INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY OF FISHERIES

Jitendra Kumar

College of Fisheries, Mangalore

Email: jitenderanduat@gmail.com

Introduction

Fisheries sector play an important role in the socio-economic development of farmers in the country. The sector has been recognized as a powerful income and employment generator as it stimulates growth of a number of subsidiary industries, and is a source of cheap and nutritious food besides being a foreign exchange earner. Most importantly, it is the source of livelihood for a large section of economically backward population of the country. The main challenges facing fisheries development in the country includes accurate data on assessment of fishery resources and their potential in terms of fish production, development of sustainable technologies for fin and shell fish culture, yield optimization, harvest and post-harvest operations, landing and berthing facilities for fishing vessels and welfare of fishermen.

Highlights

• There has been significant growth in fish production during recent years. India is now the third largest producer of fish and second largest producer of fresh water fish in the world.

• Fish production during the year 2009-10 was 8.0 lakh tonnes comprising 30.7 lakh tonnes of marine fish and 49.3 lakh tonnes of inland fish with fish seed production was 24,143.57 million fry during 2007-08.

• A network of 429 Fish Farmers Development Agencies (FFDA's) has been set up covering all the potential districts in all the States and Union Territories for propagating freshwater aquaculture. 

• The Consumption of fish (56%) in India still remains at about 9Kg/Caput /annum.

• With a view to provide technical, financial and extension support to shrimp farmers in the small scale sector, 39 Brackish water Fish Farmers Development Agencies (BFDA's) have been set up in all the coastal States and the UT of Andaman & Nicobar Islands.   

• With the introduction of improved technology of fish farming and the efforts of FFDA's, the national average productivity of ponds and tanks covered under the programme has reached 2600 kg/ha per annum

• Under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) for motorization of traditional crafts a total of about 42,950 crafts approx. have been motorized so far. 

• Under the CSS for development of infrastructure of marine fisheries the Government of India has sanctioned 7 major fishing harbours, 58 minor fishing harbours and 189 fish landing centres. Out of these, 7 Major Fishing Harbours, 44 Minor Fishing Harbours and 189 Fish Landing Centres have been completed and put to use. The remaining fishing harbours and fish landing centres are at various stages of construction.  

Fish Production in INDIA
                                                                                             (Lakh tonnes)

Source: Handbook of Fisheries Statistics. Govt. of India

Word Fish Production (tonnes)

Source: Sustainable aquaculture trade, Meeting on Fisheries, Trade and Development, Geneva, 16 June 2010 by Dr. Audun Lem, FAO

Word Fish Production

Source: Sustainable aquaculture trade, Meeting on Fisheries, Trade and Development, Geneva, 16 June 2010 by Dr. Audun Lem, FAO

Per caput food supply

Source: Sustainable aquaculture trade, Meeting on Fisheries, Trade and Development, Geneva, 16 June 2010 by Dr. Audun Lem, FAO

Source: Sustainable aquaculture trade, Meeting on Fisheries, Trade and Development, Geneva, 16 June 2010 by Dr. Audun Lem, FAO

Fish as Food

Malnutrition and starvation are the two serious problems being faced by millions of rural poor in most of the developing countries. The problem of malnutrition is in fact more serious and of a bigger dimension than the starvation problem and is caused mainly due to animal protein-deficient diets. Animal protein is essential for proper growth, repair and maintenance of body organs and tissues. Fish contain about 16-20% protein compared to about 12% in egg, 3.5% in milk and 6-8% in rice and wheat. Moreover, it is wholesome, tasty, highly nutritive and an excellent source of essential minerals, vitamins and essential amino acids. At present about 31% of the total animal protein supply in the Asian region is in the form of fish protein. For the poorest segments of the population, fish is not only the most important animal protein source, but often the only one.

High Multiplication Capacity and Minimal Water Requirement

The reproductive potential of fish compared to any other farmed animal is also very high. A kilogram of female cultivable carp species yields on an average about 0.1 million eggs, each of which has the potential to become 1 kg fish in about a year. No livestock animal possesses this magnitude of fecundity. Although fish needs water as a medium to survive and grow, it consumes minimal quantity of water compared with any livestock or agricultural crop. Fish also enriches the water with its voided metabolites thus making the water more productive for agriculture.

Low Energy Requirement for Protein Production

Fish culture systems require a relatively less amount of energy for protein production than any other farming system. Carp culture, depending upon culture practices, requires energy at the rate of 22-468 KJ/g of protein production while a land animal farming system needs over 550 to 3 400 KJ/g.

Warm Water favours Fish Growth

Fish are cold blooded or poikilothermic animals. In other words, they cannot maintain a constant and high body temperature like other livestock animals. Instead, their body temperature fluctuates according to the surrounding temperature. In warmer climates, their metabolism accelerates and they grow faster, while in colder climates, the metabolic rate slows down, resulting in a reduced rate of growth. In this way they save energy by not spending it for maintaining a higher and constant body temperature.

History of Fisheries

Fishing is the activity of catching fishes. It has a history of over 35,000 years and may be an individual necessity or a collective undertaking involving large groups of men. Since the 16th century fishing vessels have been able to cross oceans in pursuit of fish and since the 19th century it has been possible to use large vessels and in some cases of fish on board.

The term fishing may be applied to catching other aquatic animals such as Shellfish, Cephalopods, Crustaceans and Echinoderms. The term is not usually applied to catching aquatic mammals such as Whales.

Prehistory

Fishing is an ancient practice that dates back at least to the Upper Paleolithic period which began about 40,000 years ago. Archaeological features such as shell middens, discarded fish bones and cave painting show that sea foods were important for survival and consumed in significant quantities.

Spear fishing with barbed poles (harpoons) was widespread in Paleolithic times. Cosquer cave in Southern France contains cave art over 16,000 years old including drawings of seals which appear to have been harpooned. In the Old Stone Age (40,000B.C.) heaps of refuse of shellfish and sea fish were found at the dwelling sites of man near rivers and lakes.

New Stone Age (10,000B.C.) has provided evidence of Salmon Smoking practices. Salting of Fish was probably started in the Bronze Age (3500).

Ancient history

The Egyptians invented various implements and methods for fishing and these are clearly illustrated in tomb scenes, drawings, and papyrus documents. Fishing scenes are represented in Ancient Greek Culture depcicting the low social status of fishing. There is a wine cue dating from 500B.C. that shows a boy crouched on a rock with a fishing rod in his right hand and basket in his left.

The Roman Marcus Terentius, arro (116-27B.C.) wrote in his book "De Re Rustica" about two kinds of ponds, freshwater ponds (dulces) owned by peasants for food and profit and salt water ponds (maritime or sales) owned by wealthy aristocrats who used them to entertain their guests.

Cassidorus (AD.490-585) mentioned that live carps were taken from Danube to the Goth king at Theodoric at Ravenna in Italy.

16th Century works

Pierra Belon(1517-1575AD), described at least 110 fishes from the Eastern part of the Mediterranean in Europe in the publication entitled "De Aquatilibu slibri duo".

H.Salviani (1514-1572) - 92 fishes of Italy (Rome) were described by him in "Aquatilium animalium Historia".

G.Rondelet (1507-1557AD) About 197 marine and 47 freshwater fishes from Mediterranean find place in Rondelet's work "Libri De Piscibus Marinis" and "Universae aquatilium Historiae Pars altera".

17th Century works

After standard works on Ichthyology Belon, Rondelet etc.., W.Piso and G. Margrav(1611-1678AD.), described about 100 fishes from Brazil in the 4th vol. of "Historia naturalis Braziliae".

18th and 19th century works

One of the epoch making Ichtyological works in 18th century was that of Peter Artidi(1705-1734), who has been aptly called as Father of Ichthyology owing to his valuable contribution towards laying down the firm foundation of the science of Ichthyology.

After the untimely death of Peter Artidi, Carl Linnaeus, later Carolus Von Linnae(1707-1778), whom we know to-day as Father of Taxonomy, accomplished Aritidi's unfinished task in book form entitled "Artidi Ichthyologica". Linnaeus applied bionomial terms to the spp. properly described and classified by Artidi.

Mark Eliezer Bloch(1723-1797), a German Physician, prepared a unique general system of fishes in which he arranged not only those described in his great works on the fishes of Germany but that which included Indian Fishes.

The Genera of Fishes were published in four parts in the form of monographic series of Stanford University -The Genera of fishes Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Indian History of Fisheries

In India the interest in fish and fishery dates back to the Third Millennium BC, and evidences of fish being used as food are available from excavations of the Indus Valley Civilization. In 1127AD, the son of King Vikramaditya, King Somesvara composed a book recording the common sport fishes of India and grouped them into marine and riverine forms.

As early as in 1822 Hamilton Buchman gave an excellent, illustrated taxonomic account of the 'Fishes of Gangetic System' and removed various confusions caused by regional names of fishes. After Hamilton, the epoch macking contribution of Francis Day's 'Fishes of India'(1878) and 'Fauna of British India, Burma and Ceylon'(1889).

The credit for developing a sustained interest in highlighting the rich Indian Piscian funna largely goes to Rai Bahadur and Dr. Sundar Lal Hora, former Director of Zoological Survey of India. They gave to the study of taxonomy on ecological bias and while doing so a long series of papers have been published.

J.S. Dutta Munshi and M.P. Srivastava of Bhagalpur University recently brought out an exhaustive treatise on 'Natural History Of Fishes And Systematics Of Freshwater Fishes of India(1988)'.

Based on many researches on fishery science a brillent monograph on Fish Culture in India was brought out in 1957 by K.H. Alikunhi, the then scientist, Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore (West Bengal).

It was in 1975 when a comprehensive volume on Fish and fisheries of India was authored by Dr. V.G.Jhingaran, the then Director, CIFRI, Barrackpore(W.B.). This book has painstakingly blended into an integrated whole a great mass of scientific knowledge on Indian fishes and fisheries accumulated over decades.

Dr. Jhingaran was honoured by Rafi Ahmad kidwai and India's most prestigious national award, Padma Shri

Composite Fish Culture

The composite fish culture is a technology developed in India by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in 1970's. In this system both local and important fish species, a combination of five or six fish spp., is used in a single fish pond. These species are selected so that they do not compete for food among them having different types of food habitats.

Fish used in this system include Catla, and Silver Carp, which are surface feeders, Rohu a column feeder and Mrigal and Common Carp which are bottom feeders.

Cage culture

The cage culture originated about 200 years ago in Kampuchia (Combodia) from where it has spread to Indonesia, Thailand, India and other Asian Countries. This culture practice is quite peculiar in that the fish to be cultured are kept in cages of metal, mesh, or nylon mesh left in the flowing water. In the past few decades it has become a major source of aquaculture production, particularly highly esteemed, Salmon, Trouts, Yellow Tail, Sea Bass, Grouper spp. etc.

Pen culture

Pen culture was first started in Indonesia. The pen is considered as transitional structure between ponds and cages. The enclosures should be relatively small (2.0 to 7.0ha.). The areas with too much silt and decomposing organic matter should be avoided.

Monoculture

This type of culture is aimed at to culture only one type of fish spp. In a well designed pond, tank, cage etc.

Mono sex culture

In this case, only one member of the sex either male or female is cultured. The obvious advantage of such a practice is that all the energy of fish is utilized in growth.