Need to promote sewage fed fish culture as eco-friendly production technology

Abstract

Fish and other organisms can be successfully raised in wastewater fed systems and can provide an important source of food and employment in South-east Asia. These days the efforts are being made to treat domestic sewage suitable for aqua-farming. The culture of common caip and other fishes in such systems could realize valuable use of wastewaters in rest of the world. More than a century ago, this has also been practiced in India, realizing an annual fish production of 3.7 to 9.5 tones/hectare. The hybrid tilapia could yield 30 tones production/acre through intensive culture practices utilizing distillery wastes. Duckweeds and other aquatic macrophytes culture and harvest could be another viable alternative as a commercial fertilizer for promising aquaculture. This can also serve as complete nutritional package for carp polyculture and can increase the aquaculture production. The profitablity of fish culture m sewage fed culture systems have been well studied and proved that the fish grown in such culture systems are fit for human conception. Thus, there exists large scope for expansion of sewage fed fish culture in different pans of the country.