Vol. 8, Special Issue 8, Part B (2024)

Abstract: Indian fisheries are one of the important sectors in terms of its contribution to the national economy. Among the post harvest processing operations of fish, fish descaling is one of the important operation. Manual descaling process may sometimes cause bruising of fingers and palms of the fish workers leading to infections. All the process is done in an unhygienic way. To address these difficulties, a roller type fish descaling machine (FDM) was developed for the needs of small fish farmers and vendors of inland fisheries sector. FDM consists of scalp roller assembly with different kinds of rollers for conveying the fish and descaling it, shaper bracket assembly to hold the fish tightly against the rollers, electric motors, chain and sprocket assembly for power transmission and a supporting frame. Economic evaluation of the FDM was carried out with Rohu fish (Labeo rohita) for selected speed levels of conveyor and descaling rollers. The production cost of the machine was estimated about ₹ 2,05,000 with operational costs of ₹ 5.57 kg^-1. Considering ₹ 20 kg^-1 charged for descaling operation, the net profit that might be earned for descaling fish using the machine per year was found to be ₹ 2,31,763. Payback period calculated was 324 days with net returns per year as ₹ 93,663. The benefit cost ratio obtained was 1.36:1.