An Assessment of the Impacts of Biosecurity Measures on Mortality of Fish from Fish Farms

Abstract

Fish mortality has a significant impact on fish production by lowering fish productivity, causing an economic loss to the farmers, and also has a cost in terms of reduced fish health, thereby limiting the growth of the enterprise. A cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the impact of biosecurity measures and risk factors on the mortality of fish from fish farms. A structured questionnaire that focused on socioeconomic information, management practice, health, disease, and biosecurity measures was administered to fish farmers. A total of eighty fish farmers were involved in this study. Most of the fish farmers were male (70.00%), had tertiary education qualifications (60.00%), and were between the ages of 41 and 50 (37.50%). They had been engaged in fish farming for about 1-3 years (48.75%) and they combined it with poultry production. Varying mortality rates were recorded on the farm and the recorded mortality was associated with management practices, disease, health, and biosecurity measures and they differed significantly at P≤0.05. Fish farmers' practices were generally not in accordance with biosecurity principles. Therefore, it is crucial to create and implement biosecurity measures to prevent, manage, and eliminate the mortality of fish in fish farms.