Cage fish culture in lakes of Pokhara Valley, Nepal.

Abstract Pokhara valley is situated at the southwestern part of Kaski district in west Nepal. Although the valley is comprised of eight large and small lakes, cage culture is predominant in Begnas, Phewa and Rupa Lakes. A vulnerable fisher community known as pode or jalari living around the lakes of Pokhara Valley is among several ethnic groups whose livelihood is entirely dependent on fishing in these water bodies. A livelihood support programme for rehabilitation through creation of employment and income generation for this deprived community through subsistence cage aquaculture was initiated in 1972 in the lakes of the valley. Since then cage aquaculture has grown at a steady rate and at present 21,650 m3 of cages exist in these water bodies which produced an estimated 88.4 t of fish in 2004 to support the livelihoods of the 109 fisher families. Floating cages using four bamboo poles in a square as a float are popular in the fishers group. Mainly two species of carp are popular for culture in cages: bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis) and silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix). Occasionally, other species are also stocked with bighead and silver carp such as rohu (Labeo rohita) as a biological cleaning agent to reduce fouling of the cage. The grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) is also cultured in Lake Phewa on a small scale and is fed with grass. Average production of cages in Begnas, Phewa and Rupa Lakes is 3, 4.2 and 3.2 kg m-3 year-1, respectively.