IMPROVED LIVE FISH PRESERVATION USING CAGES

摘要

Lake Turkana fish supply chain lacks cooling facilities for fresh fish preservation. The ambient air temperatures may rise up to 46 °C while surface water temperature may reach 32 °C. In a bid to maintain the quality of fresh fish, fishers have beenpreserving live fish by tying them on a string and immersing them in the lake water. The use of the string was found to be a very inappropriate method for preserving live fish in water since it causes stress to the fish, leads to low flesh quality and high mortality, resulting in income loss. This study's objective was to design, test and adapt an appropriate live fish storage cage to reduce stress on fish, enhance fish quality and reduce fish mortality. The study used a specially built metal cage to preserve live fish after removal from the gillnet. The cage was immersed in the water and mortality was monitored and recorded for at least 14 hours. The mortality rate of fish preserved in the special cage under water compared to that of fish preserved on a string was reduced from 15% to less than 1%. Normally dead fish are not packed for marketing purposes but are consumed locally or processed by sun drying. The market price of sun dried fish compared to the fresh one is about 50% lower. The special cage therefore improves the income of the fisher by a margin of more than 10%.