Abstract

Very frequently the questions "How many fish can a pond hold?" ог "How many fingerlings of Catla, Labeo, Etroplus, Mirror, Carp, Chanos, etc., can one stock in a pond?" are posed; but satisfactory answers for them have not been received. Although definite data have been worked out for similar American and European fish ponds, there does not seem to be any agreed answer to these questions for tropical waters. Worthington (1943) states in this connection "......But producti- vity of fish should be capable of even greater development on account of the higher water temperatures and lack of winter. Thus there may be a big future for fish farming in the colonies in ponds specially constructed for the purpose, properly managed and manured. For intensive fish farming in warm climates, we have the outstanding example of the. Chinese who see to it that every square yard of water produced a crop of fish. Before such a new industry is started in countries where opportuni. ties for fish ponds are extensive, intensive research work is necessary in. order to bring to bear our knowledge of productivity in water, of manuring, and of the life histories of difierent species of fish". Our knowledge about the bionomics of the inland fishes of the Madras State is fairly extensive and therefore it is possible at this stage to arrive at a uniform and standard method of computation per unit area or volume of water for stocking South Indian ponds with fingerlings of various kinds.

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