Economics of Aquaculture

The book is a product of detailed field investigation carried out in villages of six major fish producing districts of Bihar in the back drop of an extensive review of the available literature on the subject. The various econometric tools have been used to analyse the socio-economic aspects of inland fish production which brings out many field insights. The text is presented in 10 sections. Chapter 1 provides a comprehensive introduction to the fishery development in different ecosystems. Chapter 2 presents the analytical procedure and frame work adopted for making the findings and conclusions more precise and reliable. Chapter 3 describes the profiles of fish farmers and ponds which have a great bearing on fishery development in Bihar. Cultural practices adopted for fish production at pond level are discussed in Chapter 4 which provides insight about the adoption level of scientific fish production practices. Chapter 5 presents the use of major inputs including human labour and fish seeds. Fish species-wise level of stocking, sources of fish seeds and constraints there of are also discussed in detail. Chapter 6 presents the analytical discussions of fish production, conversion ratio, potential production, production efficiency and profitability in fish production. Chapter 7 describes the profile of fishery labours and their employment pattern. Chapter 8 is based on Secondary and primary data of fish marketing and cover arrival, transportation, grading, sale pattern, price spread, marketing cost and profit margins in fish marketing. Chapter 9 analysis the constraints in fish production which covers institutional, technological, economic and social constraints in fish production. Summary and conclusions of all the chapters mentioned above presented in Chapter 10. The analytical discussions in the test of the book will be of a great help to future researches and policy makers engaged in fishery development.