Alternative resilient livelihood option for fisher-folks tsunami victims
Alternative resilient livelihood option for fisher-folks tsunami victims
Alternative resilient livelihood option for fisher-folks tsunami victims
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<strong>Alternative</strong> <strong>resilient</strong> <strong>livelihood</strong> <strong>option</strong>s <strong>for</strong> <strong>fisher</strong> folk<br />
<strong>tsunami</strong> <strong>victims</strong>: special reference to Batticaloa<br />
district of Sri Lanka<br />
Mohamed Harris Jalaldeen<br />
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Eastern University, Sri Lanka<br />
harriseusl@gmail.com,<br />
Vinobaba Periyathamby<br />
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Eastern University, Sri Lanka<br />
vinobaba@esn.ac.lk.<br />
Abstract<br />
Fisher folk belongs to east coast of Sri Lanka have been the most affected by the 2004 Indian<br />
Ocean <strong>tsunami</strong>. The aquatic diversity of the region has also been devastated by the <strong>tsunami</strong>.<br />
Mangroves and coral reefs have been relentlessly destroyed, not only taking away the protective<br />
barriers from the massive waves but also reduce the coastal breeding grounds <strong>for</strong> finfish, shellfish<br />
and other aquatic organisms. Fisher folk are amongst the poorest people in the region and suffered<br />
tremendous loss of life and also devastation to their <strong>livelihood</strong>s. They are also one of the most<br />
negatively affected communities. Many are still fearful of returning to the sea and suffer from<br />
extreme post-disaster trauma. Suddenly increase of the post-<strong>tsunami</strong> restoration programs increases<br />
the pressure further on the coastal environment and its resources. The restoration ensures access to<br />
more diverse and better targeted credit to <strong>fisher</strong>men came in light by introducing alternative<br />
<strong>livelihood</strong> <strong>option</strong>s of seaweed farming, crab fattening and milk fish farming in floating cages would<br />
be not only re-establishing their <strong>livelihood</strong> but also alternative to depleting fish from the coastal<br />
belt and sea. Moreover enhancement of spawning and feeding grounds by conservation and replantation<br />
of mangroves is a way to ameliorate an environmental pressure. This project was funded<br />
by Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in the name of Tsunami Restore Project<br />
from January 2007 to March 2009 in collaboration with Eastern University, South Eastern<br />
University, Ruhunu University and Canadian Universities. Through the Participatory Rural<br />
Appraisal (PRA) method Paalameenmadu and Puthukudyiruppu were selected as worst <strong>tsunami</strong><br />
affected areas as project implement sites. The restoration of their <strong>livelihood</strong>s via community based<br />
project was initiated in both villages of Batticaloa District to the <strong>fisher</strong>men <strong>for</strong> proper utilization of<br />
available resources in their region and along with the increasing opportunity <strong>for</strong> additional income<br />
generation other than fishing in an environmental friendly way.<br />
Keywords: Appraisal, Fisher folk, Resilient, Trauma, Tsunami.
1. Introduction<br />
Livelihoods in coastal areas totally depend on lagoon, coastal, offshore and deep sea fishing. Over<br />
the years, there has been a steady increase <strong>for</strong> the demand <strong>for</strong> fish protein in the developing country.<br />
Sri Lanka is already on the road to maximize aqua-exploitation along with the gold rush started<br />
back in 1990s. There is a need <strong>for</strong> development of an eco-friendly aquaculture industry is urgently<br />
needed. Unlike other intensive aquaculture ventures seaweed farming, crab fattening and milk fish<br />
farming in cages would be not only a good source of protein, nutrients <strong>for</strong> human diets and an<br />
alternative to the depletion of fish from the sea and thus pave a way to ameliorate an environmental<br />
pressure, but also a source of income <strong>for</strong> <strong>fisher</strong> <strong>folks</strong>.<br />
The national knowledge on seaweed farming in Sri Lanka is limited. There this farming carried out<br />
only small scale as community based seaweed farming. Seaweed farming could be a source of<br />
alternative income <strong>for</strong> <strong>fisher</strong>men to that of fishing. The culture period can last <strong>for</strong> 45 days and it is<br />
an environmental friendly farming method (Jayasuriya, 1987). Seaweeds <strong>for</strong> direct human<br />
consumption are worth more than those destined <strong>for</strong> industrial use. Culturing of the mud crab Scylla<br />
serrata is not economical and hence the crab fattening is practiced. The watery crabs at post-molt<br />
stage are fetching very low prices in the market and are even rejected in the export market because<br />
of their poor meat content. If fattened, they fetch a high price. In order to improve the living<br />
conditions of <strong>fisher</strong> folk and to reduce the pressure in the coastal marine ecosystem, alternative<br />
<strong>livelihood</strong> schemes were introduced to empower the village community especially <strong>for</strong> the women to<br />
earn extra income in their own and to help his her family to enhance their socio-economic status.<br />
Crab fattening is much more profitable than any other coastal aquaculture operations currently in<br />
practice (Sathiadhas & Najmudeen, 1991).The Crab fattening programme is one of such schemes<br />
initiated by the CIDA Restore Project in the Palameenmadu village with support from the<br />
Department of Fisheries, Batticaloa.<br />
The Mangrove ecosystem caters several environmental and economical functions to the surrounding<br />
peoples directly and indirectly. Supporting rich biodiversity, preventing coastal erosion, sea surge<br />
mitigation, facilitating of fish and shellfish spawning are some environmental functions of<br />
mangroves (Santharooban and Vinobaba, 2008). Though the mangroves support the community in<br />
several ways in Batticaloa district, but it is being continuously destroyed by human anthropogenic<br />
effects and other causes. Brackish water aquaculture was initiated very recently as an experimental<br />
venture with a view to its promotion. Milkfish (Chanos chanos) is an important food fish. The<br />
success of milkfish as a cultured food fish species may be attributed to its ability to tolerate<br />
extremes of environmental conditions. These conditions include extremes of temperatures, salinity,<br />
dissolved oxygen, ammonia, nitrite, crowding and starvation (Duenas, 1983). Their adaptability to<br />
these factors has allowed milkfish culturists to exploit the species by manipulating culture<br />
conditions.
1.1 Objective<br />
The main objectives of the study are to assess the growth and production per<strong>for</strong>mance in-situ<br />
floatinf rafts farming of Gracilaria under different conditions and it can also be ascertain whether<br />
the aggregation of herbivorous fish, economic feasibility of mud crab Scylla serrata in wooden<br />
cages and initiated milk fish farming Chanos Chanos in cages as brackish water culture among the<br />
mangrove vegetation at Paalameenmadu through the CIDA Restore project as an alternative<br />
<strong>livelihood</strong> to the <strong>fisher</strong>men <strong>for</strong> proper utilization of available resources in their region, to reduce the<br />
pressure in the coastal marine ecosystem and <strong>for</strong> increasing the opportunity <strong>for</strong> additional income<br />
generation other than fishing.<br />
1.2 Background of the project area<br />
Paalmeenmadu is a small village located about 5 kilometers from the Batticaloa town in East coast<br />
of Sri Lanka. Most of the people of the area are engaged in fishing activities. This is one of the most<br />
environmentally damaged coastal area of the Batticaloa district by both the Tsunami disaster of<br />
December 2004 and the destruction of ecologically sensitive mangrove area due to unplanned<br />
developmental activities following Tsunami. Population increases, lack of other employment<br />
opportunities, and low literacy level <strong>for</strong>ce the local villagers to depend mainly on the <strong>fisher</strong>y<br />
resources that can be harvested from the adjoining lagoon nourished with mangrove biota. As most<br />
of the <strong>fisher</strong>men do not have adequate financial support <strong>for</strong> in board engine boats and deep sea<br />
going vessels, they are restricted to coastal areas and the bar mouth area of the lagoon that are easily<br />
accessible with small lagoon canoes. Strained by decreasing fish catches, they are often compelled<br />
to use more effective and also destructive fishing methods, which reduce the productivity of the<br />
coastal resources even further. Over fishing and the use of destructive fishing methods have been<br />
prevalent <strong>for</strong> many years in this village.<br />
2. Materials and Methods<br />
The CIDA Restore project’s implementation sites were Puthukudyiruppu and Paalameenmadu. We<br />
did Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and water quality survey to select the most suitable site <strong>for</strong><br />
farming. According to our survey Paalameenmadu was found to be the most suitable place to<br />
implement the project. The inmates around this area were given an awareness program on seaweed<br />
farming crab fattening and milk fish farming. We selected the most interested and poorest village<br />
<strong>folks</strong> <strong>for</strong> farming. Though the maintenance works were carried out by the public the readings were<br />
taken down by us. The study was carried out from July 2008 to May 2009. The growth rate was<br />
monitored each week and the mean time water quality parameters including salinity, temperature,<br />
pH, rainfall, water flow rate, turbidity and dissolved oxygen were measured using calibrated Hanna<br />
portable instruments
2.1 Gracilaria farming<br />
Wooden rafts with dimension of 10m X 5m were floated with floats (Figure 1). Coir lines were<br />
stretched between the frames and the lines were supported by another lines running perpendicular to<br />
the main line. Vegetative cuttings of Gracilaria plants were collected from Sinnakalappu (Ampara<br />
District). The average weight of seed stock 20 grams each which is tied to the line at 25cm interval<br />
(Figure 2). Grow-out lines were spaced at intervals varying between 0.2 m. Dirt that clings to the<br />
seaweeds were removed thrice in a week. Once seaweeds are 2 ½ to 3 months old, we started<br />
harvesting them. During the farming time fish in the surrounding area were collected by using fish<br />
traps and were identified to the lowest taxonomic level using FAO species identification field guide<br />
<strong>for</strong> <strong>fisher</strong>y purpose of Sri Lanka by George et al., 1994 and Munro, 1955.<br />
Figure 3: Seaweed raft<br />
Figure 2: Growing in rafts<br />
2.2 Crab fattening<br />
The crab fattening training programmes were executed <strong>for</strong> 20 <strong>fisher</strong> women by our resource<br />
persons. After the training programme, each of them were provided with a crab cage measuring<br />
1.5m x 1.5m x 0.5m (Figure 3) and watery crabs weighing more than 400g. The cages were made<br />
out of wooden frames with Palmyra petiole basement. This type of cage was designed in an<br />
environmentally friendly manner to minimize the physical damages on the crabs and <strong>for</strong> the<br />
reusability of the cages. Crab cages were set up into the shallow water fronts of the Batticaloa<br />
lagoon at different location shown in Figure 5. We have selected only 5 cages <strong>for</strong> our studies out of<br />
20 cages. Each cage was seeded with 10 crablings and trash fish fed at the rate of 10% of the<br />
biomass of the crab at two intervals every day. Sampling of crabs was done on a weekly basis. The<br />
body weight (BW), carapace length (CL) and percentage of survival crabs were calculated from the<br />
total harvest. In our experiment, mean number of crabs surviving and mean number of crabs<br />
declined (mortality) were calculated over time (months) in all the five cages. Weights of crabs at the<br />
time of harvest were measured from this average weight gained was calculated and percentage<br />
weight gain was calculated.
Figure 3: The wooden crab cage<br />
Figure 5: Location of experimental crab cages<br />
Figure 4: Harvested crab<br />
2.3 Milk fish cage culture<br />
Floating cages were constructed in the following dimensions of 3’ x 4’ x 2’. Frame was made out of<br />
metal and covered with plastic coated galvanized wire mesh (Figure 6). Fish cages are set up in<br />
shallow water at the depth with appropriate floats and anchors. Then the standard length and weight<br />
of the fries were measured; be<strong>for</strong>e caging the fries permit to acclimate (Figure 7). Every cage is<br />
seeded with 30 fingerlings and cages are maintained by the selected families of dirt that cling to the<br />
cage was removed on weekly basis by brushing manually to enhance the natural free flow of water<br />
<strong>for</strong> feeding. Weight and standard length of fingerlings along water quality were measured<br />
<strong>for</strong>tnightly. From the average readings obtained from each cages, a final average reading was<br />
obtained. After 6 month of farming cycle harvest was made, the weights and standard lengths of<br />
fish were measured and results compared with natural fish. In addition, the cost of expenditures of<br />
and the income from the milk fish sales were calculated to estimate the net profit per cage.<br />
Figure 6: Galvanized wire mesh cage<br />
Figure 7: Acclimatization process
2.4 Statistical Analysis<br />
All statistical analyses were per<strong>for</strong>med using statistical package Minitab 14.0. Pearson correlations<br />
were used to evaluate the relation between water quality parameters and growth. Significance was<br />
compared using two tail two sample student t-test.<br />
3. Results and Discussion<br />
The trials clearly showed that <strong>fisher</strong> folk are capable of implementing the technology of Gracilaria<br />
farming by them. At 45 days to a month old, branches of seaweeds start to fall off due to the water<br />
current. In order to save them from drifting away, nylon net should be placed as a fence around the<br />
area that is perpendicular to the water current. There is a strong Pearson correlation between the<br />
Growth Rate of Gracilaria and salinity, DO, while no positive correlation found were found<br />
between other variables.<br />
Table 1: Summary of the correlation studies between the growth rate and water quality parameters<br />
Parameter Correlation value Correlation type P value<br />
Salinity 0.970 Strong correlation 0.000<br />
Dissolved Oxygen 0.267 Weak correlation 0.402<br />
pH -0.197 Negative correlation 0.539<br />
Turbidity -.0.376 Negative correlation 0.228<br />
* Correlation value - Pearson correlation value, P value – Probability value<br />
Sudden change of the salinity affect the growth rate (P
will get much better prices. Exposure to the sun or heat during transport should be avoided to insure<br />
the freshness of the produce. During transport, it was not always possible to keep the seaweed wet<br />
and cool<br />
Siganus sp is the main grazers and they can literally wipe out Gracilaria culture (Coppen, 1990).<br />
However Siganus lineatus and Siganus javus severely grazed Gracilaria and reduced the net harvest.<br />
It appears that juvenile Siganus are largely to blame. The fish began entering the plots, as evidenced<br />
by grazed seaweed. During our farming period we observed that Siganus were less than 100 g, with<br />
the majority below 40 grams. Clearly, the seaweed farms were sited on the feeding grounds of the<br />
juveniles of the principal grazing species. Two methods were per<strong>for</strong>med to protect the Gracilaria<br />
from Siganus sp were tested in Paalameenmadu. First, a net enclosure was made around the farming<br />
area traps. They are placed inside fenced plots. The second method involves making scare lines<br />
made of pieces of Palmyrah leaves. However, Siganus sp swam over the scare line and into the farm<br />
plot and all the seaweed was eaten by Siganus sp. These scare lines were totally ineffective. But the<br />
net enclosure fence had to be buried in the sandy bottom to prevent it from lifting off the bottom by<br />
water current and prevent to allowing the entry of grazer. The fence effectively excluded Siganus sp<br />
at Paalamenmadu. A few entered under the fence, but could be controlled with traps. It revealed that<br />
more trials are to be conducted to find the alternative sites. Small unidentified mollusks were<br />
frequently observed on planted lines and could have grazed on the few plants which germinated.<br />
During the culture period spores are fell down to the bottom and grew as a new Gracilaria bed and<br />
attract more herbivorous fish like Mugil cephalus, and Siganus sp. This will stimulate fish stock to<br />
remain hidden. These grounds act as feeding and spawning ground to many fish in this way enhance<br />
fish stock as well as it could be maintain ecological balance and dynamics. Assessment of<br />
commercial feasibility requires both long-term trials and sufficient production capacity to evaluate<br />
economic and technical costs.<br />
The results from crab fattening indicated that the fattening of crabs is possible growth and survival<br />
can be achieved through proper management. In this experiment, the mean survival percentage was<br />
88% and mean mortality was 12%. The mortality was at an acceptable level and it was experienced<br />
at the initial stages of the fattening. These initial mortalities occurred during the first ten days could<br />
be due to a highly stressed new environment and poor handling during collection and transport. In<br />
crab fattening systems, mortality may also be caused by poor quality of water at the bottom of the<br />
mud. But in the floating cage system, this type of mortalities cannot be expected. Table 2 provides<br />
the data regarding the growth, survival, and production of crabs.
Table 2: Growth, survival and production of crabs in the first farming cycle<br />
% of<br />
# of # of % of Avg. wt at Avg. wt at Avg. wt<br />
Cage #<br />
wt.<br />
stocked Harvested Survival stocking(g) Harvesting(g) gained<br />
gain<br />
C 1 10 10 100 540 915 375 69.44<br />
C 2 10 7 70 580 945 365 62.93<br />
C 3 10 8 80 740 1299 559 75.54<br />
C 4 10 10 100 600 1024 424 70.66<br />
C 5 10 9 90 475 825 350 73.68<br />
In this experiment, individual weight gained during fattening was 414.6 gms <strong>for</strong> crabs weighing<br />
587gms. These growth increments were seem to be very high in comparison with other studies done<br />
by Bensam, (1986), who recorded average monthly increments of 80- 162 gms <strong>for</strong> crabs of initially<br />
weighing 50 gms. Feeding was not a problem during the fattening period because all the crab feed<br />
employed such as trash fish, fine pieces of chicken gut wastes, shrimp heads, fish offal and kitchen<br />
leftovers were well accepted. The all Feed Consumption Rate (FCR) values <strong>for</strong> all cages showed<br />
values greater than one (Table 3).<br />
Table 3: Feed consumption and Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) <strong>for</strong> the first farming cycle<br />
Cage # Total wt. of feed provided(kg) Total wt. gained(kg) FCR(on wet weight basis)<br />
C 1 16.275 3.570 4.56:1<br />
C 2 14.210 1.925 7.38:1<br />
C 3 15.440 2.352 6.56:1<br />
C 4 16.870 3.150 5.35:1<br />
C 5 14.940 2.412 6.19:1<br />
Maintenance costs of floating crab cages are minimal compared to the fish cages. The crawling of<br />
crabs along the wooden poles or side nettings of the cages helps to reduce fouling. Except <strong>for</strong><br />
attached seaweeds, there is no fouling by barnacles or other organisms. Such organisms probably<br />
serve as an alternative food source <strong>for</strong> the crab.<br />
The net profit of the operation was SL Rs.6388.00 per cage (Table 4). At the same time in our crab<br />
fattening programme the beneficiaries were provided with a wooden crab cage costs, Rs.2650.00<br />
and 10 watery crabs with costs of Rs.3000.00. Through the first farming cycle they obtained<br />
Rs.5650.00 per cage additionally. This amount of money is enough to establish another cage with<br />
watery crabs to continue the next fattening cycle. If one could run about maximum of 10 fattening
cycles in a year the estimated annual income will be Rs.63880.00. This ultimately depends on the<br />
ef<strong>for</strong>t taken by the individual and the prevailing ecological conditions of the region.<br />
Table 4: Economic analysis <strong>for</strong> the operation of 5 cages in the first fattening cycle<br />
Particulars Quantity Rate(Rs) Total(Rs)<br />
Expenditures<br />
Wooden cages 5 Nos 2650.00 13,250.00<br />
Cost of Watery crabs 30 kg 600.00 18,000.00<br />
Feed cost 4410.00<br />
Cage repair and maintenance cost 700.00<br />
Harvesting charges 1000.00<br />
Total 37,360.00<br />
Income<br />
Crab sales-1 38kg Rs.1500.00/kg 57,000.00<br />
Crab sales-2 8.2kg Rs.1500.00/kg 12,300.00<br />
Total 69,300.00<br />
Profit( 5 cages) 31,940.00<br />
Profit (1 cage) 6,388.00<br />
In cage, the activities of fish is restricted, there<strong>for</strong>e the energy loss was low hence the chance of<br />
increasing the weight of the fish compared to wild was more, However, cage culture site water<br />
quality more or less same <strong>for</strong> the optimal growth of milk fish. In this experiment, average weight of<br />
a harvested fish during farming cycle was 558.5 gm. Initially growth and standard length increment<br />
were meager because of the salinity variation in our pond. Initially up to the February salinity varies<br />
between the 0 ppt to 5 ppt because of heavy shower. However from the March to May salinity<br />
varies between 5 ppt to 15ppt (Table 5). Milk fish is euryhaline fish (Ramanatha and Jaysmaha,<br />
1970) shows optimal growth at higher salinity there<strong>for</strong>e growth and standard length increment were<br />
lower in first 3 months here after weight gain and length were suddenly increasing. In our<br />
experiment, the mean survival percentage was 93.33% and mean mortality was 6.67%. The<br />
mortality was at an acceptable level and it was experienced at the initial stages of the farming.<br />
These initial mortalities occurred during first three months could be due to highly stressed, new<br />
environment, salinity changes and poor handling during transport and stocking. It is there<strong>for</strong>e felt<br />
that the survival rate can be improved considerably through better handling, transporting and<br />
stocking.
This method was cost effective (Table 6) because this process in entirely on natural food which<br />
eliminates the expenditure involved in artificial food supply. As the cage was made up of<br />
galvanized wire mesh, the cleaning of debris and seaweed clinked on it be easily removed by<br />
manual brushing or spraying high pressure water, which in turn greatly reduces the maintenance<br />
cost.<br />
Table 4: Summary of the Readings from December (2008) to May (2009) of Milk fish cage culture<br />
Week Average length Average weight Salinity<br />
2 2.56 2.148 1<br />
4 2.68 9.824 1<br />
6 3.16 20.222 1<br />
8 5.80 30.516 2<br />
10 8.32 45.684 2<br />
12 10.36 56.811 5<br />
14 16.00 164.06 9<br />
16 27.94 220.06 7<br />
18 37.68 318.34 12<br />
20 49.42 395.42 12<br />
22 60.50 492.34 11<br />
24 71.64 558.52 15<br />
Table 5: Cost benefit analysis of each cage in the first farming cycle of Milk fish cage culture<br />
Description Quantity Rate (Rs) Total (Rs) Profit<br />
Expenditure<br />
Floating cage 5 Nos. 6000.00 30,000.00<br />
Fingerlings 30 fry/cage 15.00 2,250.00<br />
Fertilization 2,200.00<br />
No. of cages<br />
No. of Kg harvested<br />
Sales<br />
34,450.00<br />
Cage 1 13.00 750.00/Kg 9,750.00<br />
Cage 2 15.38 11,535.00<br />
Cage 3 18.10 13,575.00<br />
Cage 4 14.73 11,047.50
Cage 5 17.14 12,855.00<br />
58,762.50<br />
For five cages 24,312.50<br />
For one cage 4,862.50<br />
After 6-7 month of culture fish reach 500-600 gms each. Also nearly 15 kg fish can be harvested<br />
from each cage which was sold at 750/= per kilo. Cages and fries were supplied by CIDA there<strong>for</strong>e<br />
no expenditure <strong>for</strong> <strong>fisher</strong> <strong>folks</strong>. At off season though the harvests lessen the dried fish fetch a high<br />
price in the market thus the economic trend remains same. In Sri Lanka most lagoons are short and<br />
seasonal and do not support sustainable <strong>fisher</strong>ies. The best way of overcome this resistance to this<br />
innovation is to introduce Milk fish farming gradually, while ensuring that the methods employed<br />
were those most certain to achieve positive economic results. If more fish can thus be made<br />
available <strong>for</strong> food, and additional income can be derived too. There are abundant shrimp ponds in<br />
the coastal belt of Batticaloa. These ponds also can be utilized <strong>for</strong> milk fish farming in a productive<br />
manner with least cost and also prawn farms or swamps and marshlands can be developed into<br />
brackish water productive milkfish ponds. It was characteristic of milkfish that given unfavorable<br />
living conditions such as crowding, insufficient food, low water temperature, or low pH, etc., their<br />
growth would be slow or non-existent. However, when given good living conditions, the fish would<br />
grow faster than their normal growth rate even after having been subjected to those previous<br />
unfavourable conditions. This process is called “stunting” (Castanos, 1995).<br />
Biodiversity was impacted in several ways by illegal fishing practices including used undersize<br />
mesh net, dynamite fishing, light fishing while shrimp farming practices including destruction of<br />
mangrove swamps and pollution of natural water bodies and also our farming site was one of the<br />
most environmentally stressed coastal area of the Batticaloa district by both the Tsunami disaster of<br />
December 2004 and the destruction of ecologically sensitive (Mangroves) area due to unplanned<br />
developmental activities following Tsunami (Santharooban and Vinobaba, 2007). These activities<br />
severely impact on milk fish. Above mention activity will pave the path to the loss of important<br />
spawning and nursery grounds of milk fish and affects local <strong>fisher</strong>ies resulting in reduced yields <strong>for</strong><br />
local <strong>fisher</strong>men. On the other hand destruction of mangroves negatively impacts the milk fish<br />
population because of them spend a portion of their lifecycle in mangrove <strong>for</strong>ests.<br />
3.1 Conclusion<br />
This is an environment friendly alternative <strong>resilient</strong> <strong>livelihood</strong> <strong>option</strong> with reasonable income.<br />
Initial results were promising the farming will take up on a commercial scale.
3.2 Recommendations<br />
• Any commercial development in this direction needs further studies along with other water<br />
quality parameters. These observations call <strong>for</strong> an immediate focus on the effective<br />
monitoring water quality parameters during the farming period.<br />
• Arrangement of marketing facilities.<br />
• Government participation in internal promotional activities.<br />
• Arrangement with the help of international agencies <strong>for</strong> the training of professional <strong>for</strong> cage<br />
culture and processing techniques<br />
• Research activities to be given importance.<br />
Acknowledgment<br />
We would like to express our profound gratitude to Canadian International Development Agency<br />
(CIDA) <strong>for</strong> their financial assistance. We are indebted to convey our heartfelt thanks to the residents<br />
of the Paalameenmadu <strong>for</strong> their kind Corporation and valuable help in various ways to carry out the<br />
project work successfully.<br />
References<br />
Bensam, P. (1986). A culture experiment on the crab Scylla serrata (Forskal) at Tuticorin during<br />
1975-77 to assess growth and production. Proc.Symp.Coastal.Aquaculture, 4: 1183- 1189.<br />
Castanos, M. Badilles, D. and Buendia, P. (1995). Milk fish culture of Aqua farm SEAFDEC News,<br />
Publication of Aquaculture Deaprtment, Tigbauan. Lloilo, Philippines, Vol. XIII No.6, pp 4-27.<br />
Coppen, J. (1990). Production of agar from seaweed with special reference to India. In Symposium<br />
on Gracilaria production and utilization in the Bay of Bengal, October 23-27, 1989, Songkhla,<br />
Thailand. BOBP/REP/45 : Madras: Bay of Bengal Programme.<br />
George, H.P., Brain, D., Barry, C., Russel, F. and Andre B. (1994). Species identification field<br />
guide <strong>for</strong> <strong>fisher</strong>y purpose. In The marine <strong>fisher</strong>y resources of Sri Lanka. pp. 91-182. Rome, Italy:<br />
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