 |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
114. When you harvested the fish in your first small pond, you first drained all of the water out of the pond. Then you collected the fish. Items 91 to 98, in Booklet No. 27, tell you when and how to do this.
115. But there are several ways to harvest your fish. You can harvest them
· without draining the water
· by draining all of the water
· by draining part of the water.
116. Here are some things that you should know about these different ways of harvesting your fish.
117. If you do not have enough water to fill your pond again and you want to harvest only part of your fish, you can use a seine net to gather them without draining the water.
118. A seine net with a mesh of 3 to 3.5 centimetres will catch the biggest fish and allow the small fish to escape through the net.
Seine net with mesh size of 3 to
3.5 cm
119. You will need several people to harvest with a seine net. Perhaps your family can help you. Perhaps you can ask your neighbours for help, and later help them with their work or give them some fish to pay them for their help.
Harvest with a seine ret
120. Start at the deep end of the pond and pull the seine net slowly toward the shallow end. The drawing shows you how.
Shallow and deep end
121. You can also use a cast net or a lift net to harvest some of the fish from your pond without draining the water.
Cast net
122. With a cast net or a lift net, it is easier to catch the fish while they are eating and they are all together. Keep the biggest fish and put the smaller fish back into the pond.
123. If you have enough good water to fill the pond again, it is best to drain all of the water. If you drain all of the water, you will be sure to catch all of the fish and you can clean the bottom of your pond.
124. While the pond is being drained, use baskets or hand- nets to take the fish out of the water. After all of the water has been drained from the pond, you may still find small pools here and there on the bottom. Be careful to gather all of the fish in the pools.
Take fish out of
water
125. If you have only enough water to fill part of your pond, do not drain out all of the water. Drain only part of it out.
126. Pull the wood plug closing the outlet, or, if you are using a siphon, put the siphon in place and begin to let the water out.
127. Let half the water flow out through the outlet or siphon. Then put the plug back in the outlet or remove the siphon.
128. Now you can begin to harvest your fish with a seine net. Do it the same way as you did in Item 119 in this booklet. If you have a seine net with a mesh size of less than 1 centimetre, you will be able to catch all of your fish.
Harvest the fish with a seine ret
129. Take all the big fish and put the small fish back. If you have too many baby fish, Item 144 in this booklet will tell you what to do with them.
130. When you are finished harvesting, let water flow back into the pond until it reaches the level of the overflow pipe.
131. You will harvest more than twice as many big fish from your new big pond as you did from your old smaller pond.
132. When you harvest your big fish, you must be ready to eat them or sell them or preserve them the same day. Items 105 to 112, in Booklet No. 27, will tell you what to do.
133. When you harvest your pond, you will also catch many fish that are too small to eat or to be sold at the market.
134. If you have not built a nursery pond, you may need some of these baby fish to put back into the big pond you are harvesting. You may also be able to sell some to another fish farmer. But you must take good care of the baby fish until you are ready to use them or sell them.
Take good care of the baby fish
135. It you have another pond that is full of water, you can put these baby fish in a pen of split bamboo or net in the corner of the other pond. You can also keep these baby fish in a net pen or in a floating cage of split bamboo.
Keep the baby fish
136. If you do not have another pond, you should keep the baby fish alive in a special small pond nearby, until you are ready to use them, as you did when you harvested your first small pond (see Booklet No. 27).
137. The small pond can be a simple hole in the ground about 3 by 3 metres and about 40 centimetres deep. You should have it ready before you begin to harvest.
138. Your baby fish will stay alive longer if they are out of the sun. Build the small pond in the shade, under a tree or put a shelter over it. You can build a simple shelter using bamboo or wood.
Bamboo shetler
139. Your baby fish will stay alive longer if they have fresh water. Build the small pond with an overflow and put the small pond near the ditch which brings water to your big pond. That way you can have fresh water running through your small pond.
140. You can also let fresh water into your small pond with a small ditch or a siphon.
141. Your baby fish will stay alive longer it you feed them a little food each day. Feed your baby fish termites or finely ground rice bran, cottonseed cake or groundnut cake when they are in the small pond.
Feed the baby fish
142. If you keep your baby fish in a small pond out of the sun in fresh water and if you feed them each day, they will stay alive for about 5 days. This is enough time to dry and clean and repair the bottom of your big pond, to fill it with water and begin to fertilize it, and to put the baby fish back into your big pond.
143. If you have built your own nursery pond, you will not need these baby fish.
144. if you have more baby fish then you can use or sell, you can dry them in the sun. After you have dried the baby fish, grind or pound them and mix them with crushed cottonseed or groundnut cake or with rice bran to feed your big fish, your poultry or your pigs. You can also use the baby fish to fertilize your farm garden.
Fertilize the farm
garden
 |
 |
