Bhairawa Fishery Development Centre was established in 1961 and is located on the road from Bhairawa to Butwal, about 18 km south of Butwal town and 4 km north of Bhairawa town. The station has a total area of 23 ha, including 14.61 ha of pond surface area. There are four types of ponds, as follows:
| Type of pond | Total Number | Total area (ha) |
| Broodstock | 3 | 1.00 |
| Breeding | 22 | 3.26 |
| Hatching | 4 | 1.20 |
| Production/demonstration | 12 | 12.25 |
| 17.71 |
Water supply: Water used in the farm has two sources: ground water from five artesian boring wells of 2 inches in size and two of 8 inches in size, and surface water from a canal, pumped by four sets of 5 HP electric water pumps.
Other facilities provided include a hatchery-cum-laboratory, six cement tanks for nursing fish fry, two large cement tanks for holding fish, one 12.5 kVA generator and generator house, one air compressor, two deep freezers, various other equipment and net for fish culture work, one pick-up Toyota Landcruiser, one diesel Land Rover, one Kubota diesel tractor-trailer, three motor cycles and 2 sets of diesel water pumps (5 and 7 HP).
There are also four staff quarters, one duck house and hatchery, two duck pens for fish-cum-duck farming, five pig stalls for pig-cum-fish farming, one feed pelletting plant and one chilling room cold storage under construction.
The staff of Bhairawa Fishery Development Centre consists of a Fishery Development Officer as manager, two Assistant Fishery Development Officers, three junior technicians, two junior technical assistants, two field assistants, one field man, six fishermen, one administrative assistant, one accountant, one typist, one caretaker and three watchmen.
During the reporting period more than 1 million fingerlings of Chinese carps and common carp were produced. About 700 000 were distributed to the farmers and the rest were used for demonstration and experiments on fish-cum-duck and fish-cum-pig farming.
Broodstock: The Chinese carp broods consisting of silver, bighead and grass carp were stocked together in one pond having an area of 0.5 ha. Water level in the pond was maintained at a level of 0.7–1 m. The pond was fertilized with complesal fertilizer containing 20 percent (NH4)2 SO4 and 20 percent P2O5 in 1:1 ratio at the rate of 20 kg/ha once a week and some duck manure (the quantity not recorded). The total weight of the broods stocked was 1 300 kg. The numbers of each species stocked and their average weight are shown below:
| Species | Number stocked | Total weight (kg) | Average weight (kg) |
| Silver carp | 50 | 125.00 | 2.50 |
| Bighead carp | 30 | 75.00 | 2.50 |
| Grass carp | 150 | 450.00 | 3.00 |
The broods were mostly 2–3 years old. Leafy grass was fed to the grass carp every day in unlimited quantity, and supplementary feed consisting of 20 percent wheat flour, 30 percent wheat bran, 20 percent rice bran, 10 percent mustard oil cake and 20 percent dal (beans) were fed daily at the rate of 2.5 percent of total body weight. Most of them were in good condition, ready to breed during the breeding season.
Males and females of common carp were stocked separately at the rate of 1 200 kg/ha.
Breeding technique: The breeding had been carried out in a cement tank of 5 m long, 3 m wide and 1 m deep. The tank was cleaned and treated with NaCl by spreading over the bottom to control parasites and disease-causing organisms, and was filled with water to the level of about 50 cm deep. The breeders were collected in the early morning and were kept in the breeding tank with continuous water flow. The hypophysed males and females were put together in the same tank.
Common carp: For common carp the breeding season is from early February to May. The methods used are the natural, semi-artificial and artificial breeding.
Natural breeding: This was carried out in a cement tank in which kakabans were placed. The males and females in 1:2 ratio were released in the tank in the evening. The fish spawned in the early morning. The eggs scattered on the kakabans were then transferred to the hatching pond with 30–50 cm deep water.
Semi-artificial breeding: This type of breeding was conducted in cement tanks with kakabans. In order to stimulate the spawning, pituitary gland solution was injected, the detailed technique of which is explained below (Artificial breeding). About 10–12 h after injection the breeders spawned and scattered their eggs on the kakabans.
Artificial breeding: The males, from which milt could be pressed out by applying gentle pressure with fingers on the hind part of the belly, were selected for hypophysation. The females with extended belly and with swollen, protruding and reddish genital opening were selected. The amount of pituitary extract injected depended on the condition of the breeder. Normally, the females were injected 2–3.5 mg/kg of pituitary extract, and the males were given only 1 mg/kg of pituitary extract. The solution used was 0.7 percent common salt solution at the rate of 1 ml for each gland (2–3.5 mg). About 10–12 h after injection, the eggs were stripped. The milt collected from the males was poured over the eggs. The mixture was stirred immediately with a feather. To prevent the eggs sticking together, an equal volume of fertilizing solution was added to the eggs and the mixture was stirred for 5–10 min. The fertilizing solution (carbamide solution) was prepared by dissolving 30 g carbamide and 40 g common salt in 10 l of clean pond water. The eggs were washed 2 or 3 times with fertilizing solution. This process took 1 ½ h during which time the eggs were kept in motion by stirring the solution at regular intervals. The fertilized eggs without sticky layers were then transferred to incubators.
All Chinese carps were bred artificially by hypophysation. Matured females with puffy belly, protruding genital aperture with reddish-pink colour, were selected for hypophysation The males, dripping milt when gently pressed against their belly, were selected for hypophysation.
Each female was given two injections of pituitary extracts, the doses being 1–3 mg/kg and 3–4 mg/kg for the first and second injection respectively. The grass carp, in most instances, spawned after the first injection. The second injection was usually administered 6–8 h after the first injection. The females were stripped 4–6 h after the second injection. The males were given only one injection at the time the females received their second injection. The males received a dose of 1–3 mg/kg of body weight.
Milt was added to the eggs and they were thoroughly mixed by stirring with a feather. The fertilized eggs were washed 2–3 times with water and were then transferred to incubators.
Incubation: The fertilized eggs were incubated in either incubator jars or sieve-cloth funnels (made of nylon sieve-cloth), which were placed in the cement hatching tanks. A continuous gentle flow of water was maintained. The fertilized eggs hatched after about 24 h of incubation.
Nursing fry: Two days after hatching the larvae became fry. The fry were fed with fine particles of boiled egg-yolk for about 2–3 days. When the fry were five days old they were transferred from incubators to hapas made of fine nylon cloth, and fixed inside cement tanks with continuous flow of water. Here the fry were fed with boiled egg yolk mixed with wheat flour. When they were 10 days old, the fry were removed to a nursery pond with an area of 0.15 ha. Because of scarcity of water only one pond was used for rearing fry. Wheat flour mixed with soybean flour in 5:50 ratio was used to feed the fry.
Rearing fingerlings: After nursing for 10–15 days in the nursery pond the fry measuring 1–2 cm were transferred to the fingerling rearing pond with an area of 0.5 ha. The pond was fertilized at the rate of 20 kg/ha/week to maintain a good growth of natural food. The fry were also given wheat flour as supplementary feed. In this case also because of insufficient water supply the fry were reared in one pond only. When the fingerlings grew to 3–5 cm length, they were distributed to the fish farmers.
Fish fingerling production in the Bhairawa Fishery Development Centre is as follows. The table below shows the planned production target and production of fingerling achieved at the Centre since 1975.
| 1975/76 | 1976/77 | 1977/78 | 1978/79 | |
| Target | 500 000 | 500 000 | 1 300 000 | 1 300 000 |
| Production | 584 000 | 310 000 | 500 000 | 1 117 000 |
| Fingerlings distributed to the farmers are as follows: | ||||
| District | 1975/76 | 1976/77 | 1977/78 | 1978/79 |
| Rupandehi | 131 821 | 170 293 | 176 436 | 287 237 |
| Nowal parasi | 80 000 | 158 330 | 101 020 | 144 769 |
| Kapilvastu | 151 200 | 110 100 | 43 930 | 55 409 |
| Gulmi | - | 100 | - | - |
| Palpa | 1 000 | 11 329 | 8 706 | 21 475 |
| Aarghakhanchi | - | 2 000 | 5 400 | 34 000 |
| Baglung | 4 000 | 500 | - | 200 |
| Pokhara Fish Farm | 203 390 | - | - | 148 500 |
| Chitawan | - | 200 | - | - |
| Makwanpur | 99 700 | - | - | - |
| Dangdewkhuri | 12 300 | 400 | - | 9 214 |
| Banke | - | 400 | 200 | - |
| Kanchanpur | 1 500 | - | - | - |
| Bharat | - | - | - | 4 000 |
The main problem was the scarcity of water during the breeding season from April to July 1979. This was further aggravated by the high water temperature ranging from 40° to 45°C in the daytime, causing substantial loss of water by evaporation. Water loss by seepage also contributed to the problem of water shortage. As a result, fingerling survival rate in ponds was very poor and little more than 1 million fingerlings were produced during the breeding season of 1979.
It was originally planned to establish demonstration farms of integrated fish-cum-livestock farming in ponds owned by farmers in villages under various districts in the Lumbini Zone. It was expected that the Government would subsidize the cost of modifying the ponds for this purpose. However, following the Government's decision not to subsidize the cost of pond modification and because of the farmer's reluctance to invest money in ventures totally new to them, it was decided to carry out integrated fish-cum-livestock farming in the ponds of the Bhairawa Fishery Development Centre. Moreover, it was decided that the farmers would be instructed in integrated fish-cum-livestock farming through in-service training at the Government farm in Bhairawa.
Three ponds of B-series (B 16 and B 18), each with a surface area of 0.14 ha and a depth of 0.9 m, were used for fish-cum-pig rearing experiment/demonstration. One pigstall of 5 × 5 m size was constructed for each pond. The pigstall was constructed on the inner edge of a bank of each pond, with the floor of the pigstall gently sloping into the pond water. The floor was built with wood planks, the roof with G.I. corrugated sheets and the walls with thick wood planks fitted with 12 cm gaps in between, allowing good ventilation.
The pigstalls on ponds B 16, B 17 and B 18 were stocked with piglets of average weight of 7.55 kg, 13.5 kg and 20.3 kg, respectively. The pigstalls on ponds B 16, B 17 and B 18 were stocked with 10, 10 and 12 piglets, respectively. They were fed with a mixture of wheat bran, rice bran, mustard oil cake, etc. They were also fed with unlimited quantities of fresh grass every day.
The leftover food and pig wastes on the floor were washed down into the pond every day. The experiments/demonstrations were started on 20 August 1979 and were terminated on 30 January 1980. The results are shown in the table below:
| Pond | Number | Weight (kg) | Production (kg) | Food used (kg) | Food conversion | |||
| At stocking | At harvest | |||||||
| Total | Average | Total | Average | |||||
| B 16 | 10 | 75.5 | 7.55 | 444 | 44.4 | 368.5 | 1 380 | 3.74 |
| B 17 | 10 | 135.0 | 13.5 | 697 | 69.7 | 562.0 | 2 468 | 4.39 |
| B 18 | 12 | 244.0 | 20.3 | 920 | 92.0 | 676.0 | 2 971 | 4.40 |
| Total | 32 | 454.5 | 14.20 | 2 061 | 64.4 | 1 606.5 | 6 819 | 4.24 |
Stocking fish: The ponds B 16, B 17 and B 18 were stocked with Chinese carps and common carp. As sufficient fingerlings of the same size group were not available, the ponds had to be stocked with fish of different size groups. Ponds B 16, B 17 and B 18 were stocked with Chinese carps of size groups 5–30 g, 50–100 g and 100–250 g, respectively. The grass carps used in all the three ponds were of average weight of 80 g. No chemical fertilizers were used in these ponds. The pig wastes and leftover food from the pigstalls were washed down into the pond daily. The experiments were started on 21 September 1979 and were terminated on 30 January 1980, allowing a grow-out period of 142 days. The results of the experiments are shown in the tables below:
Pond B 16
| Species | At stocking | At harvest | ||||
| Number | Weight | Number | Weight | |||
| Total (kg) | Average (g) | Total (kg) | Average (g) | |||
| Silver carp | 60 | 1.38 | 23 | 57 | 21.20 | 372 |
| Bighead carp | 30 | 0.78 | 26 | 26 | 9.90 | 381 |
| Grass carp | 180 | 1.62 | 9 | 180 | 21.00 | 167 |
| Common carp | 130 | 13.65 | 105 | 123 | 65.85 | 535 |
| Total | 400 | 17.43 | 386 | 117.95 | ||
The weight gain was 100.52 kg or 718.00 kg/ha or 1 845.56 kg/ha/yr and the survival rate was 96.5 percent. The water colour was not as green as it should have been. The growth of silver and bighead carp was not very satisfactory; however, the common carp grew rapidly.
Pond B 17
| Species | At stocking | At harvest | ||||
| Number | Weight | Number | Weight | |||
| Total (kg) | Average (g) | Total (kg) | Average (g) | |||
| Silver carp | 80 | 8.00 | 100 | 70 | 31.60 | 451 |
| Bighead carp | 80 | 6.64 | 83 | 80 | 31.80 | 398 |
| Grass carp | 30 | 2.25 | 75 | 28 | 12.10 | 432 |
| Common carp | 260 | 22.10 | 85 | 250 | 76.00 | 299 |
| Total | 450 | 38.99 | 432 | 151.50 | ||
The weight gain was 112.51 kg or 803.57 kg/ha or 2 065.51 kg/ha/yr and the survival rate was 96 percent. The water in this pond was found to be very turbid. This was mainly due to the heavy stocking rate of common carp, and also common carp did not grow well.
Pond B 18
| Species | At stocking | At harvest | ||||
| Number | Weight | Number | Weight | |||
| Total (kg) | Average (g) | Total (kg) | Average (g) | |||
| Silver carp | 120 | 25.80 | 215 | 112 | 68.60 | 613 |
| Bighead carp | 80 | 15.60 | 195 | 78 | 37.00 | 474 |
| Grass carp | 60 | 4.80 | 80 | 56 | 16.90 | 302 |
| Common carp | 110 | 17.60 | 160 | 106 | 74.40 | 702 |
| Total | 370 | 63.80 | 352 | 196.90 | ||
In this pond the fish stocked were of biggest size, and the pigs stocked were also bigger than those used in other ponds. There were 12 pigs with average weight of 20.3 kg.
The weight gain of fish was 133.10 kg or 950.71 kg/ha or 2 443.34 kg/ha/yr. The survival rate was 95.14 percent. Phytoplankton bloom was very good. The water colour was greener than the other two ponds. Common, silver and bighead carps in this pond grew best in comparison with the fish of these species in other ponds.
These experiments were carried out in the winter, when the low water temperature was not very favourable to fish growth. Experiments of this kind, if carried out in the summer, are expected to result in better growth rates and higher production. If fish were farmed all year round, better production figures (kg/ha/yr) than those resulted from the above experiments could be expected.
The pond B 15, having an area of 0.14 ha, was used by a preliminary experiment/demonstration on fish-cum-duck culture. A duck house measuring 5 × 5 m was built on the water along the bank of the pond. The floor of the duck house was made of wood and the roof was covered by G.I. corrugated sheets. The door of the duck house led to a ladder connecting the duck house with the water in the pond. This ladder helped the ducks to climb in and out of the house. To prevent ducks from escaping from the pond, a bamboo enclosure of about 50 cm high was fitted along the waterline in the pond. The ducks, therefore, spent their time either in the duck house or in the pond, thus ensuring that the ducks released their excreta directly in the pond water or on the floor of the duck house. The excreta from the floor of the duck house was daily swept into the pond.
As the required number of suitable size (200–400 g) ducklings were not available, grown ducks of 2 kg average weight were used for this preliminary experiment/demonstration. The pond was stocked with 300 bighead carp, 50 grass carp and 50 common carp of average weight 48 g. The experiment was carried out for a period of 3 months. Encouraged by the preliminary results, proper fish-cum-duck culture experiment/demonstration has been started.
Physical facilities available at this centre are as follows:
a boatyard equipped with wood working machinery and tools, a duck incubation house with two incubators, a duck house for layers and a duck nursery, a limnological and biological laboratory with equipment, an office as part of the laboratory building, a chill room, two officers' quarters, a generator house with two generators (7.5 and 4.5 kVA), a pump house, six ponds
The staff included a manager (Fishery Development Officer) who is assisted by three Assistant Fishery Development Officers, a boatbuilder, and four junior technicians. In addition, there are junior technicians and administrative support staff.
Cage culture of fish was initiated in 1975 under this project. Experiments/demonstrations were carried out in Lakes Phewa and Begnas. Following successful in-service training and with loan from the Agriculture Development Bank, the fishermen bought cages. The project provided fingerlings and technical assistance. To date, there are 63 cages owned by fishermen which are used for culturing fish in the lakes in the Pokhara valley. The distribution of cages in the lakes is given below.
Number of cages
| Lake | 1978 | 1979 | Total |
| Phewa | 7 | 17 | 25 |
| Begnas | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| Rupa | 1 | 27 | 28 |
| Total | 13 | 50 | 63 |
This project's involvement in cage culture ended in March 1980 with the departure of the Associate Expert on completion of his assignment. Cage culture in the lakes of the Pokhara valley has been successful and the results are reported by Pillai and Sollows (1980)1.
1 Pillai, T.G. and J.D. Sollows, Cage culture in Nepal. Rome, FAO, FI:DP/NEP/73/025/8:28 p. 1980
The objective was to set up and operate a boatbuilding workshop to introduce boats of improved design among fishermen and for purposes of tourism and train local carpenters in the construction of such boats.
To date, the total number of boats constructed from the boatyard is as follows:
| 1978 | 1979 | Size (m) |
| 5 | 5 | 3.2–3.5 |
| 4 | 4 | 4.1–4.9 |
| 34 | 40 | 5.1–5.5 |
| 8 | 14 | 7.3 |
| 51 | 63 |
The most favoured size of boats is in the size range of 5.5–7.3 m.
The project carried out in-service training in Bhairawa Fish Farm in various aspects of fish culture with special emphasis on site selection, construction of ponds, repair and maintenance of ponds, principle of fish culture including polyculture, monoculture, integrated fish culture farming (fish-cum-livestock, fish-cum-vegetable and fish-cum-paddy), the methods of nursing fry and fingerlings, artificial breeding, pond management, food and feeding, etc. Sixteen US volunteers and 61 farmers from various villages received training for 21 days.
All new cage owners were given 15 days of in-service training. The old cage owners also received 10 days of in-service training. The training course included cage-making, repairing and maintenance of cage, food and feeding, manipulation of stocking rates, etc.
In 1979, one fisheries officer from Heatuada Fishery Development Centre and one junior technician from Pokhara Fishery Development Centre were sent to Thailand for training in duck-raising for a period of 3 m/m each.
The chiefs of Pokhara and Bhairawa Fishery Development Centres have been nominated to visit the People's Republic of China for 3 m/m each on an observation tour. One junior engineer has also been nominated to undergo training in China in aquaculture engineering for 3 m/m.
One assistant to the Fishery Development Officer has been nominated for training through an observation tour in cage-fish culture for 6 m/m.
