| 1 | Rural development through shell and fin fish farming in the mangrove ecosystem of Indian Sundarbans The recent enthusiasm for trapping and stocking of shell fish seed @iPenaeus monodon@@, indiscriminately by destroying other in fin fish seeds may be a new problem now arising concerns of the organizations at Indian Sundarbans, which are farming shrimp. Mass mortality of tiger prawn often due to un-explained causes are known to occur, wherever prawns are grown and there are only a few cases, where the causative organisms or conditions have been identified. The wide spread occurrence of shrimp mortality and its disastrous effect make it important to organise multifarious efforts to identify causes and to develop treatments and preventive measures to uplift socio-economic aspect. Few small villages on the west bank of the river Bidya in Basanti Block were surveyed, where on an average 5000 rural people under 1,200 families are dependent on fisheries and agriculture. About 70% of these rural people are engaged in the brackishwater fish culture and fishing in the river. In these areas total fish culture bheries are about 3000 in an area of about 1,000 acres. These brackishwater fisheries are also swarming with the natural mangrove trees. The brackishwater fish culture normally yields an average production of prawn and fish are estimated 900-1000 kg/ha/9 months, of which tiger shrimp production is estimated to be about 14%-20% of the total production. Besides these, survey and critical investigations reveal that the status of estuarine fish and fisheries of the Indian Sundarbans estuaries is in an alarming state Source: Naskar, K.R.; Ghosh, A.K. J. Interacad.. 1(2); 1997; 126-133. 1010.
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