Aquaculture as Emerging Industry in Sustainable Development in Sundarbans

The Sundarban is an UNESCO declared world heritage site, situated at the southern fringes on the West Bengal state of India. Aquaculture plays a vital role in the socio-economic development of the communities living in the Sunderban eco-region. Present study encompasses the prevailing aquaculture practices and socioeconomic profile of the fish farmers of Indian Sundarban based on a multi-layered cross-sectional questionnaire based survey. The majority of fish farmers have medium sized families (60%) and the aquaculture operations are dominated by male workers (98%). The fish farmers belonged to low Income group (69%) and their annual income lies within 785.75 US$. Majority of the respondent practices traditional type farming (74%) and polyculture is prevalent. Freshwater aquaculture of Sundarban is dominated by Indian Major Carps (IMCs) in combination with other exotic varieties. Composite fish culture is popular throughout the Sundarban and most preferred stocking combination is carps with tilapia (Oreochromis spp.) followed by IMCs with medium and minor carps. Of Sundarban fish farmers, 19% do not give any kind of supplementary feed. The survey revealed that the government, educational institutions and NGOs are unsuccessful to develop sustainable aquaculture practice and methods in Sundarban. The state of West Bengal is the second largest fish producer in India (after Andhra Pradesh) and is dominated by production from the South and North 24 Parganas district. Total fish Production of the state was 1.6 million tons in 2000-2001 which was increased to tune up the production of 1.5 million tons in 2013-2014 from an approximately 5.45 lakh ha area. Aquaculture is a rapidly growing food producing sector in the world. Even though capture fishery represented 58% of total fish production in 2012, it has remained relatively stable throughout the last three decades. The source of significant growth in the global production of fish since the late 1980s has been culture fishery (aquaculture) with an average annual growth rate of 8.8%1. The production from world food fish aquaculture more than doubled from 32.4 million tons in 2000 to 66.6 million tons in 2012 with an average annual growth rate of 6.2 % in the period 2000–2012 1. India is the second largest fish producer in the world after China and in 2012 India produced 3.8 million tons farmed food fish from the inland sector 1. In India, national average annual consumption of fish and fish products is 2.85 kg capita-1 in 2010 which accounts for 2.2% of total protein consumption Fishery in Sunderban is the most important and major source of livelihood in the people living there. The forests of Sunderban is located at the situated at the southern fringes on the West Bengal state of India. There are a number of famous tourist spots in the city. Most of the fishermen in the city are from and they use the boats to get their catches from the sea Fishery in sunder ban offers all kinds of fishing activity. There are various types of fishes that are available in the sea. Thus the fishermen have to do some kind of research and study about the fish species so that they can choose the appropriate method of catching them and bring them to the city to sell them to the people. Thus it becomes very important for the people to find out the right way of catching their fishes and get them sold in the market. Aquaculture as Emerging Industry in Sustainable Development in Sundarbans International Journal of Innovative Studies in Aquatic Biology and Fisheries Page | 24 expanded acknowledgment of aquaculture as a feasible and practical other option to catch fisheries in India 2-4. Inland creation of India has expanded from 5.7 million tons in 2000-2001 to 6.2 million tons in 2013-2014. Out of the all-out inland creation, almost 70% comes from aquaculture 5. The province of West Bengal is the second biggest fish maker in India (after Andhra Pradesh) and is commanded by creation from the South and North 24 Parganas locale. All out fish creation of the state was 1.6 million tons in 2000-2001 which was expanded to adjust the creation of 1.5 million tons in 2013-2014 from an around 5.45 lakh ha territory 5. In the inland division of India, about 30% of fish creation originates from the state West Bengal. The inland aquaculture creation of West Bengal expanded from 0.88 million tons in 2000-2001 to 1.39 million tons in 2013-2014 5. The Sundarban Biosphere Reserve (SBR) (organizes lat. 21°402N long. 88°032E to lat. 22°402N long. 89°072E) is an UNESCO pronounced world legacy site, lies on the southern edges. In the West Bengal, India, where the Gangetic plain meets the Straight of Bengal. Its 9,630 km2 zone is spread over South 24 Parganas furthermore, southern pieces of the abutting North 24 Parganas, the two southernmost regions of West Bengal. The delta contains 102 low-lying islands, of which 48 islands are involved by human occupying 5,363 km2 region. Waterway Hoogly, the westernmost estuary of the Sundarban, is the first deltaic branch of stream Ganga. 134 Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment, Vol.14 (2), April 2016 Stream Raimangal structures the eastern limit of the SBR. The northern restriction of the Sundarban is characterized by the Dampier–Hodges line, a nonexistent line dependent on a review directed during 1829– 1832 6. Directly, the settled parts of the SBR are situated in 13 of the 36 squares in South 24 Parganas and on 6 of 22 squares of North 24 Parganas, establishing a sum of 19 squares, alluded as the 'Sundarban squares'. The freshwater streams from the standard streams and the flowing entrance from the ocean bring about a slope of saltiness that shifts both spatially and transiently inside the Biosphere Reserve. When all is said in done, the saltiness is higher closer the coast and the water is almost new on the inland side constraint of the Sundarban where the water is about new 7. The islands of Sundarban are encircled by exceptionally old man-made dikes which make conceivable the presence of freshwater bodies inside the land masses therefore makes farming and freshwater aquaculture reasonable inside this area. Fisheries and aquaculture is a basic part of employment of the occupants of Sundarban and fundamentally adds to the areas' creation. Aside from brackishwater aquaculture, freshwater aquaculture is expanding step by step and making sure about equal economy and employment in Sundarban eco-area. During 2010-2011, South and North 24 Parganas areas created 0.17 and 0.16 million tons’ angles, individually, from the inland segment of which about 40% creation originated from Sundarban squares 8. Every one of the 19 squares of the Sundarban area have progressively impecunious family units in examination with the comparing midpoints for India and rest of West Bengal, and the level of BPL (Below Poverty Line) a family units’ ranges from 31% to 65% in these squares 9. Almost 80% of the family units procure their living that include wasteful creation techniques in farming, angling, and aquaculture in expansion with numerous stressors 9. Muruganandam et al. 10 referenced that, it is essential to know the functional complexities and least useful information associated with the cultivating to enkindle the reasonable creation of an area. So it is basic to grant legitimate information on the premise of logical advances and accessible chances of fish cultivating to the anglers and fish ranchers to accomplish manageability. Considering the significance and capability of freshwater of Sundarban this correspondence gives data on different experiences on the aquaculture rehearses, creation techniques, obliges alongside financial profile of the fish ranchers of Sundarban. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study territories and test size: The overview was directed in two network improvement squares b of Indian Sundarban to be specific Basanti and Sagar, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India (Fig. 1) where aquaculture is prevalently rehearsed. Basanti island (lat. 22°112213N and long. 88°402143E) is arranged in the eastern part of the Sundarban delta with waterway Bidya on its east, stream Matla on the west, Sandeshkhali-I hinder on its north and Sundarban Tiger Hold in the south. The topographical region of the square is 286.03 km2. This square comprises of 13 gram panchayats c and 65 possessed towns. Sagar island (lat. 21° to 21°53' N and long. 88°02' to 88°15' E) is the biggest deltaic square of Sundarban situated in the outrageous western area of SBR. This island with a region of around 300 km2 is encircled by two waterways, Hoogly and Muriganga. Both the waterways meet Bay of Bengal on either side of the Sagar island and is completely withdrew from terrain. The square comprises of 9 gram panchayats and 43 towns. The overview secured all out 451 fish cultivating family units disseminated Aquaculture as Emerging Industry in Sustainable Development in Sundarbans International Journal of Innovative Studies in Aquatic Biology and Fisheries Page | 25 more than 20 gram panchayats (244 family units spread across 9 gram panchayats in Sagar square and 207 family units spread across 11 gram panchayats in Basanti square). Advancement of study survey: A cross-sectional multilayered meet based survey was purposively evolved covering all water cultivating attributes for this study. The survey was intended to record data in a norm position with shut inquiries at every possible opportunity and with alteration from different literary works 11-13. Endeavors were made to make the language unambiguous, brief, courteous and non-specialized quite far. Essentially the poll was set up in English and afterward meant Bengali (neighborhood tongue) for successful consequences of the study and for better comprehension of the neighborhood occupants of Sundarban. There was a pre-study meeting when the poll was tried multiple times by meeting objective individuals to distinguish vague and superfluous inquiries as depicte