THE Department of Fisheries has issued advisories for fish farmers whose ponds were affected by recent flooding to help them safely restore operations. The advisory covers essential steps to ensure water quality, disease prevention, and pond infrastructure recovery.
The public is advised to boil water before use, as floodwater may carry toxic residues (pesticide remnants), viruses, and bacteria that pose risks to nearby communities. Furthermore, fish farmers need to recapture and inspect surviving fish, distinguish mixed fish by species and size and remove predatory fish and wild species that may have entered the ponds. They also need to rebuild and reinforce eroded pond banks promptly, using trenches, retaining walls, and grass planting to prevent further soil erosion, install fences to keep livestock (cattle, buffalo, pigs) away from pond banks, clear sediment and debris from inlet and outlet canals, ensure proper depth and width for water flow, inspect, clean, and reinstall intake and drainage pipes, replace worn or damaged nets and sandbags, prepare extra sandbags for future needs.
They must clear bushes, weeds, and aquatic plants (such as water hyacinth, algae, and floating ferns) from ponds and surrounding canals and regularly check nearby waterways and bridges to prevent blockages. Conducting health checks on fish and water quality and properly disposing of dead fish to prevent disease spread are required. Fish farmers are to avoid building structures that could obstruct water sources (rivers, streams) or drainage canals and design pond layouts to ensure good water flow and easy transport of supplies (feed, medicine) via well-maintained roads and canals.
Testing and adjusting water quality parameters, treating water with lime and fertilizer and securing adequate inputs (feed, fingerlings) are needed to enable timely restocking with suitable-sized fish, the department stated.
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