LOW COST FLOATING FISH CAGES

Zimbabwe boasts of numerous water bodies ranging from small, medium and large dams. As of 2014 only Lake Kariba was used partially in cage culture systems and there was one Large Scale company on the Lake and using the salmon HDPE circular cages for its robustness against strong winds, perennial on Lake Kariba. The salmon HDPE concept dispelled small scale players to think of going into cage culture systems owing to high start-up costs. The salmon HDPE cages were viewed as requiring large water bodies, heft overheads costs as well the kind of equipment required for the operations. Water, being the key component in fish farming, the idea to venture into other small and medium dams dotted nationwide was conceived. The proposal will indicate the designs and models of the floating fish cages and a multipurpose Access Rafter boat fit for small and medium dams and according to the background of the water body. Net changing, harvests and security issues were considered in the designs and models. The results of the products were as good as those from large water bodies, yet being produced at a lower cost operational model. Since 2016, a number of small dams are now having these small-scale cage culture models, though the stocking densities are a bit lower than those on large water bodies. Abstract by Sokonia Kaitano (the designer and developer of the system 2014 at Mnandi Dam along Karoi River, Karoi)