12. HARVESTING YOUR POND

(306) Do not take any fish out of your pond during the first five months. After five months you may catch a few big fish each week to eat with your family.

(307) When most of the fish are big enough it is time to harvest all of them. Usually, they will be big enough to harvest in about six months.

(308) Harvest the fish early in the morning when it is cool.

(309) Have some watertight containers ready to store live fish.

 

(310) The easiest way to harvest is by draining the water out of the pond.

     

(311) But there are several ways to harvest your fish. You can harvest them

  • Without draining the water
  • by draining part of the water
  • by draining all of the water.
   (312) Here are some things that you should know about these different ways of harvesting your fish.


HARVESTING WITHOUT DRAINING THE WATER

(313) If you do not have enough water to fill your pond again and you want to harvest only part of your fish, you can use a seine net to gather them without draining the water.  
   

(314) A seine net with a mesh of 3 to 3.5 centimetres will catch the biggest fish and allow the small fish to escape through the net.

0314-01.gif (35873 byte)

(315) You will need several people to harvest with a seine net. Perhaps your family can help you. Perhaps you can ask your neighbours for help, and later help them with their work or give them some fish to pay them for their help.





(316) Start at the deep end of the pond and pull the seine net slowly toward the shallow end. The drawing shows you how.

0316-01.gif (18549 byte)

(317) You can also use a cast net or a lift net to harvest some of the fish from your pond without draining the water.

0317-01.gif (26657 byte)

(318) With a cast net or a lift net, it is easier to catch the fish while they are eating and they are all together. Keep the biggest fish and put the smaller fish back into the pond.  


HARVESTING BY DRAINING PART OF THE WATER

(319) If you have only enough water to fill part of your pond, do not drain out all of the water. Drain only part of it.  

320) Pull the wood plug closing the outlet, or if you are using a siphon put the siphon in place, and begin to let the water out.

(321) Let half the water flow out through the outlet or siphon. Then put the plug back in the outlet or remove the siphon.

     

(322) Now you can begin to harvest your fish with a seine net. Do it the same way as you did in item 316. If you have a seine net with a mesh size of less than 1 centimetre, you will be able to catch all of your fish.

  

0322-01.gif (36050 byte)

     
(323) Take all the big fish and put the small fish back. If you have too many baby fish, items 340 to 351 will tell you what to do with them.   (324) When you are finished harvesting, let water flow back into the pond until it reaches the level of the overflow.


HARVESTING BY DRAINING ALL OF THE WATER

(325) If you have enough good water to fill the pond again, it is best to drain all of the water. Then you will be sure to catch all of the fish and you can clean the bottom of your pond.

(326) While the pond is being drained, use baskets or hand-nets to take the fish out of the water. After all of the water has been drained from the pond, you may still find small pools here and there on the bottom. Be careful to gather all of the fish in the pools.

 

0326-01.gif (57900 byte)



HARVESTING FISH WHEN YOU HAVE A MONK

(327) If you have built a monk for the outlet of any of your ponds (see items 113 to 119), you can harvest your fish in two ways:

  • You can harvest inside your pond just in front of the monk.
  • You can harvest outside your pond after the fish have passed through the monk and the outlet pipe.

Harvesting inside the pond

(328) To harvest your fish inside the pond, remove the wooden boards from the monk one row at a time. Each time you remove a row of boards from the monk, be sure to put the screen back on top to keep your fish from getting out.

(329) When the water is partly drained from your pond, harvest part of the fish from the water just in front of the monk.

(330) When you are ready to harvest the rest of your fish, continue to take out the boards one by one. However, put back the screen each time until the pond is empty. When all of the water is out, you can harvest the remaining fish. First collect the baby fish and then collect the big fish.

Note: Muddy water is bad for baby fish. If you must walk in the water to collect the baby fish, let a little clean water flow through the pond to keep it from getting too muddy.





Harvesting outside the pond

(331) When you have a monk it is sometimes easier to harvest outside the pond, using a screened wooden box to collect the fish after they have passed through the monk.

 
   

(332) The drawings show you how to build a harvesting box, using strips of wood and screen. They also show how big it should be.

(333) When you are ready to harvest your fish, put the harvesting box in the outlet ditch outside your pond at the end of the pipe from the monk. Make sure that the pipe is well inside the harvesting box so that the fish will not get out.
   

(334) Now, take the screen out of your monk and remove the wooden boards one row at a time. The water will begin to flow out of your pond.

(335) Do not put back the screen. When the level of the water in your pond is low enough, the fish will begin to pass over the boards and through the monk to the harvesting box. When they are in the box, you can collect them easily.


HARVESTING MANY FISH

(336) With bigger ponds and more ponds, you will harvest many more fish. You must be sure, however, that you will be able to use, sell or preserve all of the fish that you harvest.

 

 

(337) If you will have too many fish to use, sell or preserve if you harvest all of them at the same time, harvest them at different times. You can harvest just a few of your fish on two or three different occasions.
     

(338) You can do this by draining part of the water from your pond and collecting only some of the fish on the first day you harvest. When you have used, sold or preserved these fish, you can harvest more of them.


 

(339) When you are ready to harvest the last of the fish, drain all of the water from the pond and harvest the remaining fish. First collect the baby fish for your nursery pond and then collect the big fish.



WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR BABY FISH

(340) When you harvest your pond, you may also catch baby fish that are too small to eat or to be sold at the market.

   
     

(341) If you have not built a nursery pond, you may need some of these baby fish to put back into the big pond you are harvesting, You may also be able to sell some to another fish farmer. But you must take good care of the baby fish until you are ready to use them or sell them.

 


(342) If you have another pond that is full of water, you can put these baby fish in a pen of split bamboo or net in the corner of the other pond. You can also keep these baby fish in a net pen or in a fish cage (see items 368 to 375 and 435 to 520).

(343) If you do not have another pond, you should keep the baby fish alive in a special small pond nearby until you are ready to use them.

(344) The small pond can be a simple hole in the ground about 3 by 3 metres and about 40 centimetres deep. You should have it ready before you begin to harvest.

 


(345) Your baby fish will stay alive longer if they are out of the sun. Build the small pond in the shade under a tree or put a shelter over it. You can build a simple shelter using bamboo or wood.

(346) Your baby fish will stay alive longer if they have fresh water. Build the small pond with an overflow and put the small pond near the ditch that brings water to your big pond. That way you can have fresh water running through your small pond.

(347) You can also let fresh water into your small pond with a small ditch or a siphon.


(348) Your baby fish will stay alive longer if you feed them a little food each day. Feed your baby fish termites or finely ground rice bran, cottonseed cake or groundnut cake when they are in the small pond.

 


(349) If you keep your baby fish in a small pond out of the sun in fresh water and if you feed them each day, they will stay alive for about five days. This is enough time to dry and clean and repair the bottom of your big pond, to fill it with water and begin to fertilize it and to put the baby fish back into your big pond.

(350) If you have built your own nursery pond, you will not need these baby fish (see items 231 to 252).

(351) If you have more baby fish than you can use or sell, you can dry them in the sun. After you have dried the baby fish, grind or pound them and mix them with crushed cottonseed or groundnut cake or with rice bran. You can use this mixture as feed for your big fish, your poultry or your pigs. You can also use the baby fish to fertilize your farm garden.

 



Summary

YOU HAVE LEARNED HOW TO HARVEST YOUR FISH

After 5 months, start taking out a few big fish each week
After 6 months, take more and more fish until they are completely harvested
Harvest only what can be eaten or sold within one day
Store harvested baby fish in a cage, a net or a small pond
Sell the fish or use them yourself as soon as possible
Choose your method of harvesting according to how much water is available and how many fish you want to take out:

  • don't drain any water; use a net (3-3.5 cm mesh for big fish)
  • drain part of the water and use a net
  • drain all the water; catch all the fish and clean the pond bottom
  • if you use a monk, you may harvest inside the pond near the monk or outside if you have a harvesting box