EC Veterinary Science

Inland open water fisheries provide an important source of food and livelihood for coastal people. As a result, they adopt several techniques to catch fishes. Zag fishing is one of the native techniques to use for capture indigenous species and mostly responsible for declination of inland open water fishes. Zag fishing is an aggregating device for attracting fish, usually made with branches of bushy trees like hizole (Barringtonia acutangula), gamboling (Diospyros peregrina), babla (Acacia sp.), shewra (Sterbulus sp.), black berry (Syzygium cumini), jarul (Lagerstroemia speciosa), gab (Diospyros peregrine) and tamarind (Tamarindus indica) and are usually constructed when water begins to recede. The whole zag is supported by bamboo poles fixed around it to prevent downstream drifting of tree branches by water current. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and sometimes Helencha (Enhydra fluctuans) are used to cover the surface. Bamboo pole with 20 - 25 hand long and branches of bushy trees with 8 - 10 hand long are the essential materials for zag construction.