Integrated Aquaculture Practice in Bangladesh

Introduction
Aquaculture is the production of protein-rich foods through the controlled cultivation and harvest of aquatic (water) animals and plants. It ranges from the cultivation of the fin and non-finless fish, shell-fish ( molluses and crustaceans) to the cultivation of water plants. Using inexpensive and simple techniques, aquaculture can supply more protein than normally produced through conventional agriculture such as dairy, poultry, cattle rearing and even traditional fishing. This is more so, judging from the high cost of inputs necessary for the running of any of the arm of conventional agriculture.

Integrated Aquaculture
Integrated Aquaculture is a combination of aquatic organisms (e.g Fish) culture with other forms of agriculture such as poultry, piggery, duck rearing, cattle and goat-rearing, in such a way that some of the by-products of these forms of agriculture that are considered as wastes can still be recycled for either direct or indirect consumption by fish.

The advantages of integrated aquaculture are:

1. There is no need for expensive fishing crafts and gear. Simple drainage and harvest methods can be used. 2. Low operating and maintenance costs. 3. Multiple uses of land that would otherwise have been useless. 4. Saves feeding costs. Money that otherwise would have been used for feeding of fish can be diverted to-other projects. 5. Multiple harvests of both plants and animal in the same piece of land. 6. Makes for effective monitoring since both fish and other animals are within the same range.

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Types of Integrated Practices

1. Fish/Poultry Combination
This type of culture can be practiced either by directly building the poultry house at the top, or on a diversion of the pond in case of a big pond. However, the size of the pond should always be put into consideration before erecting a poultry house. That is, a very big poultry house on a small pond should be discouraged since the droppings from the birds may be too much and may thus contaminate or pollute the pond. A poultry housing about 25-35 birds should be ideal for a pond of 15m x 10m x 15.i.e 225M for stocking catfish In a situation where the fish pond is secondary in consideration to the poultry. It is better to construct the pond separately and then feed the fish manually with the poultry droppings (10,-15 kg dry weight/week for same size of pond). However in a situation where the poultry is secondary, In which case there is a large fish farm to a small poultry attachment, then supplementary feeding from other sources should be considered since the droppings alone from the poultry may not be sufficient for the fish to utilize.

Figure 1.a Poultry house on posts above a fish pond.

If the size or the poultry is proportional to the pond, additional feeding of the fish may not be necessary. In all circumstances, a close study of the pond and fish should always be made, especially if the birds are afflicted with one form of disease or another, this could affect their feeding habits and consequently less droppings.
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It should be noted that some poultry diseases may also cause infections to the flesh and skins of the fish. The poultry house floor should be made in such a way that the dropping should fall directly inside the pond ( Fig. 1b)

Figure .1.b Plank arrangement on the floor of the poultry house

2.

Fish/Duck Culture:

Ducks can be reared in the vivinity of the fish pond by leaving the birds to move on the water bodies. The pond open to ducks can be stocked at the rate of 45 fingerling per cubic meter (5 fish/m3), the fish being average of 10g each at stocking period. The droppings continually manure the pond and a huge quantity of phytoplankton (minute-fish food of plant origin) will be readily available. The ducks also clear the ponds by rooting up water plants and eating some of the fish predators such reptiles, amphibians and water snails.

Apart from the direct manuring of the pond. Ducks further produce additional droppings during their rest periods when they converge in their house. The duck house must be constructed in a lower enough form to allow them always go out to swim and come back to the house without any hindrance whatsoever. The materials to be used for the pillar of the house should be hard wood that will last several years better still, concrete cement or iron rods. Feeding of the ducks should be done inside their house. Regular supplementary feeding of the ducks should be ensured to avoid the hungry ducks searching for food. However, supplementary feeding for fish may not be necessary unless feeding : is for a purpose, such as feeding the fish to attain the required size at a targeted time.
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3.

Fish/Pig culture:

The combination is less ovious than the earlier mentioned ones but gives much larger yield of fish and appears to be an easier technique. Though pigs are not water animals, they like taking baths and every time they have access to a pool or pond thay usually lay there and all their excreta, manures the water directly. In this kind of combination, three arrangements of the piggery can be adopted either directly by the side of the pond (Fig.2) or on a sloping shore or on pilings above the pond. The main point is to let the garbage pour continoually into the water. It is recommended that 45-50 pigs be stocked per hectare of fish ponbd or 6-0.8 tons of pig droppings per hectare per week.

Figure. 2 Simple pig stay on the bank of a fish pond

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Best results are obtained when the fish species cultured are hardy and can withstand low dissolved oxygen. Mud-fish ( Clarias) Fig 3 and Tilapia (Fig 4) meet these requirements. Carp or Hetorobranchus bidorsalis (Fig 5) can be reared in larger integrated fish/pig ponds.

Figure. 3 Mud Fish (Clarias)

Figure. 4 Tilapia

Figure. 5 Heterobranchus Bidorsalis

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It is good to take note that some pig diseases such as tape worms (Diphyllobathrium) in pig are transferable to fish and in some cases to man, so keep a good hygiene and dewormyour pigs regularly.

4.

Fish/Cattle/Goat/Sheep Combination

These culture combinations entails constructing a fish pond near cattle ranch or pasture land and collecting the cow, sheep, or goat droppings and feed the required quantity into the pond. This dung thus manures the pond or are taken directly as food by the fish In this culture combination fish pond can only be considered secondary in an already established ranch where the dungs are considered as wastes. 400 goat/sheep or 300 cattle can be stocked for 1 hectare fish pond.

5.

Fish Culture in Rice fields

Fish culture in rice fields is a complementary practice of the rice culture in wet land. Wet land being defined, among others as land subject to excessive wetness, to the extent that the wet conditions influence the possible land uses. They range in Nigeria from river and lake flood plains in the north to the south. Areas of swampy rice cultivation can be stocked with Mud catfish (clarias) and bony fish (Tilapia).

Figure.6 Fish pond grown with Rice

The rain fed low land rice grown areas can also be inter-cropped with fish. Experience has shown that this combination has a chance of big success only in the area where the technique of flood rice culture is ready established and where the rice farmer gets the water completely under his control. In so doing, he can prevent wild fish from coming into the paddies and also control loss of production which could occur in the case of over-flooding.
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Good fish for combination should be able to tolerate high temperature and low dissolved oxygen content of the water:

It should be the fast growing type to reach table size after a short time. The type of rice to be cultivated too, must be the lowland. Water-logged type. The International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has different varieties of This type.

The general requirements of fish recommended for integrated aquaculture are:

It should have a short food chain i.e. it should not be feed-type specific. It should be hardy to withstand stress. It must be able to tolerate adverse conditions such as temperature variations, low dissolved oxygen etc. It must be disease resistant. It must be fast growing and a good feed converter (good food conversion ratio). It must be the generally sought-after type If rearing is for commercial purpose, It should have good market value.

Opinion
The widely recommended species that meet almost all these requirements are Tilapia the mudfish (Clarias) and the Africa Carp (Cyprinus Carpio).

It is advisable that a fish farmer going into which ever type of the integrated system for the first time should start initially on small scale for effective monitoring and control. The farmer can there after expand his activities after mastering all the techniques. Keep your pond free from enemies of your fish such as predators, reptiles, toads etc which may not only keenly compete for food with the fish but may eat the fish.

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Conclusion
The dense population of Bangladesh puts an enormous strain on natural resources while its limited financial resources mean that imports are limited. For this reason food production within the country must be as efficient as possible. Due to the abundance of water in the country and the high nutrient content and value of fish species, aquaculture can be one of the main tools in tackling malnourishment and poverty. However, current aquaculture practices, particularly in the homestead, are generally inefficient with outputs rarely matching their potential. Interventions have been shown to be successful for other components of the HFP system such as fruit, vegetables, livestock and poultry but less so for aquaculture. For future interventions to be more successful they require greater direction towards better production practices. No doubt that climate change has already created a strong demand of adapting available technologies and generating new ones to sustain the coast-based livelihoods and food security. So far for the fisheries and aquaculture, knowledge on the likely impacts of climate change and possible measures of adaptation is very limited

Bibliography
www.google.com www.fao.org www.wikipedia.org/ www.en.bdfish.org/2010/10/integrated-fish-farming-rice-fish/ www.bdfish.org/ www.banglajol.info www.aquaculture.ako.net www.webs.unlimitedstudy.webs.com

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