PEN AND CAGE FISH CULTURE IN GHANA

The Savannah Young Farmers Network (SavaNet) in its quest to promote and support the youth in taking to Agriculture as a business and a sustainable livelihood, provides Agricultural Advisory Service and Agribusiness development training on fish farming to many young people in Ghana.

This initiative by SavaNet is geared towards equipping interested youth with the requisite technical skills and knowledge on fish farming to enable them create decent jobs, as they contribute in addressing the annual fish production deficit in Ghana.

The engagement of the youth in fish farming will also support the country in increasing its per capita consumption of fish as well as increasing the contribution of the fisheries sub-sector to Ghana’s GDP.

The per capita consumption of fish in Ghana is estimated
at 25 kg per annum

Pen and cage fish culture remains essential in inland fish production as these systems offers the youth a convenient way of engaging in commercial fish production.

Pens can be constructed with frameworks of wood, bamboo, metal, etc, on which netting or other fencing materials are stretched to form an enclosure.

 The netting is fixed to the bottom of the water to prevent fish from swimming under it. This can be done by using pegs or sand bags.

The mesh of net used for the pen should be small enough to prevent the fingerlings from escaping. The framework of cages can be made from readily available construction materials such as PVC pipes, wood, steel, bamboo, nets, drums, polystyrene floats etc. The cage units should be built to withstand prevailing winds and waves in the water.

Pen Culture: It is the system of culturing fish within a fixed net enclosure either at the bank or in a water body. The bed of the water body serves as the bottom of the pen.

Good water exchange is essential in both pen and cage culture to ensure a replenishment of oxygen and flash away waste. In this regard, pens should be placed in such a way that flow of water through them is enhanced, while cages should have sufficient space between their bottom and the bottom of the water body.

The Advantages of Pen/Cane Culture are:

1. Existing water bodies can be used.

2. Lower capital cost compared with land-based fish culture.

3. Easier stock management and monitoring compared to pond culture.

4. Growth of fish in pens and cages is faster than in ponds.

The most popular pen and cage culture species in Ghana has been Tilapia, however other species such as Catfish, Carp Heterotis, etc could be stocked in cages.

Stocking rates in pens and cages depend on the fish species and the carrying capacity of the water body. 

Tilapia can be stocked in pens at the rate of 30-50 fingerlings per m³. It is advisable to fix the netting so that the meshes open horizontally rather than vertical.

Cage culture: It is the system of culturing fish within floating net enclosures, with each supported by a framework in water bodies such as borrow pits, rivers, streams, reservoirs or lakes. Cages could be rectangular, square or circular in surface area.

Culture periods depend mainly on water quality, the type of species, and quality of feed. For tilapia and catfish the culture period is between 6 and 10 months.

Pens and cages attract predators like birds, crocodiles, predatory fish, mammals, Poaching, etc. Measures should therefore be put in place to address these challenges in order to control losses in both pan and cage systems of fish production.

 Fish cage culture

The establishment of any cage culture facility in Ghana requires a permit which is a legal requirement. Furthermore, an Environmental impact assessment may be required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Ghana.

The Savannah Young Farmers Network (SavaNet) therefore recommends pen and cage fish culture to the youth as these systems provides several opportunities in the creation of decent jobs, the establishment of viable Agribusiness ventures etc which will contribute in curtailing the surging level of youth unemployment in Ghana.