Alternative resilient livelihood option for fisher-folks tsunami victims

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Table 2: Growth, survival and production of crabs in the first farming cycle % of # of # of % of Avg. wt at Avg. wt at Avg. wt Cage # wt. stocked Harvested Survival stocking(g) Harvesting(g) gained gain C 1 10 10 100 540 915 375 69.44 C 2 10 7 70 580 945 365 62.93 C 3 10 8 80 740 1299 559 75.54 C 4 10 10 100 600 1024 424 70.66 C 5 10 9 90 475 825 350 73.68 In this experiment, individual weight gained during fattening was 414.6 gms for crabs weighing 587gms. These growth increments were seem to be very high in comparison with other studies done by Bensam, (1986), who recorded average monthly increments of 80- 162 gms for crabs of initially weighing 50 gms. Feeding was not a problem during the fattening period because all the crab feed employed such as trash fish, fine pieces of chicken gut wastes, shrimp heads, fish offal and kitchen leftovers were well accepted. The all Feed Consumption Rate (FCR) values for all cages showed values greater than one (Table 3). Table 3: Feed consumption and Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) for the first farming cycle Cage # Total wt. of feed provided(kg) Total wt. gained(kg) FCR(on wet weight basis) C 1 16.275 3.570 4.56:1 C 2 14.210 1.925 7.38:1 C 3 15.440 2.352 6.56:1 C 4 16.870 3.150 5.35:1 C 5 14.940 2.412 6.19:1 Maintenance costs of floating crab cages are minimal compared to the fish cages. The crawling of crabs along the wooden poles or side nettings of the cages helps to reduce fouling. Except for attached seaweeds, there is no fouling by barnacles or other organisms. Such organisms probably serve as an alternative food source for the crab. The net profit of the operation was SL Rs.6388.00 per cage (Table 4). At the same time in our crab fattening programme the beneficiaries were provided with a wooden crab cage costs, Rs.2650.00 and 10 watery crabs with costs of Rs.3000.00. Through the first farming cycle they obtained Rs.5650.00 per cage additionally. This amount of money is enough to establish another cage with 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 effort taken by the individual and the prevailing ecological conditions of the region. Table 4: Economic analysis for the operation of 5 cages in the first fattening cycle Particulars Quantity Rate(Rs) Total(Rs) Expenditures Wooden cages 5 Nos 2650.00 13,250.00 Cost of Watery crabs 30 kg 600.00 18,000.00 Feed cost 4410.00 Cage repair and maintenance cost 700.00 Harvesting charges 1000.00 Total 37,360.00 Income Crab sales-1 38kg Rs.1500.00/kg 57,000.00 Crab sales-2 8.2kg Rs.1500.00/kg 12,300.00 Total 69,300.00 Profit( 5 cages) 31,940.00 Profit (1 cage) 6,388.00 In cage, the activities of fish is restricted, therefore the energy loss was low hence the chance of increasing the weight of the fish compared to wild was more, However, cage culture site water quality more or less same for the optimal growth of milk fish. In this experiment, average weight of a harvested fish during farming cycle was 558.5 gm. Initially growth and standard length increment were meager because of the salinity variation in our pond. Initially up to the February salinity varies between the 0 ppt to 5 ppt because of heavy shower. However from the March to May salinity varies between 5 ppt to 15ppt (Table 5). Milk fish is euryhaline fish (Ramanatha and Jaysmaha, 1970) shows optimal growth at higher salinity therefore growth and standard length increment were lower in first 3 months here after weight gain and length were suddenly increasing. In our experiment, the mean survival percentage was 93.33% and mean mortality was 6.67%. The mortality was at an acceptable level and it was experienced at the initial stages of the farming. These initial mortalities occurred during first three months could be due to highly stressed, new environment, salinity changes and poor handling during transport and stocking. It is therefore felt that the survival rate can be improved considerably through better handling, transporting and stocking.
Page 1 and 2: Alternative resilient livelihood op
Page 3 and 4: 1.1 Objective The main objectives o
Page 5 and 6: Figure 3: The wooden crab cage Figu
Page 7: will get much better prices. Exposu
Page 11 and 12: Cage 5 17.14 12,855.00 58,762.50 Fo
Page 13: Ramanathan, S. and Jaysmaha D.I.S,

Alternative resilient livelihood option for fisher-folks tsunami victims

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