Jan 30 2020

Hosting a generation of wild dove from eggs to flying birds (Video)

This video is a summary of much longer 6-hour clips filmed during April 2016. Upon our return from a short vacation in the Red Sea, we were surprised to find out a laying dove outside our home kitchen.

My wife and I decided to provide quite atmosphere to the laying bird. In order to achieve that, we let the kitchen window as it was. Moreover, the noisy kitchen apparatus were not in use and so on. For my curiosity, I decided to document the whole period on daily basis and in most times for several times every day. In order to that, I performed the task quietly and from enough distance until the bird got acquainted with my camera. During the 24 days, the following events could be shared here:

I tried to use my camera from inside the kitchen to get a better close-up picture for the mom and hatched babies, but it appeared the bird was scared and flew. We felt sad about that and waited until the bird was back and decided not to do that again.

After hatching, the baby birds we left unattended for hours before a parent bird arrives to feed the young.

From day to day, it became obvious how their vigorous feeding developed along with the growth of young bird as seen in their size, feathering and beak darkening

The parent bird was never spotted after about a week after the egg hatching. I do not know, if she continued to visit during night or the food she provided was sufficient to support the growth of the young

I felt that the two birds were always in physical contact; probably to feel secure

I was really touched when one of the birds left leaving its sibling behind

It was obvious that the lonely bird suffered of broken leg Finally the last bird left the place reaching a lower stage hopefully it was a transit in its way upward

https://youtu.be/6vZfymL7quY

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=15356

Jan 27 2020

Promoting integrated fish farming with chicken and vegetables in Burundi

Photos’ credit: Jean Marie Manirambona (Burundi)  Description: Jean Marie Maniranbona  and Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)

The integrated farming has been usually adopted for the purpose of minimizing wastes from the various farm systems through the use of such wastes and by-products whenever appropriate to improve the farm productivity and in the same time to reduce the production costs. Integrated fish farming has been widely considered particularly in small operations in rural areas.

The inserted photos show a governmental pilot project established in Rukeco (North-East of the country). The purpose of this project is to promote the integration of fish farming with other agriculture systems.

The project consists of eleven fish ponds with a total area of close to 10,000 m2. As shown in the photos, the integration between fish and poultry is done through the construction of chicken house above the water surface of fish ponds. Also and as the second photo shows, cabbage, eggplant and other crops are cultivated between pond dykes. In such systems, the poultry dropping enhances the natural productivity in the underneath fish ponds along with elevated contribution of the natural food in fish feed and production. On the other hand, through the introduction of pond fertile water to vegetable crops, the use of external fertilizers is not needed or at least reduced leading to better vegetable cropping at lower cost.Note: Jean Marie; the owner of the inserted photos is the one checking the general health of the chicken.

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=15353

Jan 26 2020

Eel farming in Indonesia – Video

Video credit: Dian Tugu Warsito Taufik (Indonesia) Review: Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the video channel)

The first eel farm in Indonesia was established in 2009. The inserted video shows the eel stock upon their feeding in an earthen pond. As shown in the video, the feed provided is of a paste type made of mixing a powder feed with water. The feeding in earthen ponds typically takes place is a designated area in which feeding tray with appropriate mesh is placed. As shown in the video, eels go through the net mesh or climb on to the tray to feed. Because eel farming rely on wild caught seeds, the elvers required for eel farms are obtained from local fishermen.

Away from the feeding zone, the pond is furnished with paddlewheels with sufficient capacity to aerate the water, particularly at night and in the early mornings. It may worth noting that a public-private partnership has been established in Indonesia with a commitment to draft a guideline of responsible eel farming practices.

https://youtu.be/lu8MqFFWNPc

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=15347

Jan 05 2020

Biological recycling of pond weeds in fish farms

Photo credit: Mustafa Koweka (Syria) Review: Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)

The photo shows a group of cattle while grazing weeds grown on the dykes of fish ponds. The shown practice is a type of biological control of unwanted plants in fish ponds in which cattle acquire a part of their daily feed from these plants. In large fish farms, such process is performed based on contracts that normally ensure that no damage to pond dyke could result from the cattle movement and grazing and also specifying the time of the day during which animals are permitted to stay on the farm.

Typically, this process takes place during the day time. Afterwards, the cattle herd leaves the fish farm and stay the night in a nearby place until the following day to repeat the same practice till the end of the agreed-upon period. Usually, cattle are attended by the herd farmers who are responsible for abiding the agreement. The fish farm while get their pond dykes reasonably cleared at no cost, the farm still receives an additional income for allowing such practice to occur in a win-win situation.

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=15340

Jan 05 2020

Feeding meagre in earthen ponds in Damietta (Egypt) – Video

Video credit: Charles Bernard Makuya (Malawi) Review: Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the video channel)

This video was filmed during a field visit by Fish Culture Development training course. The marine fish farm is located in Damietta; the main region for the farming of meagre (Argyrosomus regius). The development of meagre aquaculture in Egypt has witnessed significant progress increasing from less than 6000 tons in 2014 to about 25000 tons in 2017. The increase in meagre aquaculture occurs although the activity still relies solely on the wild-caught seeds.

As shown in the video, the feeding operation relies on trash fish and small shrimp. As expected, the feed conversion ratio is poor with an average of about 9 (feed): 1 (gain). In that regard, some initiatives conducted on private farms target to evaluate the performance and production of the species when fed artificial feed with 40 and 50% crude protein.

https://youtu.be/Wxid09UGjTM

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=15336

Jan 05 2020

Fish and seafood display in Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt)

The two photos show the displays of fish and seafood in Sharm El Sheikh (South Sinai). The display indicates that premium species of lobster, shrimp, crab and finfish are displayed; all belong to marine fish/seafood. This also indicates the consumer preference as well as the purchasing power of tourists who spend their vacations in such attractive city. As expected, freshwater fish such tilapia could be found on other displays.

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=15334

Jan 05 2020

Cage culture of tilapia in Ghana

Photos’ credit: Francis Xedagbui (Ghana) Review: Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)

The inserted photos show the harvest of caged tilapia and show also a group of women while processing (gutting) the harvested fish in a nearby boat. In fact, the owner of the cages (Francis), participated in a 3-month training course held in Egypt in 2015 and sponsored by the Egyptian International Centre of Agriculture (EICA) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Based on published records, cage farming in Ghana goes back to 2001 with only one cage farm. Afterwards, cage aquaculture in Lake Volta has become the fastest business activity with about an annual growth rate of 73 percent between 2010 and 2016.

The Water Research Institute (WRI) in Akosombo, Ghana, is promoting cage aquaculture technology to smallholder farmers.

A typical cage size in Lake Volta is about 6 x 4m with a 2-m depth. The cage netting is attached to pipe frames buoyed by oil drums or plastic barrels. The cage surface is usually covered by bird nettings to protect caged fish against bird predation. Tilapia fingerlings of about 10-30g size are stocked at rates ranging from 3000 to 9000 fish per 48-m3 cage. Cage farms acquire the fingerlings either from private tilapia hatcheries or from a selected line of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) produced at the Ghanaian Aquaculture Research and Development Centre in Akosombo.

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=15329

Dec 28 2019

African catfish farming in Tanzania (Video)

This video was filmed during my visit along with Tanzanian colleagues to a fish farm located in Kibisho. The visit took place during September 2018.

The present video shows a farm component related to the culture of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) whereas catfish broodstock are maintained in outdoor concrete tanks. There are hatcheries for tilapia and catfish which provide the grow-out ponds with required fingerlings. As shown in the video especially during feeding, most of the catfish broodstock are of large size.

According to FAO statistics, the production of catfish in Tanzania amounted 2000 tons in 2017 out of 19,602 tons of total aquaculture in the same year.

https://youtu.be/L1TR2qPaOcI

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=15323

Dec 27 2019

Rescuing an Indus River dolphin (Pakistan)

Photo credit: Muhammad Hafeez-ur-Rehman (Pakistan) Review: Muhammad Hafeez-ur-Rehman and Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)

The inserted photo shows an incidence of rescuing an Indus River dolphin (Platanista gangetica). This species of dolphin is among the world’s most endangered dolphins and has been listed as ‘Endangered’ by the World Conservation Union. It is one of the world’s rarest mammals. The severely declining populations are threatened by declining freshwater supplies, pollution, capture in fishing nets and hunting.

In regard to conserving the Indus river dolphins, Joint rescue teams from WWF-Pakistan and the Sindh Wildlife Department regularly carry out these rescuing operations. Typically, the stranded dolphins are carefully captured, placed on a stretcher, kept moist, and transported in a sound-proof vehicle and released in the main stream of the Indus River.

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=15320

Dec 26 2019

Promoting the integration of agricultural crops with aquaculture in Madagascar

Photos’ credit: Marcel Jean Adavelo (Madagascar) – Review: Marcel Jean Adavelo and Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)

The inserted pictures show different models of integration between tilapia-based fish farming and different agriculture systems including –as shown in the pictures- vegetables, corn, gardens and others. Typically, proper integration enhances the productivity whether in biomass and/or economics of the farm units of land and water bearing in mind that pond water is used to naturally fertilize the agriculture crops grown on pond dikes. In order to promote such integration, there is a need to acquire solid information on the best types of integration during different seasons; and this is the key purpose of applying and evaluating different integration scenarios.

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=15315

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