Ghana's fisheries sector comprises 485 fish species. The fish industry contributes to the nation's economy annually representing 4.5 % of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and twelve (12) % contributions to agriculture. There are several fish processing methods in Ghana such as smoking, salting, frying, sun-drying, freezing, and fermentation. Smoking is one of the common ways of preserving fish in large quantities. Wet hot smoking and dry hot smoking are the two forms of fish smoking which consist of three stages of smoking fish namely; cooking stage, drying stage and smoking stage. Predominately, the fish smoking industry is mainly dominated by women and young girls. Fish processing activities are done around and along the coastal waters and river banks. The technologies used in fish smoking in Ghana are improved types of conventional fish smoking ovens, chorkor smokers, oil drums and acceptance of upgraded smoking techniques. Usually, the fish species smoked are catfish, herring, mackerel, anchovy, and tuna. The smoked fish are stored in empty baskets line with brown papers and as well covered with brown papers. Women involved engaged in fish smoking face some challenges such as lack of formal education, unavailability of credits, low capital and prone to respiratory diseases. Also, the smoked fish are prone to microbial hazards and insect pest infestation. Moisture, food nutrient, pH and temperature affect growth in microorganisms in food (smoked fish). Fish smoking plays a vital role in poverty alleviation as women, and young girls depend on fisheries directly and indirectly for their livelihoods. Significantly, fish smoking reduce post-harvest losses. Also, few interventions have shown that fish smoking in Ghana has potential in improving the fisheries sector although there is limited summarized information regarding fish smoking in Ghana. The purpose of this review is to compile relevant information about the nature of fish smoking industry in Ghana.
Haematological indices are essential diagnostic tools used to evaluate the health status of fish. Many publications have been stated by different works that qualitative and quantitative variations in haematological parameters; for instance White Blood Cells (WBCs), Red Blood Cells (RBCs), Haematocrit (Hct), Haemoglobin (Hb) content, Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin Concentration (MCHC), Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin (MCH) and Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) in fish, offer an indication of the health status of the fish. The uses of probiotics as biological control agents in aquaculture have replaced the usage of chemotherapeutics, is an approach in the build-up in aquaculture environments. In the cultured fish, the use of probiotics in monospecies or multispecies forms has been reported to stimulate specific and non-specific immune parameters including lysozyme activities and phagocytic, expression of various cytokines as well as improvement of blood profiles of many fish increasing resistance diseases and to other environmental perturbations such as physiological stressors. Interestingly, many researchers have shown that haematological indices in fish continue to offer a valuable diagnostic tool; and progress is made in establishing a reasonable range of values for blood parameters of different fish species. Also, many interventions have shown that probiotics used in aquaculture have potential in improving blood profiles of fish; although there are not many summarised information regarding the effects of probiotics on haematological parameters in fish. The purpose of this review is to synthesise the influences of probiotics on haematological parameters in fisha.
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