Establishment of Fish Fingerlings by Using Fish Cages for Stock Enhancement of Underutilized Aquatic Impoundments

One battery of four cages is fabricated by using one inch non rusting GI pipe of C class grade and installed in the reservoir water. One cage comprises of 6mx4m with inner frame, 6.3mx4.3m of outer frame. Finer mesh nets having size 6mx4mx2m with Polyester white knotless nets of 04mm and 06mm mesh size. HDPE 18 ply nets of type 75 mm on the outside as protective nets. Three lots of fish fry of catla and rohu (20:80) having 10-15 mm size were stocked @ 1000 no/ m3 in all cages and nursed for two months to attend the size above 80 mm. Sixty six percent survival was achieved by feeding three times groundnut oil cake and rice bran (1:1) and mineral mixture (Agramin 2%) @ 15 percent of the body weight. Fish Fingerling was sold to the 120 farmers having their farm ponds. As on 1 March, 2014, the SHG earned revenue of Rs. 6, 47, 985/- by way of selling 4.06 lakh fingerlings. The financial analysis showed that the cash outflow is only at the beginning of the project in first year only. This indicates that the present experimental cage battery is financially viable for installation. The average net income/year (for 10 year) is about 4, 35, 640/- and the pay-back period is also less than 1.5 years. In conclusion, establishment of a “Fish Fingerling Bank” by using fish cages in the interior Maharashtra State has given a new source of avenue to the farm pond holders and also help to enhanced livelihood of the rural unemployed youth.