Water quality management in fish hatchery and grow-out systems

Abstract

Aquaculture in India with its immense potential in marine, coastal and brackish water resources is expected to contribute significantly in protein-rich fish food, rural employment and utilisation of water resources and wastelands. Brackish water aquaculture, which made quantum jump in the 1980s, had to face a setback in the second half of 1990 due to the uncontrolled disease outbreak. Diversification of species has become unavoidable to sustain the aquaculture. The logic for introducing different alternative species in aquaculture system is that the intensity of the pathogens dependent on a particular host will be reduced and the consequent problems will get reduced. In this context, for India, many finfish like Asian sea bass, grouper, milkfish, cobia, pearlspot, pompano, etc., are considered as suitable alternative fish species farming in all the culture ecosystems. To have adequate amount of quality seed, there is a need to set up fish seed production hatchery with suitable technology. As it is evident the good water quality will ensure the quality seed production, we need to have good water management in fish seed production cycle and in fish grow-out system (Bisson et al. 1992; Qin et al. 1995). This chapter will bring out the best way to manage water quality in a fish hatchery and grow-out system.