packing, Transportation

1. Packing and transportation of fish seed and use of anesthetics
and disinfectants in fish breeding and live transport

2. a) Transportation of fish seed
•) Successful transportation of quality fish seed - influences the viability of
aquaculture
•) Traditional method- hundies (earthen or aluminium pots) - heavy mortality of fish
seed during transport
•) The main reasons : (i) lack of oxygen, (ii) accumulation of metabolites like
ammonia, CO2, faeces, etc., (iii) hyperactivity, strain and exhaustion, (iv) diseases
and parasites and (v) physical injury

3. • The methods of seed transport can broadly be classified into two systems:
(i) Open system, where the seed is transported with or without
aeration/oxygenation/water circulation and
(ii) closed system in which the seed is transported in sealed air-tight carries with
oxygen/aeration

4. i. Open systems
•. Traditional method- before transporting to long distances, spawn and fry are
conditioned in order to empty their digestive tract and condition them to subsist
in a restricted area they are inevitably liable to be subjected to during transport
•. The most common method - to store fry in a cloth hapa in ponds or in a still part of
the river
•. The period of conditioning depends on the size and health of the spawn, fry and
fingerlings

5. Figure : Fish seed being transported to market Figure : Aluminium pots containing
as a headload (Photo Courtesy : Dr Utpal Bhowmick) fish seed are transported as slings

6. • Catla fry need 48-72 h of conditioning (Jagannadhan (1947)); 6 h of conditioning is
required (Alikunhi (1957))
• Fry and fingerlings should not be handled with bare hands- lest the slime and
scales covering the body be removed and thereby render them vulnerable to
fungal and bacterial infection (Jagannadhan, 1947)
Figure : Fish seed being transported on a cycle rickshaw

7. • Traditional method in Bengal –hundies
• A traditional hundi is an earthen vessel, but later aluminium hundies were introduced
• Hundies - of two types,
– the smaller one of 22cm mouth diameter and 23 l capacity carried as a head load
– larger one of 23 cm diameter and 32 l capacity used for transport by rail or bicycle or
as slings
• The hundies are filled with water from the same source as the fry and they are stocked at
50,000 in the smaller and 75,000 in the larger ones

8. • About 58g of fine silt is sprinkled over the water surface in the hundi
• During transport the hundies are shaken periodically
• Addition of silt coagulated the suspended organic pollutant as well as kept down
the zone and extent of pollution (Basu (1951))
• Addition of silt, removes sediments by mopping them up with a rough cloth rope
and partial exchange of water permit transport up to a duration of 30h (Saha and
Chowdhury (1956))

9. • Pulverized earth, activated charcoal and `Amberlit’ tend to absorb carbon dioxide
and ammonia from the medium, consequently increasing the survival of fry (Saha
et al. (1956))
• Improved open metal containers- round vessels with a wide mouth, which can be
closed with perforated pressed in lids, the larger type being 53 cm diameter at the
base, 20 cm at the mouth and 38 cm high
• To prevent denting and effect of insulation, woolen covers are used on the metal
containers or the vessel is aerated and kept wet during the journey

10. • In Kolkata- Transport of carp seed in aluminium pots mounted on bicycle or
tricycle
• Another- Galvanized round tin carriers with a flat bottom of about 40-50 l capacity
• The inner lid is perforated and dish like and it serves well for aeration by cascading
down the water splashed into it during transportation
• open method of transportation – used because it involves constant vigil and
frequent renewal of water on long journeys
• Dis advantage- not economical to transport bigger fingerlings and adults in small
packing units
Galvanized round tin carriersaluminium pots

11. ii. Closed system
• Here, oxygen which is supplied with a cylinder
• The containers are made of galvanized iron and measured 45.75cm x 35.36cm,
with airtight openings at the top, one to let in oxygen and the other to let out the
displaced water
• CIFRI, Barrackpore introduced the 18 l kerosene tins filled with air-tight screw-
capped lids for filling, provided with tubes for draining in oxygen from a cylinder
and letting out displaced water
Figure : A truck being loaded with rectangular tin boxes containing
carp seed destined for transportation

12. • 900-1000 fry (1-2 cm long) could be conveniently transported by air for over 20 h
• Three types of closed containers for transport of spawn and fry under oxygen
pressure, viz. glass carboys, specially designed aluminium containers and
galvanized iron sheet and latex-rubber bags (Saha and Sen (1958))
• Aluminium containers -most efficient
• latex-rubber bags for most commercial use- low cost
Figure: Plastic bags containing fish seed are being loaded to
a truck for transportation (Photo Courtesy : Dr Utpal Bhowmick).
Figure : Metal boxes containing fish seed are being loaded on
to a jeep (Photo Courtesy : Dr Utpal Bhowmick)

13. • The fry (20-25 mm) were transported in polythene bags (840mm x 610mm; thickness
0.0622 cm) inflated with oxygen, kept in kerosene oil tins (18 l), from Calcutta to Bombay
• It was found that in such bags approximately double the quantity of fry than those
transportable in hundies could be shipped
• Rohu fingerlings need greater quantity of oxygen for transport during the same period as
compared to mrigal (Singh (1977));
• The oxygen required for 50 fingerlings of rohu (109-126 mm) for transport during a 12-h
period is 1,680 ml against only 475 ml for mrigal (98-100mm) at 31-320C
• Oxygen requirement of silver carp fingerlings is higher than that of grass carp (Singh et al.
(1979))

14. • In Karnataka State, carp seed are commonly transported by road in 18 l capacity
high density polythene bag containing 1/3 water and 2/3 pure oxygen, sealed and
packed in rectangular metal boxes (Basavaraja, 1994)
• The number of seed to be packed in each bag depends upon their size (from 2,000-
10,000, 600-700 and 150-200 for spawn (<8mm), fry (8-40mm) and fingerlings (40-
150mm), respectively
• In Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, fish farmers over the years, have developed a
method of transporting fish fry and fingerlings in large (1000 l) sinter plastered
tanks, with continuous oxygenation during the journey hours

15. Use of anesthetics and disinfectants in fish breeding and live transport
• Sedation - reduce the metabolic activity and decrease the oxygen consumption by
fish; reduces the excretion of ammonia, carbon dioxide and other toxic wastes
• Controls the excitability of the fish, thereby reducing the chances of injury and the
time required for handling them
• Sedation should be such that it should not totally suppress the escape reaction of fish
and it should be possible to revive the fish quickly
• Sodium amytol 21 to 28 mg/l water considerably reduced the metabolic rate of fry
and that 30% more fry could be transported in a given volume of water (Saha et al.
(1955))

16. • MS 222 at 50 ppm was effective in sedating fingerlings of Cirrhinus reba and
Barbus mahicola (Sreenivasan, 1962)
• The narcotizing dose of urethane, thiouracil, quinaldine and hydroxyl quinaldine is
100, 10, 5-10 and 1ppm, respectively (Sreenivasan (1962))
• Natarajan and Ramakrishnan (1960) sedated broodfish with quinaldine at 5 ppm
and successfully transported for 5 hours without any mortality

17. • Gupta and Sharma (1974) successfully transported 3-3.6 kg Chinese carp breeders
in open galvanized iron tanks mounted on a truck to a distance of 310 km involving
a 16-h journey under sedation with MS-222 at 1.6 ppm
• Kewalramani and Gogate (1968) anaesthetized major carp with novocaine,
amobarbital sodium and bartital sodium (intramuscular injection) and transported
over a period of 1 ½ -2 ½ hours
• Jhingran and Pullin (1988) stated that while fingerlings need not be essentially
anaesthetized before being transported, broodfish must be anaesthetized.

18. Use of antiseptics and antibiotics
• The accidental introduction of infectious diseases and parasites along with fish
consignments is a possibility that must be guarded against
• This calls for prophylactic measures like the use of antiseptics and antibiotics in
the transport medium or short-term bath prior to transport
• The recommended chemicals and their dosages are as follows:Chemical Dosage (mg/l)
1. Acriflavine 10ppm
2. Methylene blue 2ppm
3. CuSO4 5ppm
4. KMnO4 3ppm
5. Chloromycetin 8-10ppm
6. NaCl 3%
7. Formalin 15ppm