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Noakhali Science & Technology UniversitySonapur, Noakhali-3814

The Topic of the Presentation

Disease: The major constraints in the flourishing aqua farm in Bangladesh

IntroductionBangladesh is an agro based country where fisheries contribute as a substantial sector in its economy. Both fisheries and aquaculture play a major role in alleviating protein deficiency and malnutrition, in generating employment and foreign exchange earnings in Bangladesh (DOF, 2003). Aquaculture accounted for about 43.5% of the total fish production during 2003-04, with inland open water fisheries contributed 34.8% (DOF, 2005).

FAO ranked Bangladesh as sixth largest aquaculture producing country of the world (DOF, 2005).

The major fish species cultured in inland water bodies are Indian major carps (Catla catla, Labeo rohita, Cirrhinus mrigala), Chinese carps ( Ctenopharyngodon idella), common carp (Cyprinus carpio), Thai catfish (Pangasius sutchi). Recently, culture of koi (Anabas testudineus) also has got popularity in Bangladesh. Due to the rapid expansion of aquaculture, fish disease has become one of the crucial factors in fish production (Rahman and Chowdhury, 1996).

DiseaseA disease is an abnormal condition that affects the body of an organism. It is often considered as a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by factors originally from an external source, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune diseases.

Common Fish diseases in Bangladesh

The major fish diseases occurred in Bangladesh are Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS), Aeromonad septicemia, different types of fungal and parasitic diseases etc. (Chowdhury et al., 2003).

Moreover, tail and fin rot disease is also found in different fish farms and the rate of incidence of this type of disease is assumed to be increased in the recent years (Faruk et al., 2004).

White spot viral disease is also considered to be the most common and dangerous viral disease attacking tiger shrimp and causing rapid death.

Effect of Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome(EUS) on Fish Production in Bangladesh

EUS was a very new phenomenon at the time of the first outbreaks in Bangladesh, and it caused great concern because of the perceived dangers to both staple food crops and to human life.

The economic loss due to EUS was estimated at 118.3 million Taka (US$3.4 million; 1 US$=35 Taka) during 1988-89. In the second year the disease occurred with lower severity, and the economic loss was estimated at 88.2 million Taka (US$2.2 million). Fish price dropped to 25-40% of the pre-disease level during the first outbreak (Barua 1994).

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The destructive effect of disease in shrimp farming of Bangladesh

The success of shrimp farming is measured by its rate of return on investment, which mainly depends on the yield, capital investment, international demand and market price, and the production cost. This, in turn, is affected by a number of factors, the most important of which are farm operation and management. Disease is one of the major factors affecting productivity.

Damage caused by disease was estimated to affect 50-60% of the semi-intensive shrimp farms in Cox's Bazar in 1994, and monetary losses were estimated to be Tk 50 crore (US$10 million) (M.S. Islam, unpublished data). According to the Department of Fisheries (DOF), Bangladesh suffered a 44.3% production loss in 1996, leading to a reduction in foreign income of 42.3% from shrimp exports (Siriwardena 1997).

Continued

Disease is a major concern, and was reported in 13% of extensive shrimp farms and 74% of semi-extensive farms. In another report, the estimated average financial loss per affected farm was estimated to be as high as US$832/yr for extensive and US$3,928/yr for semi-intensive farms (Chowdhury 1997). Illiterate, and even literate, shrimp farmers are unable to point out the real cause of shrimp diseases. However, nowadays, they are more aware of shrimp diseases and take precautionary measures whenever possible.

Effect of White Spot Syndrome Viral disease on fish production in Bangladesh

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Effect of tail rot disease on fish farms in Bangladesh

Tail and fin rot disease occurred in Indian major carp, catla (Gibelion catla) and climbing perch- koi (Anabas testudineus) in fish farms located at two districts of Bangladesh. The affected fish showed lesion and erosion on the tail and fins. Approximately, 40% mortality was recorded in those farms.

Prevalence of Fish Disease

The average prevalence of fish disease in farmers pond was noticed highest (18.2%) in Jessore district followed by Comilla (13.4%), Mymensingh (11.4%) and Dinajpur (10.4%). Natore district had the minimum prevalence of disease (5.6%). Average prevalence of disease in small farmers ponds was highest (13.8%) followed by medium (12.3%) and large farmers ponds (9.3%). About 37% farmers considered fish disease as a major problem, while 38% thought that disease as a moderate problem and 24.2% farmers considered it as a minor problem.

Gross Economic loss due to fish diseaseThere were average economic loss of Tk.20,615/ha/year (US$344) to farmers from fish diseases which was equivalent to approximately 15% of the actual production. These losses varied among different districts and with different size of farms. The average loss as high as Tk.26,817/ha/year (US$447) was observed in Comilla district followed by Dinajpur Tk.23,412 (US$390), Mymensingh Tk.19,685 (US$328), Jessore Tk.18,177 (US$303) and Natore Tk.15,037 (US$251). Fish production also varied among different districts. The average highest (19.2%) loss of actual production was seen in Comilla district while the lowest (7.9%) were observed with farmers from Natore district. In general, small size farms suffered from highest average loss (19.6%) than the bigger size farms (14% for medium and 11.2% for large farm).

Conclusion And Recommendation

The socio-economic circumstances of small-scale aquaculture holders are poor. Moreover, they have no chance to set up farms, especially shrimp farms, as rich and influential local person(s) control the industry in their locality. Disease is one of the major constraints of fish and shrimp farming in the country. Considering the above, the following recommendations are made:

Awareness of disease problems of small-scale aquaculture needs to be raised.

Reports of any kind of mass mortality should reach the nearby Thana Fisheries officer (TFO)/Farm manager or Fisheries Research Institute as soon as possible.

TFO/Farm managers must be vigilant and give periodic service to small-scale aquaculture holders in order to mitigate fish and shrimp disease problems.

A line of communication between small-scale aquaculture holders, the Department of Fisheries (DOF) and the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) needs to be established.

References

www.wikipedia.org

http://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=pjbs.2004.2086.2091

http://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=jbs.2010.800.804&org=11

www.fao.org

Faruk, M.A.R, M.M.R Sarker, M.J. Alam and M.B. Kabir, Economic Loss from Fish Diseases on Rural Freshwater Aquaculture of Bangladesh, Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences 7 (12), 2004

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