Vet Varsity holds Monthly Meeting of Innovative Fish Farmers Association, Punjab

Ludhiana, May 19, 2017: 18 Fish farmers from different districts of the state attended meeting of Innovative Fish Farmer Association (IFFA), Punjab at College of Fisheries, GADVASU.
The meeting was coordinated by Dr Vaneet Inder Kaur and Dr.Prabjeet Singh of College of Fisheries. Dr Kaur revealed that the major focus of the meeting was to educate the farmers regarding best management strategies for summer care of fish ponds for higher productivity. The farmers were advised to maintain water depth between 5'-6', regularly aerate the ponds during morning and evening hours to prevent dissolved oxygen depletion as it is the most critical parameter to be addressed, which may fall to lethal levels, especially during dawn, due to enhanced biological activity in the pond.Farmers were advised to check diurnal variation in water pH, which may cross 9.5 during peak day hours and fall below 7.5 during night hours, due to excessive growth of algal blooms in the pond. Algae also grow very fast during summers and nutrient enrichment leads to formation of algal blooms. Manuring/fertilization of pond must be suspended if water turns dark green, dark brown or greenish brown in colour due to overgrowth of green, brown or sometimes red coloured algal mats on the water surface. Regular bottom racking with the help of barbed wire is recommended to prevent accumulation of toxic gases like Ammonia and Carbon dioxide. A detailed lecture was given on water quality management, importance of natural food and the feeding regimes, to enhance fish productivity and profitability. Farmers were also apprised of precautions to be taken during summers to prevent any unwanted stock loss due to mismanagement/technological gaps.
Dr. Asha Dhawan, Dean, College of Fisheries said that regular meetings of fish farmers help them in sharing their experiences and take up various management as well as marketing related issues in a collective manner. She further said that monthly meetings of IFFA are co-ordinated by GADVASU not only for transfer technical skills to the farmers, but also to collect feedback from them for generating region specific need based technologies for sustainable aquaculture productivity.