The Asian seabass Lates calcarifer is a highly preferred foodfish in West Bengal, with a high meat content and commercial value compared to Indian major carps. Found in estuarine systems on the north-east and south-east coasts of the Bay of Bengal, Asian seabass is a hardy, euryhaline fish and suitable for culture in coastal marine, inland saline, brackishwater and freshwater ecosystems. During the past decade, Asian seabass has received greater attention and has been increasingly farmed commercially in modified-extensive systems in large freshwater impoundments (termed ‘mithen gheri’ in local dialect).

In this issue:

Collection of tubifex worms from the Adi Ganga canal, West Bengal as means of livelihood; Some facts for the grow-out culture of an endangered catfish, Clarias magur; The cryptic domain of gut microbiota in composite culture of Indian major carps; Integrated rice-fish farming in hilly terraces of the Apatani Plateau, Arunachal Pradesh.

Nutrient-laden canal water from Kolkata is the lifeline of two communities: Firstly the fish farmers beyond the eastern fringes of Kolkata who depend upon domestic sewage of the dry weather flow channel as a source of nutrients to sustain plankton production in fish ponds/wetlands; and secondly, the semi-poor city people, who harvest the tubifex worms (Tubifex tubifex) as a livelihood, from a stretch of derelict waterway named Adi Ganga. This article describes the practices of tubifex collectors and the market chain for the worms.

Rice-fish farming is a popular activity amongst the Apatani tribe of the Ziro valley, conducted in their wet rice terraces. The strains of fish cultured include mirror carp Cyprinus carpio specularis, scale carp C. carpio communis and leather carp C. carpio nudus, cultivated synchronously with local rice cultivars (Oryza sativa), viz. eamo, ampu, mipya, pyapu, pyaping and eylang. This article describes the integrated farming practices and socio-economic circumstances of the Apatani in the Yachuli, Hapoli, Hong, Hari, Hija, Bula, Dutta and Old Ziro villages.

FAO and NACA have signed an agreement to convene a global conference on aquaculture in 2020. This will be the fourth conference in a series that began at the dawn of the industry in Kyoto, 1976. Aquaculture 2020 will be held late in the year in China. Arrangements, programme and partner details will be announced via the NACA website in due course.