44 DECEMBER 2023 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG water logged chaurs also affect, desperately, the agricultural laborers of the area as they are unable to get the work needed for earning their subsistence. Chaur areas are common resources for the poor. This reality makes floodplain waterbodies open for surrounding community members, and the landowners have no collective aquaculture management system. In the community-based approach, the participation of different stakeholder groups in a defined area is to be ensured in decision-making and in thorough management for the sustainable development of local resources. So, community-based fisheries management refers to a management approach for the maintenance and sustainable enhancement of fisheries resources with greater community participation. It distributes benefits to landowners and other shareholders. Fisheries Management Strategies in the Floodplain Wetlands of Bihar Management of fisheries and improving fish production in floodplain wetlands can be done in a number of ways. Still, it’s hard to make guidelines that apply to all of these wetlands because they are in different places and have different requirements. Hence few general management guidelines are advised here. i) Capture fishery for open wetlands: Usually, weeds make it hard to catch fish in wetlands because they obstruct the gear. But most of the open floodplain wetlands have been linked to rivers for a long time and are relatively free from weeds. The fisheries management regarding natural fish stock enhancement can be done through proper planning of natural fish recruitment. This includes the identification and protection of breeding sites, breeding stocks, and juveniles as well as maintaining free passage of adults and juveniles across wetlands and rivers. ii) Culture-based fishery for closed wetlands: In the majority of instances, closed floodplain wetlands are characterised by weed infestation and a derelict nature, which inhibits the optimization of fish yields from these water bodies. The management of entirely closed wetlands or those with a relatively limited time of connection to rivers is comparable to that of small reservoirs with culture-based fisheries. Stocking and recapture are the fundamental methods for enhancing fish yields. Because of the availability of a vast stock of food niches, the development of fish in these bodies of water will be more rapid than in reservoirs. iii) Culture-based capture fisheries (CBCF): Low wetland productivity might be a result of high natural mortality due to the presence of predatory species. Therefore, a management system is devised that combines the regulations of capture/culture-based fisheries and culture fisheries. In this system, the peripheral sections of wetlands are fenced off for fish culture in ponds or pen enclosures, while the middle portion, the wetland proper, is left for capture fisheries. Under this approach, a number of small enclosures are constructed around the wetland’s border and leased to entrepreneurs for fish farming. Some of these enclosures act as seed-rearing nurseries for both aquaculture and wetland stocking. When culture-based fishing is conducted, the connecting channel is sealed with wire mesh to prevent stocked fish from escaping, and the inflow and outflow of water is managed by a sluice built at the channel’s mouth. These enclosure culture systems are adopted to augment fish production from floodplain wetlands, wherein a captive seed stock is grown to fingerlings in-situ or ex-situ on formulated feeds, protected from predators, stocked in the main water body or in cages and harvested in due course of time. This is referred to as Culture Based Capture Fisheries (CBCF). Selecting the right combination of fish species based on trophic structure and potential of such wetlands, stocking seed of appropriate size (80-100 mm), and releasing them at the right time are essential to fully utilize all ecological niches and optimize fish yield from wetlands. Species most suitable for stocking in these wetlands/beels include: Indian Major Carps of improved varieties, Indigenous Minor Carps and Exotic/Chinese Carps. Enclosures are constructed to manage the inflow and outflow of water, regulate water retention, and prevent escape of stocked fingerlings. Enclosure-based aquaculture in the context of inland fisheries in India refers to both cage culture and pen culture (Figure 3). Detailed characteristics of both enclosure types have been depicted in Table 1. iv) Integrated fish farming patterns in floodplain wetlands: Farmer inhabitants at floodplain wetlands in Bihar may be able to enhance their income from agricultural land by planning for the utilization of both flood water and land simultaneously. Generally, two types of farming patterns can be adopted in flood-prone areas in Bihar: concurrent culture and alternating culture (Table 2). The knowledge of wetland floodplain topography helps in the selection of farming pattern as it provides information about water retention periods and water depths, allowing farmers to prioritize the economically best suitable fish for aquaculture and crops for agriculture. Because both produce from aquaculture and agriculture are important in integrated farming, harvesting methods for both activities should be considered while adopting farming patterns. Community-based Fisheries Management Framework The idea of community-based fisheries management is to delegate administration of floodplain fisheries resources to an organized community with the goal of equitable and sustainable benefits to the community involved in the management practices. Communitymanaged fisheries approaches, in contrast to the existing revenuebased system of fisheries management, are not motivated by the FIGURE 3. Cage culture structure. (CONTINUED ON PAGE 46)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjExNDY=