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Status of Fish Disease and Health Management Practices in Rural Freshwater Aquaculture of Bangladesh

MA.R. Faruk
Department of Aquaculture, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh.

M.l. Alam
Department of Aquaculture, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh.

M.M.R. Sarker
Department of Aquaculture, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh.

M.B. Kabir
Department of Aquaculture, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

In order to examine the current status of fish disease and health management practices in rural freshwater aquaculture, a questionnaire survey and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools were used in five districts of Bangladesh namely Mymensingh, Comilla, Jessore, Natore and Dinajpur. A total of 500 farmers were interviewed and 25 PRA sessions were conducted. Most of the farmers (878%) interviewed had disease problem in their fishponds. Prevalence of fish disease varied with districts and the size of farms. Average prevalence of fish disease was highest in Jessore district (18.2%) followed by Comilla (13.4%), Mymensingh (11.4%) and Dinajpur district (10.4%). Minimum prevalence (5.5%) was recorded from Natore district Small farms (0.4 ha) suffered from high disease prevalence (13.8%) followed by medium (0.2-0.4 ha) and large (>0.4 ha) farms with 12.4 and 9.3% of diseases, respectively. The most prevalent disease was tail and fin rot (20.5%), followed by epizootic ulcerative syndrome or EUS (18.9%), nutritional diseases (153%), red spot (13.0%) and gill rot (12.3%). Other conditions like argulosis, dropsy and white spot were also reported by the farmers but with lower incidence. The diseases occurred mainly in the winter season. Overall, the knowledge of the farmers on basic fish health management was found very poor. Most of the farmers (83.8%) used treatment measures in response to particular disease problem. For disease treatment, 46% farmers used combination of lime and potassium permanganate, 22.4% farmer used only lime and about 10% farmer used lime and salt together. This study identified some fish health management related problems in rural aquaculture, such as lack of assistance, poor technical knowledge and lack of suitable therapeutics and their proper uses.

Keywords: Fish disease, Health management, Freshwater aquaculture, Bangladesh

Location: Mymensingh, Comilla, Jessore, Natore and Dinajpur.

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Animal Health and Management

Commodity: Fish

Objectives:

To examine the current status of fish disease and health management practices in rural freshwater aquaculture of Bangladesh.

Methodology:

The study included five districts of Bangladesh viz., Mymensingh, Comilla, Natore, Dinajpur and Jessore. These were selected because they contribute substantially to freshwater aquaculture production of the country. Data was collected through questionnaire interview and participatory rural appraisal (PRA) with fish farmers. For questionnaire interview, a set of preliminary questionnaire was prepared. This was field tested with a few fish farmers of each representative location and necessary modifications were made based on their feedback. For the interview, simple random sampling method was followed. A total of 500 farmers (100 farmers from each district) having different farm size was interviewed. In order to minimize errors, data were collected in local units. These were subsequently converted into appropriate units. PRA tools including Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was conducted with rural fish farmers to get an overview of particular issues of fish health and disease. A total of 25 FGD sessions in different districts were conducted where each group sizes were between 6 and 12 farmers. The PRA discussion was recorded for further reference. Cross check interviews were conducted with key informants such as District Fisheries Officer, Upazilla Fisheries Officer (UFO), NGO workers working with aquaculture, fishermen leader, village old man, school head master and village head-man was interviewed by a semi-structured questionnaire where information was contradictory. Though the questionnaire was semi -structured but participatory approaches were used all through.After collection of data from the study areas, data were coded and entered into a computer for analysis. Data were processed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS programme. Preliminary data sheets were compared with the original coding sheets to ensure the accuracy of the data entered. The data were analyzed by using tabular and descriptive statistical techniques. The summary tables were prepared in accordance to the objective of the study. The technique of analysis included the classification of tables into meaningful result by arithmetic mean, percentage and ratios.

Source of Information: Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences 7 (12): 2092-2098, 2004 ISSN 1028-8880

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

In conclusion, this study demonstrated that there is a substantial fish diseases problem in rural fish farming and this problem should not be under estimated. In Bangladesh, since aquaculture activities are predominantly rural based, mainly the poor fish farmers suffer from the adverse effects of disease outbreaks. It is likely that once the farmers have a better understanding of basic fish culture and health management techniques, the likelihood of diseases occurring and their impacts will be reduced . Therefore, it is recommended that the farmers should be trained about basic fish health management strategies and there should be some support service for farmers about easy and proper diagnosis and treatment of fish diseases.

Knowledge Management: Journal