If you own a fish farm or harvest fish as a hobby, you always want to make sure you have the best resources to get the best outcome. Investing in good and advanced quality tools for harvesting fish is never a loss for a fish harvester.
To make sure you do not miss out on any of the top five fish harvesting tools, we will list them here for you. Give it a quick check. If you find tools that your farm or pond has been missing, take a look at its features and advantages, and make your decision whether to get them or not.
Here we go!
What is Fish Harvesting?
Let’s start by discussing what fish harvesting means. Harvesting fish refers to the number or weight of fish obtained by catching from a specific area over a particular period.
The method of harvesting fish includes reducing and concentrating the fish within a smaller area of water and breeding them captive until harvested. The purpose behind harvesting fish is usually business.
Fishes are harvested with higher yields and then sold in the market for public consumption. Generally, the environment of the fish farm where the fish is harvested is cleaner and safer, with high maintenance for better quality fish production.
Purposes Behind Using Different Types of Fish Harvesting Tools
Harvesting fish is a huge project. It requires tons of preparation. Thus, different types of tools are used throughout the process for several different purposes to carry out the operation with the best outcome.
Some of the key purposes behind using various fish harvesting tools are the following.
Hunting and Catching Fish
The most important part of harvesting is hunting and catching fish. It requires strategy, timing, and various types of tools. The most common type of tool for catching fish as harvest is fishing nets. However, there are different types and kinds among them too, each serving various purposes.
Weighing Fish
Weighing fish is one of the crucial parts of harvesting fish because it determines the yield of a harvest. There are specialized weighing scales used to measure the weight of the fish harvested at a time.
Processing Fish After Drawing
After the fish is harvested and weighed, it undergoes several processes before reaching the market so that the consumer gets the fish in the most preferable and cleanest condition. These processes include fish scaling, grading, preserving, and packaging for transportation.
Stocking Fish
Stocking is done by tipping buckets and tubs slowly and gradually into the water for the fish to swim inside them and then slowly lifting them. This process needs to be done slowly so that fish do not die out of shock. Moreover, the buckets and tubs should be appropriate for stocking with no sharp edges that might hurt the fish.
Monitoring and Managing Water Quality
It is essential to manage the quality of the water so that it is livable for the fishes along with maintaining their quality. However, monitoring and managing the water quality requires various tools and chemical cleaners that are helpful and harmless to the fish.
Repair and Maintenance
Everything has a maintenance cost. When you run a farm, you will have to spend a good amount before and after every harvest for the maintenance of the farm. This maintenance requires several types of tools.
5 Best Tools for Harvesting Fish
Now, let’s talk business. Below we are listing out the top five tools for harvesting fish that every harvester should have. Know that these are not enough for harvesting fish.
You will need various other tools along with these for different purposes of harvesting fish. If you are starting up a new fish farm, having prior experience and essential items for fishing will be helpful for you.
But make sure you have these five tools for starting up.
1. Fish Scalers
Even a person who does not harvest fish might be familiar with this tool because it is more like a kitchen tool for preparing fish before cooking.
The function of the fish scaler is to remove the scales on the body of the fish to create a smooth scale-free finish to attract consumers and make it easier for them to prepare the fish for cooking.
2. Fish Graders
Fish graders are used for grouping down and storing fishes according to their category, size, and weight. Food graders are usually like open plastic boxes or baskets that carry the fish inside them.
If you are starting new and have prior experience of fishing, you can use bait stations like Frabils Big Bad Bait Station in alternate to graders initially. But it would be better to switch to graders whenever as soon as possible.
3. Aerators
Proper aeration of water is very important for the development and survival of the fish community on the farm. Because in natural water bodies, aeration is formed due to the tidy of water. The rushing water from the streams or rivers creates a cool and oxygen-rich environment for the fishes to inhale properly.
In fish farms, this demand for dissolved oxygen is met with the help of aerators. So, these are crucial tools for maintaining a healthy stock and productive operation. There are different types of aerators. These are a few –
- Vertical Pump Aerators: These types of aerators are also known as impeller aerators. They are placed below the surface of the water and pump the water from the deep to churn and mix with oxygen from the air.
- Pump Sprayer Aerators: These aerators are quite similar to the vertical pump aerators, just with a single difference. The water here is not churned rather thrown upwards in the air like a fountain. The water sprayed into the air gets oxygenated and returns to the water surface.
- Propeller-Aspirator Pump Aerators: This aerator type is also called an ejector aerator. It sucks air into the water by pumping water through an empty pipe that reaches the surface, creating a vacuum. The mixture of air and water makes the water oxygen-rich when it returns.
- Paddle Wheel Aerators: Paddlewheel aerators are the most versatile type of aerator. It comes in different shapes, sizes, and designs but with the same working mechanism. It works when an engine rotates an axle with paddles moving out from it that mixes with water and adds oxygen to the pond.
- Diffused Air: These are also known as bubble aerators. This is the gentlest type of aerator. Unlike all other aerators, it does not move the water to the air, rather the air to the water surface. Here, the air gets pumped down through a diffuser and mixes with the water.
4. Net and Seine
Nets and Seines are the most important tools required for catching and hunting the fishes down. Different types of nets and seines are used to catch different sizes of fish at different times. Below are a few most helpful nets and seines for harvesting fish –
- Fingerling Seine: This is a well-meshed rectangular net about two to four meters long by one meter wide. It is used for catching fingerlings, milk fishes, and shrimp juveniles.
- Gill Net Seine: It is usually a nylon-made seine with a square mesh of 4 to 5 cm. It is about 1 and a half to 2 meters wide by 30 to 50 meters long. It is dragged from one end of the pond to the other to catch fish within it.
- Fingerling Suspension Net: This is the most standard form of fishing net. It is either rectangular or square and about 2 to 3 meters wide by 3 to 5 meters long.
- Cast Net: This type of net is very versatile and more useful to fishermen. However, in fish harvesting, this net type is used to collect the stock samples to monitor the growth, weight, and development of the fish.
- Lift Net: Lift nets are more like a sac with only a single open end. It is used for dipping into the pond and scooping out the fish. The length of the rod of the lift net is about 1 and a half to 2 meters long before bending.
5. Bamboo Screen Trap
The bamboo screen trap is like a thin layer on the surface of the pond to resist the invasion of any foreign organisms like birds or insects to rest on the surface of the water affecting the artificial ecosystem required for breeding the fishes.
These bamboo screen traps are placed horizontally over the pond with a thin, soft, and semi-transparent net-like material that remains hooked with perpendicularly positioned bamboo on the corners of the pond.
Final Words Did you figure out the tools you were missing out on in your fish farm? Great! We are happy to help you. Happy fish harvesting!
