Alternative resilient livelihood option for fisher-folks tsunami victims

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.