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FARMING THE RESERVOIRS
1. R
amanpad is one of the medium size irrigation projects in
the Telangana area. It has 305 hectares water spread area
and was constructed in 1972 across Peddavagu, which is
the tributary of river Krishna. It is located at Ramanpad
village, Kothakota Mandal of Mahabubnagar district in Telangana. It is
about 145 Kilometres away from Hyderabad city. The main purpose
of the construction of this reservoir was to protect the economically
backward areas of the district and also to eliminate the scarcity of
by B. Laxmappa, Fisheries Development Officer, Department of Fisheries, India
Reservoirs are the large water bodies and potential
source for the development of fisheries in India. In many
of the reservoirs, cultivable fishes are being stocked
to enhance production. Culture of freshwater prawn,
Macrobrachium malcolmsonii along with carps has been
carried out successfully in some reservoirs of Telangana
since the start of the last decade in India. Ramanpad
reservoir is one of them for freshwater prawn culture.
FARMING
THE RESERVOIRSIndigenous techniques for freshwater prawn catching
in the reservoirs of Telangana, India
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FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY
2. food grains and water problems. Though the Ramanpad Reservoir
was constructed primarily for irrigation and later became the major
supply of drinking water to Mahabubnagar town including many
villages in the district, fishery has evolved as the secondary activity.
Every water body has its unique pattern of craft and gear. It also
gives indication about the economic condition of the fishermen com-
munity where they use locally available, less costly materials to make
substances of technological delight giving maximum return. In case of
the reservoirs, details about gears used in prawn catching varies from
reservoir to reservoir.
Freshwater prawn has become an important component of global
aquaculture both in terms of quantity and value. The fishermen of
Ramanpad reservoir made attempts and stocked freshwater prawn
seed of natural collection from Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh dur-
ing 2004. Seed grew well and good production of prawn ensued. This
encouraged the fishermen, resulting in regular stocking of seed in July
and August and allowed them to grow on natural feed in the reservoir
up to February. This was the turning point for these reservoir fishermen
to get additional income from prawn in addition to regular fish catching.
Catching of prawn from the reservoirs is difficult due to the vastness
of the area and great depth. In the first year fishermen used gill nets for
prawn catching and faced many difficulties while catching of prawn due
Fish Farming Technology | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | 003
FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY
3. to full water level and great depth of the reservoir. Later the fishermen
learnt to use the rectangular framed box traps for prawn catching.
Since 2005 onwards they have been using indigenous made box traps
to catch prawn in the reservoir besides using gill nets and cast nets. The
gear used for fish catching is gill nets and for prawn catching box traps
along with small mesh size gill nets and cast nets.
Indigenous Gear: Box trap
Among different fishing gears, box trap was one of the major gears
used in prawn fishery in Ramanpad reservoir. Box trap was a cube
shaped trap made of bamboo sticks knitted with some durable creep-
ers. A bicuspid non-returning uni-directional vertical valve along the
height of the trap was made to be used
as an entrance for the prawns. The sticks
used to make this valve were thinner
and knitted with nylon rope. The trap
was kept in vertical position under the
water. A float made of thermocol/cork
was tied with the trap with rope to help
in locating the place of the trap.
Benefits of Box traps
The rectangular framed box traps
(length 1.75 by height 1.5 by width 1.5
feet size) are made of splinter sticks
of bamboos. These traps consist of
only one-way entrance slits from both
opposite sides and there is no way
from inner to outside. These entrance
slits allow organisms to enter inside and
closes sticks automatically. These traps
are cheap and made with locally available
materials. Each trap costs about 150 Rupees, which is roughly three
US Dollars and durability is about three-four months for regular use in
the water. About 80 percent of prawn catching is with the help of box
traps only and the remaining 20 percent is carried out with cast nets
and gill nets in the reservoir.
Indigenous Technology
Fishermen are engaging in prawn catching activity regularly in the
reservoir with box traps. Each fisherman uses 50-60 traps every day to
catch prawn in the reservoir. These traps are set in the reservoir with
floaters for identification round the clock for prawn catch. Generally,
dried coconut pieces’ hang to metal wire inside the trap, used as bait
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FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY
5. to lure the prawns. The prawn enters into these traps from both sides
of one-way entrance slits and there is no way to escape from the trap
after entering.
In general, one prawn was caught in unit effort but two to three
prawns were also observed in the catch of a trap. The fishermen col-
lect the trapped prawn from these traps daily in the early morning and
evening. On average, each fisherman can catch about one to three
kilograms per day. Though mostly prawns were being caught by it,
sometimes other fishes like Notopterus, Etroplus, minor carps etc also
enter into the traps.
The fishermen catch the grown prawn continually for three-five
months i.e. from February to June every year along with fish catches.
The peak prawn catch is from March to May and the minimum is in the
months of February and June. But the fish catch continues round the
year by fishermen from the vicinity villages except for a few days in the
rainy season. The prawns caught from the reservoirs fetch a premium
price and are in great demand because of its natural culture and because
they are free from any fertilisers/chemicals. Every year, the fishermen will
harvest about 12-14 tonnes of prawn from this reservoir.
Considering the high export potential, the fresh water prawn
enjoys immense potential for culture in the reservoirs of Telangana.
This achievement is only due to the management practices like good
seed stocking, collective harvesting and control of poaching by the
reservoir fishermen regularly. Moreover, the uses of indigenously made
rectangular traps are more economical and cost effective in prawn
catching in reservoirs.
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FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY
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