of Chanos chanos. which is commonly known as milkfish is not a quesiion of paucity in our country. It is worth survey ing the literature on the availability of th e young ones of Chanos chanos. Ganap&t i et al (1950) has pointed out the ava il -ability of Chanos chfinos in TamilnadU' States. Seeds of Chanos chan os are, reported to be available ' in a total of 36 centres out of the 58 centres. studied indica ting their distribution in about 62~ ,: of the stations. The period of seed availability is mainly from April to August, th e summer part of th e year and also from November to December in limited centres . It is thu s evident that th e seeds are available in two seasons. namely the hot summer and the monsoon . Recentl y also , the availability of th e seeds of Chanos chanos and th ei r culture have been well documented by many authors from various parts of our country, (Basll and Pakrasi , 1976; James, 1980; J ames (( aI, 1980; Lal Mohan and Nand akumar 1980; Maryl al and Thirunavukkarasu. 1980; Natarajan and Bensam, 1980; Rao , 1971 ; Rao and Raghavulu , 1980: Reddy, 1980; Venkataraman et aI, 1980) . With proper food, milkfish attains sexual maturity in floating cages (Anon, 1980). Since fish movement can be more free for an extensive area in fish pens, maturity can as well be achieved in pen gro w n chanos also if some more attent ion is pa id in this line, in view of the fact th at chanos goes to the sea for breeding, Induced breeding of Cha nos chanos too is achieved recently (Anon, 1977, Kwo etal, 1979) . In our country breeding experiments on Chanos are in experimental stages and it is hoped that the success in mas-t ering this technology is not very far off. Hence, the seed need can be sa tis -fi ed both by natural collection and induced breeding. Chan as chanos is highly euryha-line, disease resi stant and fast growing. It feeds near th e boltom and spawns annually or biannually and can grow to a maximum weight of 15 kg. As adults, it feed s on both phytoplankton and zooplankton with no specificity among these divisions of plankton and it is a high quality fish for hu-man consumption ( Bardatch et aI , 1972 ) . Al so it is not cannibalistic and supplemental feeding is not a must (Iverson , ' 1976). Whil~ . consi dering th e variolls factors of the basic bioeconomic matrix , the matrix total of milkfish is second in rank among fi shes, the first being Salmon (Nash, 1974), The bio -logica l fea.tures of Chanos chanos would attest the fitn ess of the spec ies I for culture. The biological data of m ilkfish was made available sufficien-tly earlier by Schuster (1958). The wide cu lture valu e of Chan as chan'os depends . on· the salinity toler_ ance of the species. As ind icated in the literature, it is in excellent health in waters upto 'OO~/. salinity. Ho wever , .beyond th; s level, its body condition is impaired and yet it can su rvive upto December 198·1 139% salinity. Under some unique-conditio ns with food resau rees, some Chanos have also survived even upto a maximum of 150% (Anon, 1978). For proper growth of the fish and better production, ttle salinity of th e water shou ld not exceed 35% even, though the tolerance leve l is very high· It seems, the ability of Chan os chanos' to tol erate high salinities is obtained III their j uvenile stage itself. As· Dwivedi and Reddy (1977) have· pointed out. in the salt pans of Kaki -nada, Chanos juveniles are available in· waters w ith a salinity of 65%. Tilapia' mossambica, and Mugil spp. w hic h are also notable euryhaline species, are no!" comparable on es in th is respect wi th. Chanas Chi mos. Milkfish also can be acclimatised at low salinities, As reported by Quinitio ( '980) even at 8% the survival rate was 97 .8 per cent. However, less rates of survival are also reported in the literature (Tampi , 1960) and It should have been not due to the salinity faclor but due to any other factor, which .should have been properly' managed. In fa ct, Ch8nos chan as can be made to survive at freshwater also· as in the case of mussels and hence,. thi s species would offer scope for wide spectrum of culture, not only in sea water and brackish water but also in fresh water systems. Culturing' Chan os chanos in fJeshwater has been' done in Fisheries College at Tutico rin, stocking ii as one of the additional' components In compOSite fish culture· C-as the seventh species, and it has. proved better with better production, and suruival rates. The addition of this. species in composits fish cu Iture has enha"ccd the production. 11 Envi ronmental factors such as water t empera ture above 15°C, salinity around 35%, dissolved oxygen above 3.0 mill leve l , and alak l ine water (Bell and Canterbery, 1976) wou ld promote th e health and growth of Ch nos ch n os. ling ( 1977 ) is of the opinion that the optimum sa l in ity can be even sti li lower, ranging bet ween 20 and 30%, Naturally ava il ab l e plankton , th e live fish food is continuou sly avai l ab le in the brack ish aqu atic sys-tem at a high order because of th e avai l abtli ty of nutrien ts during most part of th e year due to quicker re-generation and also by th e penetra-tion of the fresh water into this sys-tem (Sundararj and Krishnamurthy , 1972), The usual st ocking density for rr.il k fish farming in mono -culture by cQnvensional method wou ld be around 5000/ ha ( Dw ivedi, ft al 1980 . The rate of stock ing can be increased con -siderably in places l ike the bracki sh waters (not as ponds), where th e water is dynamic in nature. Wh en Chan as is cu ltured combined w ith mu-llets or prawns or both as in certain cases, its population densi ty should be reduced accordingly. As per a study where Chanas and prawns were com-bined and cultured, it is evident th at the competition between pra wns and Chan as wa s neg ligible (Anon, 1980) . Pen cu lture method would be a more reliabl e and profi tab le one for the culture of Chanas in brackish waters . But for the 'fencing' to preveni es-cape of the stocked Chanas and limi -ting predation by preda tory organisms from outside, Chano s are kept in th eir own natural habiiat itse lf. Hence, the,e is every possibility to expect December 1981 ORIENT TO ORIENT NEW TOYO SEAFOODS COMPANY, LTD. IMPORT o FROZEN SHRIMPS o LOBSTER HEAD o FROG LEGS o OTHER MARINE PRODUCTS EXPORT o FISHING TRAWLERS o FREEZING PLANTS o ALL K INDS OF FISHING GEARS AND EQUIPM.NTS OFFER ALL TECHNICAL KNOW-HOW Address: ISHIKAWA BLDG .. 20-1, 2 Chome, Misaki - cho - Chiyoda - ku TOKYO, JAPAN-Te lephone: 264-4373 262- 4408 402- 7830 Cable Address: " Newseafood To kyo " or Res: Tele x : " Banerji Tokyo " Newfood J 25220 13 fast growth and high production , when supplemental f eed ing is also done. Depending on t he stocking density, artifici al f eeds made of plant origin, can be g iv en during the calm hours of the tid es , when ther e would be minimum o r 'no' flow of water. Pen culture method is flow ed in countr ies like Indones ia , Philippine s and Taiw an (Bardatch et ai, 1972) for raising m il k fish . In India also, a reasonable start has arre ad y been made. Further exp eri -ments in th is line would bring out the p o ss ibility and p rofit ab i lity, of th is method of culture f o r nation - wide adopti on . In brackish w ater culture, Chanas chanas has recorded a length of 37 .5 -em (380 g) , 54.5 em (1 .7 kg) , and 71 em (3 kg) in th e first, second and third years respec ti ve ly in Kakin ada farm (Dwivedi et ai, 1980). However, they did not attain sexual maturity in farm condition s p erhaps du e to the biological lactors. In general the growth rate 01 Chanas chanas is more or less similar to that 01 Indian major carps . The present production rate and th e possibilities 01 increasing of Chanas· chana. production al so should be cons side red for lu rth er promotion 01 it-culture. In Ceylon , th e productivity of Chanas chan as is rep a rted to be 1000 kg / ha!year. In Philippines, by tradi-tional methOd, th e yi eld varie s between 300-500 kg Jh aj yr and by improve d techniques , th e y ieid is 1000 kg /ha /y r. 'he average pro ductio n ra te of Chanas in Tai w an is 2000 kg /ha!yr. Th e best yield so far reported is 3000 kg / ha /yr ( Bard atch et ai, 1972). In Tuticorin, Chanas chanas w as ) cultured as a component in po lycul -tur e under mo re sali ne and freshwat er December 1981 Everything For Freezers Cold Storages, Ice Plants & Refrigeration Equipments ....... . IMPORHRS AND STOCKISTS OF Refr igeration Equ ipment such as Co ntac t , freezer Plates . Open Type Co mpressors for Plate Freezers (In d Co ld Sto ra g es . Ai, Handliog Un i ts and Defussrs. Soleno id Valves. Expansion Val ves, Thermostats , Dial Thermometers. Gauges . Copper Tubes, Globe Vailles . etc . UNIVERSAL COMMERCIAL CO. 17, COMMERCE HOUSE. ROPE WALK LA NE, OF F FORBES ST., FORT. BOMBAY 400 001 Cabie: 'UNICOMMER' Phones: 27241 6. 271054 conditions respectively with marine and freshwater species of fishes. Under 'those different conditions of cuiture, ·i t has ba en fou nd that monthly average . ·growth of Chanas chanas was around 65 gm/fish /month in fres hwater condi· tion, when added as an additional ·component in composite fish culture. When the sa linity was high ( 30-50~/, ) .i n a marin e polyculture study the growth rate of Chanas chanas w as ven; low and it rang ed between 2.0 and 29.1 ·gm during the different months of th e ·c ulture period (Marichamy, et a/1980) . From these findings, it is understood ·that Chanas chana. grows effectivel y .i n low saline w aters. This would be .physiologically also true while con-sidering the body flu id concentration ·of Chanas chanas. Apart from these, ·continuous supply of rich plankton in composite fish culture ponds would h ave contributed more for Chanas growth. Such a high qunatity of food .,availability is not n'lted in high sa line waters. Hence, brackish w ater regions with low salinities, with no 'sudden 'changes, should be selected for Chanas 'farming, In ecosystems like th e fertile ,mangrove waters o f Pitchavaram / (Ramadhas and Sundararaj 1981), V lmuch areas enjoy less sa line or medium 'sa line waters and th ey could be pro-iitably used for culture. The f all ing :mangrove lea ves, their protein increase .after bacterial action would offer natural high protein food. Similar man-.groves are also ava ii ab le in Tut icorin in limited area, mainly represen ted by Avicennia sp. This could also be uti-lised. , In the . costal reg ions ·of luticorin and the adjacent loca tions, sa linity of the w.at er is notably high due to the presence o f salt pans. Even ' in the 'freshwa t ers', th ere is salinity and it shoots up during summer due to eva-poration . In the salt pans, where the water is super-saline .usually, con-siderable decrease in sa linity could be noted due to dilution during monf,oon seasons and hence Chanas chanas can be cultured in the salt pans also when / salt product ion is not possible . During this period, Chanas chana. seeds are avail able in n ature and hence, for the sa lt producers, culture of Chan os chanas can offer continuous job. It is also suitable and f avourable for paddy cum fish culture (Dj ajabirec!ia and Rudhiat V Amidjaja, 1958; Dj at egsastro, 1959) : • Further reports are also avaiiable 0 0 th e polyculture of fishes among which Chanas chan as is one. In a study l ike this, Ramakrishna at al (1980) have recorded a h igh produc-tion of 2986 kg/ ha lYr in the ·brackish water pond at Adyar. Chanas chanas, w hen cultured wi th P. indicus recorded a yield of 2196 kg /ha/ 6 months (Rao, 1978). lhese would exp lain the po-t enti alities and importance of . Chan as chan as for farming in brackish wa t ers . / REFERENCES Abdurizal A . Eldani , 1979. :16 Polyculture of milkfish Chanos chan os (Forskal) and prawn (Pen-aeus manadan Fabricus) at different stocking combinations in brackish-water ponds. Asian, aquaculture 2 (9) :4,5. Anon, 1977. Milkfish breeding break through in Seafood Export Journal the Philippines. Fish farm, Int. ' 4(2) : 26-28. Anon, 1980. Get high yields of Bangos, use the modular systems. Fish farm. News, 3(19):7. Anon, 1980. How to determine the area of ponds in the modul ar system of Bangos farming. Ibid., 3(19):8 . Anon, 1980. Ways of stocking milkfish. Ibid., 3(17):8-9. . Anon, 1980. Prawn milkfish combination. Fi,h farm News, 3(16):4. Anon, 1980. Sexual maturation of milkfish in floating cages. Asian aquaculture 3(8) :4,5,3. . Anon, 1980. The induced spawning of captive milkfish. Asian aquaculture 3(8):4. Bardatch, J.E., Ryther, J.H. and Mc-:Larney, W.O. , 1972. Aquacultu re: The farming and hUSbandry of freshwater and marine organisms. pp. 868. Wiley-Intersc ience. New York. :Basu, N.C., and Pakra si, B.B. 1976. On the occurrance of mi!kfish. Chanos chanas (Forskal) larvae in the B a kkh~li region of lower Sunderbans. J . Inland. Fish . Soc, India, 8:97-104. ;Bell, F.W., Canterbery, E.R ., 1976. Aquaculiure for the developing countries. A f eas ibility study. pp. 266. Ballinger Publishing Company, Cambridge. D evanesan, D.W. and Chacko, P.I., 1944 Cutivation of milkfish in Krusada' Island. Proc. 31st Indian Science. Congo C.p. 108. December 1981 Dwivedi, S.N. and Reddy, D.V., 1977_ Brackishwater fish and prawn cul-ture. Fish farm. Int., 4(1):14-18, Dwivedi , S.N., Reddy, D.V" Bohra, O.P. and Pillai, K.K., 1980. Observation on growth rates of milkfish (Chanas chanos) in relation to the abiotic factors at Kakinada fish farm. Camp. Physiol, E col 5(4):2855-287. Dwivedi, S.N. and Reddy, D.V. 1976 . Aquaculture yields high production. at Barackishwater fish farm, Kaki-nada- CIFE. New letter, 2:1-4 . Hanson, J.A, (Ed)., 1974. Open sea Mariculture pp. 410. John inley & Sons, inc. James, P.S.B .R., 1980. /' A review of marine finfish culture in India, its problems and pros-pects, Symp . coast aquacul., Abstract . 6 . James, P.S,B.R ... Mohanraj, G. Renga-swemy, V.S. and Raju, A., 1980. Preliminary experiments on the culture of grey mullets ai Manda-pam. Ibid. Abstract. 122. Kuo, C.M. , Nash, C.E., and Watanabe, W .O., 1979. Induced breeding experiments with milkfish, Chanos chan os (Forskal) in Hawaii. Aquaculture 18:95- ·105. Iverson, E.S, 1976. Farming the edge of 436. Fishing News England. the Sea. pp. Books Ltd., Lal Mohan, R.S. and Nandakumaran . K., 1980. Fish culture in polythene film lined ./ ponds at Calicut sea shore. Symp. coast. Aquacul., Abstract. 124. Ling, SW., 1977. Aquaculture in South- ·east Asia. A historical over view. Sea Grant Publications, London. 17 Marichamy, R, and Rajapackiam, S" 1980, On th e culture of milkfish, mull et and prawn in the experimental ./marine fish farm at Veppalodai, Tuticorin, during 1977~79, Ibid" Abstract. 198, Marichamy, R" Shunmugam, S, and Raj apackiam, S" 1980, Polyculture waters at Inland and Tamilnadu, experiments in coas ta l Tuticorin . Seminar on coastal fish culture in . M errylal James, and Thirunvukkarasu, A ,R" 1980, Selectivity and food rations of milkfish, Chana. chan as (Forskal) farming under laboratory condition. Ibid" Abstract. 219 , : Natarajan, R. & Bensam, p" 1980, Prospects of coastal aquaculture at Portanova . Ibid, Abstract II. './ Nash, C,E-, 1978, Milkfish at Christmas, Fish farm, Int. 5(2) ;8- 13, . Nuinitio, G.F" 1980, The effect of various sailnity levels and stocking density manipulation methods on the survival of milk-fish fry (Chanos chanos (Forskal) during storager Asian Aquaculture, 3(7);4,5, Ramakrishna, K,V" Ramamohana Rao , G " Prasadam, R,D " Raman, K" Kadir, :P,M.A, Krishnan, S, and Joseph, K,O " 1980, v Observations on the mixed cul -ture of brack ish",at er fishes and prawns in a pond at Adyar, M adras . Symp, Coastal Aqucul, Abstrac t. 197, Rao , P.V" 1978, 18 Rec ent technologic al advances in coastal aquaculture in Indi a. Semi-nar on the !ole of small scale fisheries and Coastal aquaculture in Integrated Rural Develodment, Madras, Dec.' 6-9, 1978, Rao, A,V,P" 1971. Observations on the larvae ingress of milkfish, Chanos chanos (Fors-kal) into Pu licat Lake, J, mar. bioI. A ss, India, 13(1 & 2) ;247 - 57. Rao , A,V .P, and Raghuvulu, B-. V., 1980. Utilisation of -saline ground wate r for prawn and f ish farming . Symp . coastal aquacul" Abstract. 24. Ramadha s, V, and Sundararaj, V" 1981 . Fertility of a South Indian man .. · grov.e, (Env ironmenla l Symp ,) , Reddy, D.V" 1980, Brackishwater fisheries in Andhra Pradesh. Symp. Coastal Aqacul. , Abstraq. 12. Schuster. W.H .. 1958. Synopsis of b io logical data on milk fish Chanos chanos ( Forskal ) IPFC, 8th Session , Colombo C58jWP 25 (Mimeo) . Shanmugam, S. and Bens'am, P., t 980. Experimental culture of prawns anll fishes in coasta l pens at l uti -carin, Symp. coastal aquacul., Ab-stract. 196. Sundararaj , V. and I<rishnamurthy, K., 1972. Nutrients and Plank ton - Backwater and mangrove environment. In; . Recent researches in estuarine" Biology, pp. 273~290 . Tampi , P.R.S., 1960. Utilisation of saline m udflats fo l' fish cuiture; An experiment in marine fish farming. Indian J . Fish. 7(1) ; 137--146. Venkataraman, G" Ameer Hamsa, K.M.S., and Nammalvar, P., 1980. Fish culture in pens in t he Gulf Coast. D V of Mannar, India. Svmp. Aquacul" Abstract. 115. 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Scope of chanos farming

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Scope of chanos farming

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