Geospatial Mapping of Fisheries Profile of West Bengal of India through GIS

In the age of information and technological advancements, location-awareness is becoming a key feature in management of natural resources. Geospatial mapping is a location based study and is a part of intelligence GIS which is expected to be useful tool for fisheries scientists, aquatic resource managers and policy planners in developing and planning strategies for fisheries resources of the country. In this context, a study was performed where mapping of fisheries profile of West Bengal was carried out using GIS tool having critical geographic dimensions. For this purpose, at the core of the system fisheries data of West Bengal were accessed and integrated from different sources at district level. Data were tabulated using Microsoft Excel and then joined to digitize Map of West Bengal to enable mapping using Arc info 9.3 GIS software. This was further synchronized and integrated to generate four thematic maps based on different criteria. The map dealing with fisher folk population and their occupation contains the searchable criteria as regards to the fishermen population as well as their classified categories according to their occupation. The map dealing with West Bengal fish production contains fish production, fish seed production district-wise and growth rate for 2004-2008. The third map contains district-wise water resources and reservoir areas along with brackish water. With this mapped information, planners and various stakeholders will have readily accessible district level data on various components of fisheries of West Bengal, thereby facilitating better planning, management and development of the fisheries sector.

Production of Interleukin 2 like Growth Factor from the Mitogen Activated Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes of Indian Major Carp, Labeo rohita

Optimum conditions for in vitro production of interleukin 2 （IL 2） like activity from the Peripheral blood lymphocytes （PBL） of an Indian major carp, Labeo rohita were studied. Culture supernatants were generated by culturing the PBL in RPMI-1640 media supplemented with Glutamine and 10% fetal bovine serum （FBS） and stimulating with two different mitogens： concanavalin A （Con A） and Phytohaemagglutinin （PHA） at different concentrations separately. Significantly （P 〈 0.01） higher proliferation response was obtained from the culture supematant stimulated with concanavalin A （Con A） at a concentration of 10 lag mLl. The effect of phorbol myristate acetate （PMA） was also studied by co-stimulating PBL with Con A and PHA separately and it was found to synergistically enhancing the stimulation index with Con A whereas the stimulation index remain unchanged with PHA. The Con A （10 μg mLl） stimulated PBL were also cultured at different cell density, incubation period and incubation temperature in order to optimize the in vitro L. rohita IL2 production. The IL2 like activity was studied by lymphocyte proliferation assay on 72 h Con A blasts using WST based assay technique. Significantly （P 〈 0.01） higher stimulation indices were obtained when the PBL were cultured at a cell density of 1 × 10^6 cells mL^-1 for 30-36 h at an incubation temperature of 30 ℃. The IL2 like activity was purified by DEAE-Sepharose anion exchange chromatography and recorded between 70-130 mM NaCI with peak activity at 110 Mm NaCI. The molecular weight of the factor responsible for IL2 like activity was found to be 15-17 KD.