Aquaculture or cultivation in water has become a common practice in almost all countries during recent

times in the context of the limitations of harvest from the sea, or from freshwater bodies. Planned development by modern approaches in this

sector will normally make it possible for organising aquaculture in the same way as agriculture and in many countries large scale cultivation of fish, edible oysters, mussels, Prawns, pearls, algae etc. are streamlined on industrial basis with proper management networks at production, marketing and at consumer levels

Achari, G P Kumaraswamy

CMFRI Digital Repository

Applied Ecology - A New Discipline to be Developed to Support Aquaculture G. P. Kumaraswamy Achary. Aq uacu lture or cultivation in water has become a common practice in almost all countries during recent times in the context of the limitations of harvest from the se2 , or from freshwate r bodies. Planned develop· ment by modern approaches in this sector will normally make it possible for organising aquaculture in the same way as agriculture and in many cou-ntries large scale cultivation of fish. edible oysters. mussels. pra w ns. pearls. algae etc. are streamlined on industrial bas is with proper management net-works at production. marketing and at consumer levels. India has made cons iderable progress in recent times in developing the technological know how for aquaculture. Unlike agriculture. since th~ cultivation is to be done in aquatic medium the knowledge on the ecology of the medium is to be judiciously applied for better economy. Ho wever eco logical inves tiga tion s co-nnected wi th aquaculture in various countr ies are still remain ing In the level of pure or basic sciences and a breed of scient'sts who are capable of applying ecological principles de-riv ed by basic investigations to practice is a must for consultanc y and mana-gement pu rposes. A codification of the eco log ica l finding s to a co re dis-cipl ine \.v hich can be practiced in the March. i 982 C. M. F. R. I.. eochin -18. applied level will generate such a breed Gf scientists and this is found' necessary for faster development in the field of aquaculture . PRESENT TREND IN ECOLOGICAL STUDIES Scientists throughout the w orld are conducting investigations on various interrelationships and interactions of the parameters of the ecosystem like· salinity, temperature. oxygen. Hyd-rogenion concentration , bacterial com-plexity. substratum and its effect , the-faunal ingredients and their in ter-relationships. the physio logical l imit-ations on the faunal complexity of various environments etc. under ecology When new areas are selected fo r farming purposes. it has become cu stomary to initiate investigation on th ese lines and th is has become ,. tim e consu ming process for practicat applications to give immediate benef it to th e aquaculturists and a lso for implementation within targetted timings . In fact before complet ion of thes e-studies. the culture itself may ha ve to be abandoned in many CilSes. Th e f ail ures in cultu re can also happen if compactness of the optimum know-ho vv required is lacking since the basic knowledge is at the fragmentary stage. However these investigation s. 15 ' prior to the involvement at the pra-ctical level are to remain only at the level of fundamental or theoretical sciences with few exceptions and further coordination of the knowledge deleting the unproductive investigations will help to develop an appiied branch of science by itself. When this branch is evolved to the level of a separate discipline it will become capable of decoding natural principles involved in the ecosystem. The de-coded principles can be artificially applied to the ecosystem by a spe -cialist in ecology-ie. appiled ecologist-and it will be possible to manipulate the system in such a way that the farm conditions will be made suitable for aquaculture, by easy methods for better productions. In short the functional margin of Applied ecology as a discipline will be within the application level rather than to the level of fundamental or theoretical investigation. WHY APPLIED ECOLOGY FOR ECONOMY OF CULTURE? Culture involves heavy investments for developing the infrastructures and tbis will be in geometrical multiples if any geological or physical manipu-lations are requi red. The culture envi-ronment can be generally clasified as (1) marine areas, involving coasts or open bays with or without proper protection from heavy surfs with a stable equilibrium (2) estuaries conn-ected with rivers or bays having heavy drains by monsoon rains, with a dynamic ecosystem having annual faunal recycling and (3) fresh water reservoirs, lakes or tanks having an annual faunal rhythm or faunal recycling. Any other recl amated environments attached with anyone of the above ,March, 1982 environments will have the limita-tions of one of these systems. These systems are having a definite biological, geological and chemical condition of defi'lite pattern of its own with its respective commun ity structu reo When we int roduce culture to anyone of these ecosystems, it is more or less the artificial creation of a parallel community which is already develop-ing elsewhere in the nature wi th perfect harmony. The applied ecologist has a major role in conditioning these environments. Any imperfection in the creation of harmony in the new culture environment artificially made (Farm) will naturally give an adverse impact on the production side of the animal to be cultivated. At such circumstances the knowledge on the parellel com-munity concept can be applied, which is only a biological manipulation avoiding geological or phYSical mani-pulation, w hich is involviug heavy in-vestment of money. Th is is one of the roles, applied ecology plays in developing aquaculture. Similarly selection of cultivable organisms for the type of ecosystem also could be made easy by applied ecology. HOW ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDISATION POSSiBLE BY APPLIED ECOLOGY? For all practical purposes, the study of biological associates give a clear picture of the environmental conditions also. When culture is to be started in a new enviro nment, it may be necessary that even animals new to the area are to be introduced. It has been observed that such environments after introduction of the animals attract biological associates new to the area changing the faunal and floral com-plexity. It is also found possible 17 that by introducing biological associ-ates, desirable faunal pattern can be created to attract the desirable larval forms of ihe animals to be culti'/ated by reversion of the process. It is needless to mention that such biologi-cal manipulations may t rigger t he stable equilibrium of the system to a dynamic condition even in a closed condition of small ponds. Th is example is presented only to show how biological manipulation can condition the environment for favourable and un favoura ble levels for maintaining culture as well as for eradication of predators. Thus stabilisation o f the envi.ronment can be maintained at different levels depending upon the req uirements of the farm by biological means. APPLIED ECOLOG Y AS A DISCIPLI NE: Studie. like hydrography, physi-ology, biochemistry, bacteriology, biology of various animals, feeding and nutritional requirement etc. conn~ ect ed with the ecosys tem are only the differeni tools for appl ied ecology. W hen the results are published in t he respective fields they form only pa ro ers dealing with eco logy. The concerned paper of the particu lar discipline will only have a fractional knowledge of the culture ecosystem and a total approach of the problems in volved wit h aquaculture cannot be ma terialised. That is why man y cu lture programmes are becoming total farl ures. A synchronised channellsation of the knowledge desired by these tools is essential and are to be prope rly ,;ynthesised bring ing in applied ecology 18 to the context. When this synthesiseo"· product is practically applied for the· management as well as manipulation of the ecosystem, it becomes applied ecolog y j ust like any other applied science. The breed of scientists who sp eci alise in th is branch wil l hav e· p ractical kno w ledge for developing' fa rm conditions. Under this situation culture is made more easy and th e cultured organism becomes only part of the ecosystem which is thus managed by him. Thus applied ecology can be developed into a new disci-pline for practical application in aquaculture as well as for farm· management. Even though this article is dealing only With the section of applied ' ecology for aquaculture , there are possibilities of developing applied ' ecology for forestry, horticulture, agriculture, etc. by co difying respective topics for the particular field of work. Thi s also helps to expand the science of Ecology into new dimensions and also helps for application of this science to practical purposes. To quote a few examples , the disci-plines like Fishery statistics , Agricultural Statistics, structural engineering, Naval architecture etc. are only the offshoots , evolved from the respective basic sciences and it is time th at scient ists throughout the world consider th e · expansion of Applied ecology as a separate discipline. Th e author is indebted to Dr. E. G. Sila s, Director, C. M. F. R. I. for the encour"gements and also to Dr M. J . George, Scientist S-3 for the valuable discu ss ions and sugge::itions while preparing the manuscript. Seafood Export Journal l 

Applied ecology - a new discipline to be developed to support aquaculture

Aqqaculrure or cultivation in water

has become a common practice in

almost all countries during recent

times in the context of the limitations

of harvest from the sea, or from

freshwater bodies