AGRICULTURE REPORT - How to Become a Fish Farmer

AGRICULTURE REPORT - How to Become a Fish Farmer
By Gary Garriott

Broadcast: Tuesday, November 02, 2004

This is Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Aquaculture can supply protein-rich foods by simple methods and low-cost equipment. Aquaculture is the production of food from animals and plants that live in water.

One popular environment for aquaculture is a small pond surrounded by land, away from the ocean. Fish such as carp and tilapia are produced in this way.

Twenty-five percent of the pond should be deeper than everywhere else. Auburn University Professor David Bayne says the deepest areas should be no more than two meters deep. Everywhere else should be no less than one meter deep.

You can plant grass on the bottom. But remove all trees and bushes¹ from the bottom and sides, in order to keep the level of oxygen high enough for the fish.

You should also remove all rocks. And you should remove all trees within nine meters of the edge² of the pond. This is so leaves will not fall in. Leaves can use up a lot of the oxygen.

You can feed the fish many kinds of foods. These include cassava, sweet potatoes, banana and maize³. Other foods include coffee and wastes from fruit-processing factories. Feed the fish only as much as they can eat in one day.

Aquaculture requires good quality water, and you must know how much is available at all times.

One way to make a pond is to build a dam along a waterway in a small valley. Another way is to build up dirt all the way around an area above ground. If you dig⁴ a hole, it will be hard to drain⁵.

Professor Bayne says you should put a pipe at the bottom of the deepest part of the pond. This pipe goes through the dam or the dirt and comes out at the surface. The pipe should be big enough to empty the pond in what Professor Bayne calls a reasonably short period of time.

You can harvest the fish by letting some of the water escape from the pipe. Then the larger fish can be caught by hand or with nets. There should be enough water left for the fish that remain in the pond. Fish can also be harvested with nets from the top of the pond.

You can harvest the fish at any time, but it is best done in cool weather. If necessary, the pond can also be dried out at this time to fix any problems.

You can get more information about aquaculture from Volunteers in Technical Assistance⁶. This group is on the Web⁷ www.vita.org.

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Gary Garriott. This is Gwen Outen.

1 bushes   

n.灌木（丛）( bush的名词复数 )；[机械学]（金属）衬套；[电学]（绝缘）套管；类似灌木的东西（尤指浓密的毛发或皮毛）

参考例句：

• There was someone skulking behind the bushes. 有人藏在灌木后面。
• The boy chased his sister in and out among the bushes. 那个男孩在灌木丛里跟着他姐姐追过来追过去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 edge   

n.边(缘)；刃；优势；v.侧着移动，徐徐移动

参考例句：

• Sight along the edge to see if it's straight.顺着边目测，看看直不直。
• She lived on the extreme edge of the forest.她住在森林的最边缘。

3 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

4 dig   

v.挖（洞，沟等）；掘

参考例句：

• It is difficult to dig the ground when it is frozen.地面冻住了就不易挖掘。
• In those days we often went to dig for wild vegetables.那时候我们常常出去挖野菜。

5 drain   

n.排水沟，阴沟；消耗，负担；v.排去，放干

参考例句：

• Drain off the rest of the wine from this barrel.把桶里剩余的酒排出去。
• First,you have to drain the container of all the old oil.首先，你得从油箱中把所有的陈油都抽去。

6 assistance   

n.援助，帮助

参考例句：

• She called and called but no one came to her assistance.她叫了又叫，但没有人来帮。
• He will get the great possible assistance.他将获得尽可能大的帮助。

7 web   

n.网，蛛丝，蹼，织物，圈套，卷筒纸；vi.生蹼，形成网；vt.织蜘蛛网于，使落入圈套

参考例句：

• The spider weaves a web.蜘蛛织网。
• You mean the World Wide Web?你是说国际互联网？