How to Write a Fish Project Proposal

Bangladesh is an agro based country. Fisheries sector plays an important role in the economy of Bangladesh. Fisheries sector supplies 60% of animal protein for our country. Fish and fisheries products also play a major role in the GDP of Bangladesh. About 5000000 people of Bangladesh are closely related with fish culture, fish harvesting, fish processing, fish and fish products related activities. Bangladesh earns a huge amount of foreign currency by exporting shrimp, prawn, crab and fish.  

Though the demand of fish is increasing but the water body is decreasing day by day. So we will rear and culture of some commercial fish species in Rangamati district. If we can dig some ponds and rear properly with scientific approach then it will be very helpful to boost up the fish production and also create employment opportunity for many people.

Objectives: 

1. To utilize the natural resources of Rangamati District.

2. To enhance the fish production by applying scientific method of fish culture.

3. To create employment opportunity by fish culture.

4. To enhance the aesthetic beauty of biodiversity in Rangamati district.

5. To meet the demands of protein supply.

6. Producing food near rural areas and contributing to improve nutrition.

7. Providing available cultured fish in Rangamati.

8. Promoting agro-industrial development.

Outline of the project site: 

1.      Project site:  Rangamati District. 

2. Number of Ponds (4): for Tilapia=3, for Pangus=1

3.     Total culturable  area:  330 decimal

4.      Culturable species: monosex tilapia(0reochromis niloticus),  pangus(pangsius hypophthalmas)

5.      Culture type: monoculture (semi-intensive)

6.      Total no. Of tilapia  fry to be stocked (tilapia: 200/dm & others: 16/dm): 32400

7.      Culture duration of tilapia: 4-5 months.                                                                                           

8.      Total no. Of pangus fry to be stocked (pangus:100/dm & others 24/dm): 19000-20000

9.      Culture duration: 5-6 months.

Layout of the Project Site:

IMPORTANCE OF TILAPIA AND PANGUS CULTURE:

·        ❤ Fast growing species.

·         ❤Able to tolerate in high stocking density.

·       ❤  Having greater resistance to stress and also against common diseases.

·         ❤High market demand.

·         ❤Attain marketable size within 3-4 months.

·         ❤Tilapia fish fry are easily available.

·      ❤   Mortality rate is very low.

·         ❤Able to live on the natural productivity of the pond and the supplementary feed as well.

·         ❤Culturable all the year round.

Methodology: There are three types of culture system.  These are:

1.      Extensive

2.      Semi-intensive

3.      Intensive

Extensive: Culture system providing no external feed or fertilizer inputs. Natural productivity plays major role in providing nutrient for stocked fish.

Semi-intensive: The provision of natural food and other protein rich feed ingredients is mandatory in this culture system.

Intensive: Provision of all nutrients. The feed cost in intensive culture can be high as 60-80% of total production cost.

NB: Semi-intensive culture system is appropriate for this project site.

CULTURE TECHNIQUE:

POND SIZE

There is no ideal pond size for growing tilapia and they vary from 10 to 100 decimal and for Pangus pond size are more than 30 decimal. Big ponds require less time in labour (fertilizing, feeding, etc), but are more difficult to harvest and take longer to prepare and fill with water. Surface aeration and water flow in large ponds is generally better as the long fetch allows larger waves and currents to develop. Small ponds are more costly to excavate (per unit area), but are of advantage if selling fish directly retailers, as a regular supply of fish in small amounts is required.

POND DEPTH

An ideal depth of pond is between 1 to 2 meters for Tilapia and Pangus. Ponds deeper than this are not good because light, necessary for phytoplankton growth, will not penetrate to the bottom. This will lead to anaerobic conditions and poor water quality. More fertilizer will also be required to maintain a green pond.

There is one exception to this rule and that concerns rain-fed ponds where a large volume of water is required to prevent the pond quickly drying out in the dry season. In this case it may be necessary to increase water depth during the rainy season to 3 meters or more. High fertilization will be necessary at this time, but during the dry season nutrients will tend to get concentrated, due the evaporating water, and so little fertilization will be necessary.

Ponds shallower than 1 m are not recommended, because temperature fluctuation will be very high and production per area will be lower due to the reduced volume of water and lower overall biomass of phytoplankton.

 

POND PREPARATION

There are four important steps in pond preparation:

1) Eradicate all wild fish from the pond:

Eradication of any fish left from the previous culture cycle is imperative in order to ensure optimum growth of the new crop. The best way to do this is to dry the pond for 1-2 weeks. Not only will this kill any fish remaining, but it will also have a beneficial effect on the pond bottom. Application of a piscicide (such as rotenone, tea seed cake or cyanide) to any water remaining may be necessary during the rainy season when a pond cannot be dried.

2) Liming in the pond bottom:

After draining the pond, it is advisable to treat the pond bottom with lime. This is recommended practice in aquaculture, as it will kill disease organisms and will buffer fluctuations in pond water pH. 1 kg/dm is sufficient for most ponds, although more lime may be required in acid soil areas, particularly if the pond is new.

2) Fill the pond with filtered pond water:

After drying and liming the pond it can now be filled with water. To do this, a filter bag, made from fine nylon netting, should be secured over the pump discharge pipe to ensure that no wild fish fry or eggs can get into the pond. This may not be possible for large pumps due to the high pressure. In this case, a hapa can be erected under the water inlet to catch any unwanted organisms. Unwanted breeding (due female tilapia getting into the pond) will be prevented if these procedures are followed and your all-male tilapia should grow to their full potential.

3) Add fertilizer to the pond to create green water:

Periodic fertilization should be done at a rate of 6-7 kg cow dung with 100 gm urea and 50gm TSP/decimal to the newly filled pond to create a phytoplankton bloom. Animal manures can be used, but chemical fertilizer will create better water quality, thus ensuring higher survival of the newly stocked fish. A week is normally sufficient for the water to turn green, after which time fish can be stocked.

FRY TRANSPORT

The sex reversed tilapia fry you have purchased from fish hatchery. This will ensure that the water in the bags stays relatively clean and the fish should survive for 18 hours without any significant mortality. Customers should follow the following set of guidelines with respect to fry transport:

1) Please order and confirm in advance, as this will enable our staff to starve the fish for the optimum period prior to packing.

2) Arrange a time to pick up the fish and arrive on time. Our staff will attempt to finish packing the fish at the time arranged. Not only will this minimize your wait, but it will also reduce transport time.

3) Try and avoid traveling long distances during the day in April and May due to the extreme heat.

4) If traveling during the day, then cover the bags with wet sacking to keep the temperature down.

 

FRY RELEASE

There are two main considerations concerning releasing fish:

1) Avoid stocking fry when oxygen levels are low in the pond. This will be in the early morning at first light. Use of aeration is an advantage to elevate oxygen levels to give the fry the best chance of survival.

2) Care should be taken when stocking your fish that the water temperature in the bags is not very different to that in the pond. If it is, then the fish will suffer shock on contact with the water. The recommended way is to float the bags in the pond for a period of 15 minutes prior to stocking, so that temperature in and outside the bags can equilibrate. Release the fish by pulling the neck of the bag to snap off the elastic band, then hold the bag upside down and discharge the whole of the contents into the pond.

 

STOCKING DENSITY

Stocking density depends entirely on the size and expected yield of fish (determined by method of culture) at harvest.

Stocking density of tilapia should be 200-250no. /decimal and for Pangus is 100-150no./dm.

 

POND FERTILIZATION

This section is aimed mainly at farmers who aim to grow tilapia using “green water” using very little, if any, feed. Green water is a phytoplankton bloom that provides food, removes ammonia and produces oxygen for the fish. The greener the pond, the more natural food will be available and the fish will grow fast with very little or no supplemental feeding. However, if a pond is too green, then fish mortality can result due to low early morning oxygen.

In order to create a plankton bloom, it is necessary to add nitrogen and phosphorous (N & P), the two limiting nutrients to plant growth in water.. The N & P can come from many sources, including chemical fertilizer, animal manure, “ami” (monosodium glutamate factory waste), compost, etc. Chemical fertilizer is more expensive, but water quality will be much better and this allows stocking of low-oxygen sensitive aquatic species, such as shrimp, prawns and carps.

FEEDS & FEEDING

The relationship between feeding and stocking density was mentioned earlier. Production costs will increase with increasing stocking density. However, feed can be used from day 1 to increase growth rate and so reduce culture period. For example, red tilapia will attain a size of 700g in 4 months in ponds when fed a complete diet of commercial pellet. The same fish could be raised to 700g in 6 months using much less and/or cheaper feed, and so reduce investment costs. One has to decide whether the increased feed costs would be worth the quick grow-out period. Other factors, such as land, water and pond excavation prices, should also be considered. If land rental is very expensive for example, then higher density fed systems will be more economic.

Feed should be supplied at 3-10% of fish body weight according to the table given below.

Feeding table of Tilapia:

Week	Feed Percentage (Body Wt.)
1st two week	10%
2nd two week	8%
3rd two week	7%
4th two week	6%
5th two week	5%
6th two week	4%
7th two week	4%
8th two week	3%

Feeding table of Pangus:

Day	Feed Percentage (Body Wt.)
1-15	15%
16-45	12%
46-75	10%
76-105	8%
106-150	5%
150-rest	3%

HARVESTING AND MARKETING:

There are two main methods used for catching tilapia in earthen ponds:

1) Seine nets the fish:

Drop the water level of the pond by half and use a seine net (should be at least one and a half times the width of the pond in length) to catch the fish (match mesh to fish size). Repeat the procedure until few fish can be netted and then drain the pond. Any remaining fish can scooped up from the pond bottom after draining.

2) Catch in corner of pond:

Set up a large pump in the corner of the pond and build a barrier with stakes (bamboo for example) fixed closely together. This barrier will stop the fish from getting to the pump intake and the fish can be netted by placing a piece of net over the barrier and lifting at intervals. The pond should be deep in this corner. The fish will naturally move to this corner with the suction of the pump. An automatic fish lifter could easily be used at this point

Criteria		Pond-1	Pond-2	Pond-3	Pond-4
Area (decimal)		50	50	50	160
Depth (feet)		8	8	8	9
No. of Tilapia fry with others to be stocked(216/dm)		10800	10800	10800	-
No. of Pangus fry with others to be stocked(124/dm)		-	-	-	20000
Lime (1kg/dm)		600	600	600	1920
Fertilizer	Animal manure =7 kg/dm	4200	4200	4200	13440
	Urea=200gm/dm	120 kg	120 kg	120 kg	384 kg
	TSP=75gm/dm	45 kg	45 kg	45 kg	144 kg
Culture type		Semi-intensive	Semi-intensive	Semi-intensive	Semi-intensive
Survival rate		80%	80%	80%	80%

COST ANALYSIS:

Sl. No.	Cost purpose		Quantity	Price/unit	Total cost (TK)
1	Tilapia fry & others		32400	3 TK/fry	100000
2	Pangus fish fry & others		20000	5 TK/fry	100000
3	Feed	Tilapia (floating)	15000 kg	60 TK/kg	900000
		Pangus	20000 kg	50 TK/kg	1000000
4	Lime		3720 kg	12 TK/kg	44640
5	Fertilizer		_	_	30000
6	Medicinal purpose		_	_	10000
7	Security personnel & labour		3	6000	126000
8	Others				15000
	Total		_	_	2325640

Construction cost:

Pond preparation with digging =

Water pump, setup (1 piece) =

 Electricity =    

INCOME ANALYSIS:                                                                                                                    

1)      Possible weight of Tilapia fish = 15000 kg & others = 1200 kg

2)      Possible weight of Pangus fish = 13000 kg & others = 3000 kg

3)      Possible income:

a)      Tilapia = (15000 × 100) = 1500000 TK

b)      Others = (1200 × 120) = 144000 TK

c)      Pangus fish= (13000 × 90)=1170000 TK

d)     Others = (3000 × 120) = 360000 TK

TOTAL = 3174000 ~ 3200000 TK.

4)      Profit =Possible income-Possible cost

           = 3200000 - 2325640

           = 874360 TK.

Comment: After all, it is say that the profit is 35-40 % depends on management system. Maximum profit will rise 50 %.

Sampling