There are losses attributed to every business and fish farming isn’t an exception. A major outbreak of disease or bacteria can result in a great loss on a fish farm.
There are challenges faced by every business but the fish farming business has its own peculiar challenges.
Challenges in the fish farming business
Despite the risks involved in businesses, it doesn’t stop individuals from indulging in one or two businesses. Of course, man needs to survive. The only solution is to identify those challenges early and avoid their occurrence.
Here we’ll look at the challenges or risks in fish farming.
Pure risks
These are risks that are attributed to unforeseen circumstances. There are a lot of them like thefts, disease outbreaks, climatic changes, etc. we’ll look extensively at each of them.
Theft
We’re not so sure when a theft would occur, and this results in a massive loss depending on the extent of the robbery operation.
These thieves can just deep hands into the aquatic homes of these fishes and steal as many as they can, contaminating the water for the fishes. This incurs losses to the fish farm.
To avoid the occurrence of this risk, you should try to secure the fish farm. Get a security CCTV and mount them around the fish farm to detect unnecessary movement on the farm both at night and during the day.
Adopt other necessary security measures to prevent the risk of robbery and theft on the farm.
Outbreak of Diseases
Remember the outbreak of bird flu and how it affected birds and in rare cases affected humans, this is how it’ll be in the case of fish.
Diseases like Columnaris, gill disease, ick (ich), dropsy, tail and fin-rot, fungal infections, white spot disease, pop-eye, etc. are common among fishes.
At the outbreak of any of these diseases, there’s a great probability of losing the whole fish to the disease.
This is why you need the services of an Ichthyologist to constantly vaccinate your fish against any disease outbreak and detect any change in their health.
Climatic changes
Climatic changes like flooding, drought, and leakage of pipes can greatly incur losses to your fish farm. These factors can’t be detected nor prevented.
Flooding washes off the fingerlings from their beds and also their feeds. This incurs a lot of loss to the fish farm.
Drought robs the fishes of their natural habitat and then they die off over time. Not to talk of the washing of silts into the water sources.
This silt prevents the entry of sun rays and causes turbidity. All of these affect their reproduction and living. This is basically for farmers that rear fish in a pool or river.
A solution to this is building a convenient seabed for your fishes. Have another source of water aside from the natural water sources.
Business Risks
These risks directly affect the process of fish production and all other commercial activities in fish farming. We have a number of them listed below.
Faulty equipment
Water Pumps, Seine Reels, Fish Feeding Machine, Buckets and Tubs, Aerators/Air Pump, etc are the equipment used in fish farming. Faultiness of the water pumps, feeding machines, and all other machine-like equipment, can result in the death of fish.
To avoid this, ensure every machine equipment is in good condition and constantly serviced to avoid its breakdown in duty.
Lack of experience and technicality
We have several inexperienced fish farmers in town now. They end up mishandling the fishes and worse still if they’re employed, bring ruin to the farm.
Ensure you or your workers get the necessary training in fish farming. This way, you learn the skill involved in successful fish farming.
Cost of feeds and vaccines
Their feeds and vaccines are pretty expensive and with the economic crises, it’s a thing. Your fishes are at risk of malnutrition and open to disease outbreaks.
This affects the production of these fishes, and they end up malnourished and sometimes die off.
Before starting a fish farm, set aside some running capital to fend for their feeds and vaccines. This way, your fish would be healthy.
In conclusion, these risks are prone to happen but can be avoided or controlled, and you have healthy fish on your farm.
