the fao aquaculture newsletter · inland water resources and aquaculture service, fisheries...

Inland Water Resources and Aquaculture Service, Fisheries Department, Food and Agriculture Organizationof the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome, 00100 Italy

Tel: 39-6-57054795 Fax: 39-6-57053020. E-mail: [email protected]

April 1998, No. 18

The FAO Aquaculture Newsletter

ISSN 1020-3443

CONTENTS

Trends in rice-fish farmingMatthias Halwart ......................................................................................................... 3

Bangkok FAO consultation recommendspolicies for sustainable shrimp cultureRolf Willmann ............................................................................................................... 12

Stocking inland waters of the Islamic Republic of IranDevin M. Bartley and K. Rana .....................................................................................16

Status of aquaculture in Latin America and the CaribbeanManuel Martinez and M. Pedini ..................................................................................20

Projects and other activitiesMario Pedini ................................................................................................................25

New FAO publicationsZiad Shehadeh .............................................................................................................29

Experimental rice-fish farming in the Philippines (courtesy of M. Halwartand kind permission of Margraf Verlag, Weikersheim, F.R. Germany)

FAO Aquaculture Newsletter, FAN2

The FAO Aquaculture Newsletter(FAN) is issued three times a yearby the Inland Water Resources andAquaculture Service, FisheryResources Division, of FAO’sFisheries Department, Rome, Italy.It presents articles and views fromthe FAO aquaculture programmeand discusses various aspects ofaquaculture as seen from theperspective of both Headquartersand the field programme. Articlesare contributed by FAO staff fromwithin and outside the FisheriesDepartment, from FAO regionaloffices and field projects, by FAOconsultants and, occasionally, byinvitation from other sources. TheFAN is distributed free of chargeto various institutions, scientists,planners and managers in MemberCountries and has a currentcirculation of about 3,000 copies.It is also available on the FAOinternet Home Page: http://www.fao.org/waicent/faoinfo/fishery/newslet/newslet.htm

Editor: Ziad H. ShehadehEditorial Board: Jiansan Jia,Mario Pedini, Albert Tacon,Izzat FeidiLayout and Production: SylvianeBorghesi.

EDITORIAL

Implementation of the Code of conduct for responsible fisheries:A shared responsibility

The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea provided therequired legal framework for improved fisheries management and UNCEDAgenda 21 completed this framework in the area of environmental conservation.FAO fostered their practical implementation through a transparent andparticipatory process, involving Member Nations and other stakeholders of thefisheries and aquaculture sectors, through the FAO Committee on Fisheries(COFI). The Organization collected the dispersed and closely related provisionsrelated to fisheries and aquaculture into a single and focused practical tool - theCode of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, which was adopted by the FAOCouncil in 1995.

The Code will promote and facilitate sound aquaculture and fisheriesmanagement and development and enhance fisheries governance. It will alsoprovide the Fisheries Department with a unique integrated frame, togetherwith the outcome of the World Food Summit, for its programme. At the regionallevel, fishery bodies have an important role to play in facilitating theimplementation of the Code, and for this reason, the draft FAO Strategy tosupport implementation that will be presented for consideration at the Twenty-third Session of COFI in 1999, underscores the importance of regional action.With respect to national implementation of the Code, governments have beenencouraged to work with other stakeholders to facilitate structural adjustmentsand change in the fisheries sector.

At the Twenty-second Session of COFI in 1997, the Code was addressed as asubstantive item. The Committee underlined the need to secure funding tosupport the implementation of the Code in developing countries, and formonitoring and reporting on its implementation. It also agreed that progressreports should be presented by FAO to the Committee at every session. Thereports would address achievements, progress and constraints in implementation.Governments and other stakeholders and interest groups would be requested toprovide information to FAO on progress with national implementation throughthe use of a questionnaire to be developed by the Secretariat. This informationwould then be incorporated into a consolidated report to the Committee.

The Secretariat has developed and field tested a questionnaire for this purpose.It consists of seven sections, each addressing a specific substantive article ofthe Code. It aims at obtaining simultaneously, quantitative and qualitativeinformation on key indicators of progress in the implementation of the Code.Information will be solicited both electronically, through E-mail and specialweb site, and by ordinary mail. Administration of the questionnaire will beundertaken from May through July 1998. FAO has established a site for theCode on the FAO Home Page on the web (http:\\www.fao.org\fi), which isupdated regularly, providing information on developments with the Code.

Monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the Code is a sharedresponsibility. The co-operation of governments in providing information forthe Code web site and in responding to the questionnaire will be highlyappreciated.

Benedict P. SatiaChief, International Institutions and Liaison Service (FIPL)

Policy and Planning Division,and

Secretary, Committee on Fisheries

No. 18, April 1998 3

BACKGROUND

Rice is grown in irrigated, rainfed lowland, flood-prone, and upland ecosystems. The irrigated riceecosystem, with approximately 81 million haworldwide, accounts only for 53% of the world’sharvested area of rice but produces 76% of the globalrice production. Of the remaining area 27% is rainfedlowland, 8% is flood-prone, and 12% is upland. In the1990s the world rice area has remained more or lessconstant at about 148 million ha. Almost 90% of thisarea is in Asia. India is the largest grower of rice with42.3 million ha followed by China with 33.0 millionha (Table 1). The irrigated rice environment issupposed to be the main contributor to the much neededfuture increase in production, but yields undercontinuous and intensive cropping conditions are eitherstagnating or declining.

As a result of development aid donors and governmentsfocus on sustainable rural development, food security,and poverty alleviation, rice-fish farming systems havereceived a great deal of attention in the recent past.Several reviews on historical, socio-economic, andecological aspects of rice-fish farming have beenpublished in the past decade with either a global or anational focus (Li, 1988; Fernando, 1993a; Halwart,1994a; MacKay, 1995; Choudhury, 1995; Little et al.,1996). Country overviews have been provided forBangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia,Philippines, Thailand, Viet Nam, and Madagascar (forAsian countries: dela Cruz et al., 1992; for Madagascar:Symoens and Micha, 1995). An extensive bibliographyon diverse aspects of fish culture in rice fields hasrecently been compiled by Fernando (1993b).

Rice-fish farming systems can be broadly classifiedas capture or culture systems depending on the originof the fish stock. In the capture system wild fish enterthe rice fields from adjacent water bodies andreproduce in the flooded fields. In contrast, rice fieldsare deliberately stocked with fish in the culture systemeither simultaneously or alternately with the rice crop.The rice fields may be used for the production offingerlings or table fish depending on the size of fishseed available for stocking, the duration of the fishculture period, and the market needs for fingerlings ortable fish.

Technical details of the few physical modifications(bunds, trenches, water inlets and outlets) that arerequired to make the rice field suitable for fish farminghave been described elsewhere (e.g. Capistrano-Dorenand Luna, 1992). It is however interesting to note thedifferences in refuge size and shape. It can be a pondwithin or adjacent to the rice field, or a trench whichmay be central or lateral, or a combination (Figure 1 a- d). Different extremes for the size of this refuge areacan be observed. For religious reasons farmers justdig a small sump in the rice field terraces in the Ifugaoprovince in the Philippines, whereas in Viet Namsometimes up to half the ricefield area is dug outbecause profits from fish sales exceed those from therice crop.

Trends in Rice-FishFarming

Matthias HalwartFishery Resources Division


R

D D

RD

R

D

D D

R R

RD

D D

R

Figure 1a - d. Examples of various refuge layouts in rice-fish farming

D

T

TR D R

D = DikeR = Refuge (pond or sump)T = Trench

a) b)

c) d)

Note: Distribution of rice crop area, by environment, 1991 (after FAO AGROSTAT, 1994 and IRRI RICESTAT, 1994 in IRRI, 1995).Irrigated - rice is transplanted or direct seeded in puddled soil on leveled, bunded fields with water control, in both dry and wet seasonsin the lowlands, in the summer in higher elevations, and during the dry season in flood-prone areas. Rainfed lowland - rice is transplantedor direct seeded in puddled soil on level to slightly sloping, bunded or diked fields with variable depth (up to 50 cm) and duration offlooding, depending on rainfall. Flood-prone - rice is direct seeded or transplanted in the rainy season on fields characterized bymedium to very deep flooding (50 cm to more than 300 cm) from rivers and from tides in river mouth deltas. Upland - rice is directseeded in nonflooded, well-drained soil on level to steeply sloping fields in plateau and hilly areas. For sources on extent of rice-fisharea, please refer to the text.

Table 1. Distribution of rice and rice-fish crop area, by environment.

Country Rice Rice-fish

Total Irrigated Rainfedlowland

Floodprone Upland

(000 ha) (% ) (000 ha)

Bangladesh 10245 22 47 23 8 ?

Cambodia 1910 8 48 42 2 ?

P.R. China 33019 93 5 - 2 1204.9

Egypt 462 100 - - - 172.8

India 42308 45 33 7 15 ?

Indonesia 10282 72 7 10 11 138.3

Korea, Rep. 1208 91 8 - 1 0.1

Lao PDR 557 2 61 - 37 ?

M adagascar 1140 10 74 2 14 13.4 (highlands)

M alaysia 691 66 21 1 12 ?

Philippines 3425 61 35 2 2 ?

Sri Lanka 791 37 53 3 7 ?

Thailand 9271 7 86 7 1 25.5 (culture)2966.7 (capture)

Viet Nam 6303 53 28 11 8 40.0 (M ekong Delta)

No. 18, April 1998 5

Rice varieties are selected by thefarmer for their suitability toagroclimatic conditions andpreferred consumer taste. Pastincreases in rice yields have mainlycome from the gradual reallocationof land from traditional to the high-yielding modern varieties. These areshort, stiff-strawed, fertilizer-responsive, photoperiod-insensitive, and have short tomedium growth duration (100-130days). The use of long-stemmedlong-maturing traditional varietiesallows a higher water table and anextended period for fish farming.However, as the case of the P.R.China (with 1.2 million ha underrice-fish farming in a rice areaalmost exclusively planted tomodern varieties) shows, the use ofmodern rice varieties is not aconstraint for rice-fish farming(Figure 2).

Many fish species can be harvestedfrom rice fields but only few arecommercially important. The mostcommon and widespread fishspecies used in rice-fish farming arethe omnivorous common carpCyprinus carpio and theplanktivorous Nile tilapiaOreochromis niloticus. They feedlow in the food chain and aretherefore preferred species in theculture systems. Other popularspecies are Puntius gonionotus andTrichogaster spp. Many air-breathing species such as thesnakehead Channa striata orcatfishes Clarias spp. are welladapted to the swamp-likeconditions of rice fields, withfluctuating water levels, and arehighly appreciated wild fish in thecapture system. They arecarnivorous and will feed on otherintroduced fish but, for example inThailand, can be sold for twice theprice of cultured fish at localmarkets.

0 10 20 30

Bangladesh

Yiel

ds (t

/ha)

Myanmar

India

Indonesia

Sri LankaPhilippines

China PRJapan

Korea Rep

40 50 60 70 80 90 100 %

7.0

6.0

5.0

4.0

3.0

2.0

1.0

0.0

Figure 2. Percent rice area under modern varieties and rice yield, 1985-93. (after IRRI, 1995)

Rice area under modern varieties (%)

Generally, Integrated PestManagement (IPM) practices arerecommended for rice-fish farming.The use of pest and disease resistantrice varieties is encouraged tominimize pesticide application. Inrice monoculture, the chance ofpests reaching a population levelwhich economically justifies controlaction is usually low. The potentialincome from fish shifts theeconomic threshold to a level whichis even less likely to be reached bypests. Also, from an IPM point ofview, fish culture and rice farmingare complementary activitiesbecause it has been shown that fishfurther reduce pest populations.Evidence from the FAO IPMIntercountry Programme inIndonesia shows that, through IPM,the number of pesticide applicationsin rice can be reduced from 4.5 to0.5. This not only reduces costs butalso eliminates an importantconstraint to the adoption of fishfarming. Therefore training in IPMfor many farmers participating inthe regional programme inBangladesh, Indonesia, or Viet Namhas been an entry point to rice-fishfarming.

Simultaneous culture of fish withrice often increases rice yields,particularly on poorer soils and inunfertilized crops, probably becauseunder these conditions thefertilization effect of fish is greatest.With savings on pesticides andearnings from fish sales, increasesin net income on rice-fish farms arereportedly 7 to 65% higher than onrice monoculture farms.

CURRENT STATUS AND TRENDS

Rice-fish farming is a traditionalpractice in hilly areas in the southof the P.R. China, particularly inprovinces close to the Yangtse Riverand Pearl River, because eithercommon carp eggs were collected


popular among rice farmers. In the period 1977 to 1984fish production from rice fields increased from 17,701to 58,880 t. The area under rice-fish peaked in 1982with 137,384 ha under production. Although the rice-fish area decreased to 94,309 ha in 1985, total fishproduction from rice fields increased with averageannual fish yields reaching 670 kg/ha, more than doublethe production of 306 kg/ha in 1982. Rice-fish farmingis practised in 17 of the 27 provinces in Indonesia, inparticular in all provinces in Java and the northernprovinces of Sumatra except Riau and Jambi. Most ofthe 94,309 ha recorded in 1985 are located on Java(64,855 ha), followed by Sumatra (14,387 ha), Bali-Nusa Tenggara Islands (9,361 ha) and Sulawesi (5,706ha). No records or few data exist for Kalimantan,Maluku, Irian Jaya or the outer islands but rice-fishfarming is probably more widespread than indicatedby current data (Koesoemadinata & Costa-Pierce,1992). After 1986, rice production practices inIndonesia changed dramatically when IPM wasdeclared the official national pest control strategy.Pesticide subsidies were removed, and 57 out of 66insecticide formulations used on rice were banned.How IPM served as an entry point for rice fish farmingis perfectly documented in the case of an Indonesianfarmer (Van de Fliert and Wijanto, 1996). The latestfigure (1995) on rice-fish area (138,277 ha), providedby the Indonesian Directorate General of Fisheries(Siregar et al., 1998) indicates that rice-fish farmingis on the rise again.

It is difficult to get reliable figures on rice-fish farmingin Thailand because the volume of the traditionalcapture of fish in ‘trap ponds’ is generally not recorded.However, with 86% of its rice area being rainfed,ricefield capture fisheries plays a dominant role. Inapproximately one third of the country’s 9.3 millionha rice lands, fish are captured at average yields of 25kg/ha. In addition to this, there is a significant catchfrom small ponds constructed for water holdingpurposes along streams and canals and ditches betweenroads and rice fields. Ricefield culture fisheries wasreported from 2,820 ha in 1983 (mainly Central, North,and Northeast Provinces). The steep productionincrease in the 1980s can probably be attributed to twomajor factors: a general decrease in wild fishavailability, further aggravated by the occurrence ofthe ulcerative disease syndrome in wild fish stocksfrom 1982 onwards, and an improved supply anddistribution of cultured fish seed. The combined impactof these factors was so significant that the area ofricefield culture fisheries expanded to 23,900 ha in1988 and further increased to 25,500 ha in 1992 (FAOand NACA, 1997).

there and put into rice fields for hatching, or broodstockwas released into rice fields for natural spawning.Significant progress was made in the 1980s when manyother fish species (grass carp, crucian carp, silver carp,bighead carp, etc.) in combination with new productiontechniques (e.g. ‘rice on ridge - fish in furrow’cultivation, raising fish with azolla) were tested.Sichuan with 333,300 ha of rice-fish farming, Hunan(227,000 ha), and Guizhou (87,300 ha) were the threetop provinces in terms of area (Figure 3). An averageannual fish production from concurrent rice-fishfarming of 180 kg/ha has been reported although fishyields exceeding 750 kg/ha can be achieved(production patterns and technologies, ecologicalinteractions, and economic benefits are described andanalyzed in MacKay, 1995). Production isapproximately twice as high in rotational rice-fishfarming systems. P.R. China officially promotes fishfarming in rice fields in its National AquacultureDevelopment Plan (FAO and NACA, 1997), but therise in freshwater fish prices is probably an importantincentive for a more rapid adoption of this integratedfarming (the average price for common carp in P.R.China increased by 47% from 1992 to 1995, (FAO,1997)). According to the most recent figures providedby the Bureau of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture,P.R. China, there has been a continuous increase infish production from rice fields with a peak of 377,000t on an area of 1.2 million ha reported in 1996 (Figure4).

The second most important country in terms of rice-fish area is Egypt. There has been a considerableexpansion in rice-fish area in the 1980s with a peak of224,917 ha in 1989, at a time when the price of ricewas not favourable (in comparison to other summercrops) and new reclaimed salt-affected land was takenunder cultivation with continuous flooding and fishproduction. This situation changed after 1989. Riceprices increased, the adoption of high yielding ricevarieties led to a higher productivity, and reclaimedlands were converted to rice monoculture. As aconsequence, the rice-fish area has declined to 172,800ha in 1995, which is still equivalent to 37% of the ricearea (Figure 5). Fish production from rice fieldsaccounted for 32% of the total aquaculture productionof the country in 1995 (Shehadeh and Feidi, 1996).

In Indonesia the fast development of grow-outoperations, such as running water systems and cageculture in reservoirs, has fueled an increased demandfor fingerlings. With limited nursery capacities, thepotential of using rice fields quickly became evidentand rice-fish farming for fingerling production became

No. 18, April 1998 7

Guizhou

Hunan

Sichuan

0

500

1000

2000

3000

4000

no data

500

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

to

to

to

to

to

to

China - Rice Area 1989 - 90 (000 ha)

0 500 Miles

500 km

Figure 3. Area sown to rice in P.R. China, 1989-90, by province, exclusive of Taiwan Province ofChina (modified after Huke et al., 1993). Sichuan, Hunan, and Guizhou are the most important rice-fish provinces (see text for details).


In most other countries, fish farming in rice fields is not recorded in thenational statistics, but many have initiated research and extension activities.Where rice-fish farming is a new practice, technical, social and economicfeasibility should first be investigated. UNDP-supportedon-station andon-farm research on the integration of rice and fish farming is currentlyunderway in Sri Lanka. A promising system is the nursing of fry tofingerlings in rice fields since there is a large demand for fingerlings to bestocked in the abundant seasonal and perennial freshwater reservoirs ofthe country.

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

ha

(000

)

10 0

00 t

'96'95'94'93'92'91'90'89'88'87'86'85'84'83'82'81'801979

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Rice - Fish Area (ha)

Fish Production in Rice Fields (t)

ha

(000

)

Rice Area (ha)

Rice-Fish Area (ha)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

199519941993199219911990198919881987198619851984

Figure 4. Rice-fish area and fish-production in rice fields of the P.R.China

Figure 5. Rice and rice-fish area in Egypt

In India, rice-fish farming isconsidered particularly suitable forthe less productive rainfed areas.The Indian Council of AgriculturalResearch, in its 1996 Newsletter,reported a twelve fold increase ineconomic benefit from an integratedrice-fish system with vegetable orfruit crops grown on the bunds, ascompared to traditional ricefarming. The economics and risksof rice-fish farming have also beenthe subject of study in thePhilippines to determine why rice-fish farming has not been widelyadopted by farmers in the country.A different approach was taken inMadagascar. The FAO/UNDPsupported projects initially focusedon optimizing different rice-fishfarming techniques, but later shiftedto tackling the two major constraintswhich had been identified:Ignorance of appropriate fishbreeding techniques and lack of fry(Randriamiarana et al., 1995).Private sector involvement provedto be the key for overcoming theselimitations (see also Van den Berg,1996). By 1992, 1,085 tons of fishwere produced in 13,400 ha ricefields. However, the project hasended and it is not known whetherrice-fish farming has been sustainedor the intended multiplier effectthrough the private sector hasactually taken place. In Malawi, aGTZ-funded project of theInternational Center for LivingAquatic Resources Management(ICLARM) now examines farmer-driven rice-fish extension, and inGhana the inclusion of fish farmingin irrigation schemes has been tried.ICLARM plans to continue similarprojects with Zambia, Zimbabwe,Malawi, and Egypt (Prein, pers.comm.). The FAO-implementedregional (Africa) project, ALCOM(Aquaculture for Local CommunityDevelopment Programme), hasactively promoted rice-fish farmingwith an emphasis on social and

No. 18, April 1998 9

economic aspects in the SADC region since 1986.Under FAO’s new Special Programme for FoodSecurity (SPFS), fish farming in irrigation schemes inLIFDC countries currently receives a great deal ofattention.

Invaluable research and coordination work has beenperformed by the two CGIAR (Consultative Group onInternational Agricultural Research) centres with amandate for rice and fish farming, the InternationalRice Research Institute (IRRI) and the ICLARM.Supported by ADB and IDRC in the late 1980s/early1990s and operated through the Asian Rice FarmingSystems Network (ARFSN), the two centers havecollaborated with many national institutions to improveexisting rice-fish farming systems and to facilitateinformation exchange among participating countries.The technical feasibility and the improvement of rice-fish farming systems is still an important issue todayin many locations but is usually considered in a moreholistic way within the framework of socio-culturaland economic constraints. For example, an USAIDfunded project between ICLARM, the BangladeshFisheries Research Institute (BFRI) and various NGOshas studied concurrent rice-fish farming in mediumhighlands and lowlands and rotational culture in deeplyflooded lowlands in order to develop sustainable low-external input practices that fit into the existing farmingsystems. In an on-going IFAD funded project,ICLARM also collaborates with the Bangladesh RiceResearch Institute (BRRI) and BFRI to develop optionsfor rice-fish culture in the flood-prone rice ecosystem;e.g. fish farming in net enclosures, and to carry outstudies on community management.

In Lao PDR the FAO Project “Development of FishCulture Extension” has promoted improved practicesof rice-fish farming including the development oftechnical capacity at national and provincial levels (seealso FAN, vol. 14, p. 29). FAO and UNDP continue tosupport rice fish systems in a follow-up project (LAO/97/007) in 5 provinces. Also in Lao PDR, where mostlythe traditional ricefield capture fisheries can be foundwith various forms and degrees of communitymanagement, a DFID1-funded on-farm research projecton rice-fish farming is underway addressing technical,social, and economic constraints to rice-fish culture(Haylor, 1995). The role of women is emphasized. Theproject links researchers from the Institute ofAquaculture in Stirling, the Agricultural Extension andRural Development Department of the University ofReading, and the Savannakhet Provincial Livestockand Fisheries Section, with the AIT Aqua Outreach

Programme serving as facilitator. Much research hasfocused on improvements of the traditional rotationalrice-shrimp system in seasonal brackishwaters in theMekong delta in Viet Nam. A Belgian Governmentfunded project between the University of Can Tho andthe Catholic University of Leuven aims to improveexisting rice-fish farming systems in the Mekong delta.The University of Can Tho also collaborates withICLARM in an IDRC-funded study on the socio-economics and productivity of integrated farms usingthe software RESTORE. Also in Europe and the US,the interest in the integration of fish and crayfish withrice farming is revived with researchers and farmersalike. The concurrent cultivation of rice and crayfishProcambarus clarkii has been investigated by researchinstitutions in Louisiana, and commercially about50,000 t are produced in 40-50,000 ha of shallowponds, many planted with rice. The same species isalso produced on a limited scale in rice fields in Spainwith annual yields of around 5,000 t. There isapparently interest in culturing tilapia in Spanish ricefields but this has not started (Fernando, pers. comm.).In the Po delta in Italy, rice-fish farming wasdiscontinued during the Second World War. Today,the University of Bologna with support from theRegione Emilia-Romagna has started to investigate fishmanagement in rice fields under modern cultivation,as well as ecological and economic aspects of theintegration (Lucchini, 1996).

In Latin America and the Caribbean, rice-fish farminghas been tried with an emphasis on the technicalfeasibility in Argentina, Brazil, Panama, Peru and Haiti(Guillen, 1990). Often, local species have been usedsuch as the silverside (Odontesthes bonariensis) inArgentina, or curimatá (Prochilodus argentes, P.cearanesis) in Brazil. Satisfactory results have beenreported, but further extension is said to be constrainedby a lack of trained technical staff, government interest,and international cooperation and promotion.

INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT (IPM)

It is increasingly recognized that Integrated PestManagement and fish farming in rice fields are

1/DFID. Department for International Development,formerly ODA.

__________


complementary activities. Several studies on thissubject have been supported in the early 1990s by GTZspecial projects through the CGIAR centres incollaboration with the Freshwater Aquaculture Center(FAC) in the Philippines, ranging from the biologicalcontrol effect of fish on rice pests and their naturalenemies to the socio-economic dimensions of rice-fishfarming and IPM (Halwart, 1994b; Horstkotte, inpress). In Bangladesh, two CARE projects (NOPESTand INTERFISH) focus on rice-fish farming as itrelates to IPM. They are DFID and EU (EuropeanUnion) funded and mainly oriented towards trainingand extension with some limited research. Trainingsubjects in the NOPEST ‘training of trainers’programme include, among others, aquatic ecology,fish species selection, water management, fish feeding,fish physiology, fish seed production, and fishtransportation. The training of trainers is done incollaboration with government IPM programmesfunded by UNDP, and the FAO IntercountryProgramme on IPM in Rice in South and SoutheastAsia. Also in Viet Nam, many farmers have startedfish farming in their rice fields after training in thenational IPM Programme. A FAO TechnicalCooperation Project, on the management of aquaticpest snails, promotes the use of carps for the biologicalcontrol of snails, both in rice fields and communalwaters (see also FAN, vol. 14, p. 30).

Studies relating to the feeding ecology of fish in ricefields receive increasing attention and have beencompleted in the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, andmost recently in Bangladesh. Korean researchers havefocused on the impact of indigenous fish species onmalaria vectors in rice fields. A DANIDA and GTZsupported research area that has received muchattention by ICLARM researchers is the modeling ofbiomass and nutrient flows and the development ofsustainability indicators for rice-based fish farming.

NEEDS AND PROSPECTS FOR RICE-FISH RESEARCH

AND DEVELOPMENT

Rice-fish farming will be more adopted the more it iscompatible with rice management. The integrationseems to have good prospects for the future becausethe reduction in pesticide applications and the use ofless toxic compounds in rice production results in anincreased ricefield biodiversity which is not onlyimportant for the balance of pests and their natural

enemies but also in a nutritional context for farmingcommunities relying heavily on crabs, frogs, or snailsfrom their rice fields. However, implications of the trendof increased use of herbicides in many countries willrequire further attention in the future.

Since rice can be grown both under submerged orsaturated conditions, water is a critical factor in riceproduction. Much research and development efforts inrice-fish farming have concentrated on irrigated systemsbecause the water level can be easily manipulated, butwhen farmers have to pump water, the costs oftenbecome prohibitive. However, in rainfed lowland rice,farmers tend to hold as much water in the fields aspossible (by increasing the height of the ricefield bunds)to ‘insure’ against insufficient rainfall. One country withpredominantly rainfed rice (86%), Thailand, experienceda rapid expansion of rice-fish farming as fish seedavailability improved. Similar developments may beexpected for rainfed areas in countries as Lao PDR(61%) or Cambodia (48%), where declining wild fishstocks make aquaculture increasingly important.

Most rice-fish research and developments efforts arefocused on culture of common carp and Nile tilapia.Promising indigenous species deserve more attention.A new interesting research aspect has been a study onthe fecundity of the feral catfish Clariasmacrocephalus in order to enhance the survival of wildpopulations in rice fields in Malaysia (Ali, 1993). Fishseed supply and distribution are crucial for the adoptionof rice-fish farming. The experience from Madagascarsuggests that the private sector may be in a betterposition to meet this demand, and development agenciesincreasingly recognize the different roles the public andthe private sector may have in national aquaculturedevelopment plans. It is imperative that the rate ofadoption in Madagascar is evaluated and ‘lessonslearned’ documented especially since externalassistance has ended.

Rice-fish farming is particularly expanding in P.R. Chinawhere it is not only a traditional practice but is alsoactively promoted through the National AquacultureDevelopment Plan. It will be important in the futurethat Governments actively support the integration ofrice and fish farming, and of agriculture and aquaculture,as part of their efforts to enhance food security andensure sustainable rural development.

No. 18, April 1998 11

REFERENCES

Ali, A., 1993. Aspects of the fecundity of the feral catfish, Clarias macrocephalus (Gunther), population obtainedfrom the rice fields used for rice-fish farming in Malaysia. Hydrobiologia, 254: 81-89.

Capistrano-Doren, L. and N. Luna (Eds), 1992. Farmer-proven integrated agriculture-aquaculture: a technologyinformation kit. IIRR and ICLARM, Philippines.

Choudhury, P.C., 1995. Integrated rice-fish culture in Asia with special reference to deepwater rice. FAN, 10: 9-16.dela Cruz, C.R., C. Lightfoot, B.A. Costa-Pierce, V.R. Carangal, and M.P. Bimbao (Eds), 1992. Rice-fish research and

development in Asia. International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management, Manila, Philippines.FAO, 1997. China’s carp market survey report. Unpublished manuscript.FAO and NACA, 1997. Survey and analysis of aquaculture development research priorities and capacities in Asia,

FAO Fish. Circ. 930.Fernando, C.H., 1993a. Rice field ecology and fish culture - an overview. Hydrobiologia, 259: 91-113.Fernando, C.H., 1993b. A bibliography of references to rice field aquatic fauna, their ecology and rice-fish culture.

Geneseo, New York, USA.Guillen, F.Q., 1990. Current status of integrated rice-fish culture in Latin America and the Caribbean. Int. Rice Comm.

Newsl., 39: 198-207.Halwart, M., 1994a. The ecology of fish in rice fields. Annals of Tropical Research, X: 1-16.Halwart, M., 1994b. Fish as biocontrol agents in rice. Margraf Verlag, Weikersheim, Germany.Haylor, G., 1995. Organic rice with fish on the side: a healthy recipe for Asia? Aquaculture News: 46-47.Huke, R., E. Huke, T. Woodhead, and J. Huang, 1993. Rice - wheat atlas of China. IRRI, CIMMYT, CNRRI.Horstkotte, G., in press. Economics of rice-aquaculture systems and integrated pest management - a case study from

the Philippines. PhD dissertation.IRRI, 1995. World Rice Statistics 1993-94. International Rice Research Institute, Manila, Philippines.Koesoemadinata, S. and B.A. Costa-Pierce, 1992. Development of rice-fish farming in Indonesia: Past, present, and

future. In: dela Cruz, C.R., C. Lightfoot, B.A. Costa-Pierce, V.R. Carangal, and M.P. Bimbao (Eds), 1992. Rice-fish research and development in Asia. International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management, Manila,Philippines.

Li, K., 1988. Rice-fish culture in China: A review. Aquaculture, 71: 173-186.Little, D.C., P. Surintaraseree, and N. Innes-Taylor, 1996. Fish culture in rainfed rice fields of northeast Thailand.

Aquaculture, 140: 295-321.Lucchini, M., 1996. Riso e pesce, un binomio da rilanciare. Laguna, 4/96: 34-37.MacKay, K.T. (Ed.), 1995. Rice-fish culture in China. International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.Randriamiarana, H., A. Rabelahatra and J. Janssen, 1995. Rice/fish farming in Madagascar: The present situation, and

future prospects and constraints. In: Symoens, J.J. and J.C. Micha, (Eds), 1995. The management of integratedfreshwater agro-piscicultural ecosystems in tropical areas. Royal Academy of Overseas Sciences, Brussels.

Shehadeh, Z. and I. Feidi, 1996. Aquaculture development and resource limitations in Egypt. FAN, 14: 3-7.Siregar, S.P., P. Erigenius, and M.S. Hastuti, 1998. Paper prepared for the first meeting of the FAO/AIFIC, FAO

Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand.Symoens, J.J. and J.C. Micha (Eds), 1995. The management of integrated freshwater agro-piscicultural ecosystems in

tropical areas. Royal Academy of Overseas Sciences, Brussels.Van de Fliert, E. and Wijanto, 1996. A road to sustainability. ILEIA Newsletter, 12: 6-8.Van den Berg, F., 1996. The private sector: A potential key element in the development of small-scale aquaculture in

Africa - lessons from Madagascar. FAN, 12: 14-16.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to the FAN editor, Z. Shehadeh, and FIRI colleagues M. Martinez-Espinosa and D. Bartley for their helpfulcomments and suggestions. Specific project or country information was provided by A. Ali (University of ScienceMalaysia), A.T. Badawi (Agricultural Research Center, Egypt), G. Chapman (CARE Bangladesh), C.H. Fernando(University of Waterloo, Canada), K. Gallagher (Global-IPM Facility), N. Innes-Taylor (AIT Aqua Outreach LaoPDR), M. Prein (ICLARM Philippines), A.M. Qureshi/S.P. Chen (FAOR P.R. China), A. Rothuis (University of Can Tho,Viet Nam), D.V. Tran (FAO-AGPC), J. Moehl and H. van der Mheen (ALCOM) and is gratefully acknowledged.


BACKGROUND

There are few economic activities which globally havemanifested such high growth rates as the culture ofshrimp in coastal areas of developing countries duringthe last decade. This rapid development has beenaccompanied by increasingly controversial debatesover adverse environmental and socio-economicimpacts of shrimp culture.

The underlying cause for such impacts is the absenceof effective planning, regulatory and economicincentive policies which address the problem of marketfailure in the allocation of scarce resources. Marketfailure is pervasive in the case of many coastalresources such as mangroves, fresh water aquifers andnearshore and estuary environment because of theirjoint exploitation by many users without properrecognition of their limited sustainable yields andassimilative capacities and inadequate or absent costingof their environmental, economic, social and culturalvalues. As a consequence, individual shrimp farmersget wrong signals about their true costs of productionand hence make sub-optimal decisions on productiontechnology and intensity, siting of ponds, and wastetreatment measures.

As part of its priority programme in support of theimplementation of the Code of Conduct forResponsible Fisheries, the FAO Fisheries Departmentconvened the Technical Consultation on Policies forSustainable Shrimp Culture which was held in the FAORegional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok,Thailand, from 8 to 11 December 1997. The core taskof the Consultation was to develop guidelines onappropriate legal, institutional, regulatory andeconomic policies for sustainable shrimp culture.

BANGKOK FAO

CONSULTATION

RECOMMENDS

POLICIES FOR

SUSTAINABLE

SHRIMP CULTURE

This article is based on the Report of the FAO Technical Consultationon Policies for Sustainable Shrimp Culture, Bangkok, Thailand, 8-11December 1997. It has been prepared by the FAO Technical Secretariatof the Consultation.

No. 18, April 1998 13

PARTICIPANTS

The Consultation was attended by governmentdelegations and industry observers from twelvecountries: Bangladesh, China, Ecuador, India,Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Sri Lanka,Thailand, United States of America, and Viet Nam.These countries account for about 90 % of globalproduction of cultured shrimp. The USA, whileproducing only small quantities of cultured shrimp, isthe major shrimp consuming country.

The participants of the Consultation also includedobservers from the following inter-governmentalorganizations, all of which have important activitiesrelated to various aspects of shrimp culture includingresearch, training and extension, project preparationand funding, market information and others:Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN);World Bank; Intergovernmental Organization forMarketing Information and Technical AdvisoryServices (INFOFISH); Network of AquacultureCentres in Asia & Pacific Region (NACA); and SouthEast Asian Fisheries Development Center(SEAFDEC).

International non-governmental organizationsrepresenting the shrimp culture industry andenvironmental and small-scale fisheries interests werealso present in an observer capacity: GlobalAquaculture Alliance (GAA); GreenpeaceInternational; International Collective in Support ofFishworkers (ICSF); and World Wide Fund for Nature(WWF). At the international level, these organizationsare among the key stakeholders for their respectiveareas of interest and perform tasks ranging fromadvocacy, support of local, national and regionalinitiatives to research and information dissemination.

The Secretariat included staff from the FAO FisheryPolicy and Planning and Fishery Resources Divisions,the FAO Legal Office and the FAO Regional Officefor Asia and Pacific, as well as resource persons fromthe Asian Institute of Technology, and Mahidol andChulalongkorn Universities, Bangkok, Thailand;Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram,India; and Centre for the Economics and Managementof Aquatic Resources, University of Portsmouth,United Kingdom.

PROCEEDINGS

The Consultation was opened by Mr SoetatwoHadiwigeno, Assistant Director-General and RegionalRepresentative of FAO for Asia and the Pacific. DrSunil P.P.G.S.N. Siriwardena, Director, NationalAquatic Resources Research and DevelopmentAgency, Sri Lanka, was elected Chairman and MrFrancisco Nieto-Sanchez, Director , Fomento Acuícola,Dirección General de Acuacultura, Mexico, Vice-Chairman of the Consultation. The Keynote Addresswas given by Dr Chua Thia Eng, Programme Manager,GEF/UNDP/IMO Regional Programme on MarinePollution Prevention and Management, Manila,Philippines.

The first one and half days of the Consultation wereessentially devoted to an exchange of pertinentinformation among participants. Government delegatesreported on their countries’ experiences with shrimpculture development. This was followed by summaryresults of a literature review on the subject,presentations and position papers by inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations,specific cases studies, and a review of legislation andpolicies applying to shrimp culture. The writtensubmissions made to the Consultation by delegates andobservers from countries, and from intergovernmentaland non-governmental organizations will be publishedin FAO Fisheries Report No. 572, Supplement.

The principal outcome of the Consultation wasproduced in three working groups whose deliberationswere assisted by written discussion guides preparedby the FAO Secretariat. Working Group A addressedlegal, institutional and consultative frameworks;Working Group B examined planning and regulatorymethods and tools and economic incentives for shrimpculture development and management; and WorkingGroup C discussed the potential role and contents of avoluntary code of conduct for sustainable shrimpculture. The three working groups, whose compositionbroadly reflected the various interest groups presentin the Consultation, were asked to reach a consensuson their recommendations. These were then discussedin plenary for adoption by government delegations andendorsement by observers. All government delegationsadopted the recommendations which are partlyreproduced and summarized below. There was broadbut not unanimous agreement among observers withthe report’s recommendations.


RECOMMENDATIONS

The first four recommendations constitute a kind of‘Preamble’ and, because of their significance, arereproduced in full:

• The Technical Consultation on Policies forSustainable Shrimp Culture produced a consensusthat sustainable shrimp culture is practised and isa desirable and achievable goal which should bepursued.

• There is ample reason for considering shrimpculture, when practised in a sustainable fashion,as an acceptable means of achieving such variednational goals as food production, employment andgeneration of foreign exchange.

• Achievement of sustainable shrimp culture isdependent on effective government policy andregulatory actions as well as the co-operation ofindustry in utilizing sound technology in itsplanning, development and operations.

• Appropriate government responsibilities areoutlined in Article 9 of the Code of Conduct forResponsible Fisheries. To better implement theprovisions of the Code, the Consultationrecommended the following.

The first of the above recommendations was adoptedafter considerable debate and discussion on whetheror not sustainable shrimp culture actually existed, orif it is at all feasible. The final wording acknowledgesthat sustainable operations exist but without specifyinghow common these are.

Following this ‘Preamble’, the recommendations arestructured along the lines of the findings of the threeworking groups, some of which are summarized below.The English version of the full report of theConsultation is available on the Home Page of the FAOFisheries Department (http://www.fao.org/fi) and isbeing published in both English and Spanish as FAOFisheries Report No. 572.

Legal, Institutional and Consultative Framework forSustainable Shrimp Culture

The Consultation recommended that governmentsshould have a legal framework which appliesspecifically to coastal aquaculture, including shrimpculture, and identified as its objectives the following:

• facilitate and promote the development ofsustainable coastal aquaculture practices;

• promote the protection of coastal resources;• promote the contribution of coastal

aquaculture to food security, national andinternational wise.

• ensure that livelihoods of local communitiesand their access to coastal resources are notadversely affected by coastal aquaculturedevelopments.

The legal framework for coastal aquaculture shouldbe framed into the whole fabric of laws and regulations,including those applying to coastal zone management,and result from a consultative and interdisciplinaryprocess. It should be sufficiently flexible to respondto short term needs and have a long term orientationcontributing to maintaining ecological balance withrespect to unforeseen events in future.

The contents of coastal aquaculture legislation mayinclude:

• a definition of aquaculture;• provisions on the control and protection of

coastal aquaculture: an authorisation processfor aquaculture projects; siting of aquacultureprojects; protection of coastal aquaculturezones;

• concepts of aquaculture pollution: specificdefinition, control of aquaculture effluents;

• remedies or compensation systems fordamages caused or suffered by coastalaquaculturists; and

• enforcement measures.

Where possible, governments should envisage theestablishment of a single aquaculture managementauthority which would be responsible for thedevelopment and management of coastal aquaculture.Where a single aquaculture management authoritycannot be created, governments should set up anappropriate administrative framework with the viewto ensure co-ordinated development and management.

No. 18, April 1998 15

A specific authority or aprocedure is recommended toexamine and provide remediesfor public grievances in relationto aquaculture activities and theirimpacts on coastal resources,biodiversity and coastalcommunities.

The Consultation recommendedthat relevant internationalorganisations such as FAOshould promote and support,where appropriate, theestablishment of a legalframework for coastal aquaculture.

Planning and regulatory methods and tools andeconomic incentive schemes for sustainable shrimpculture

Planning, regulation and the use of economic incentiveswere all considered important tools to achievedevelopment of sustainable shrimp culture. Shrimpculture should be placed into strategic and coastal zonemanagement planning processes where its role as alegitimate user of coastal resources should beacknowledged. The Consultation stressed theimportance of participatory planning andimplementation approaches of all stakeholders toensure the maintenance of local social integrity andrights of local communities.

The consultation recommended that zonal planning forshrimp culture be undertaken as component ofintegrated coastal area management and take intoaccount, inter alia, (a) carrying capacity of theecosystem, (b) technical and environmentalcompatibility, (c) social and economic criteria, (d)involvement of local communities and concernedstakeholders, (e) opportunities for integration into otherforms of farming practices, (f) effluent and wastemanagement, and (g) provision of appropriateinfrastructure.

Recognizing the contribution made by small-scaleshrimp farmers to global shrimp production, it wasrecommended that States should pay special attentionto capacity building of the small-scale shrimp farmersthrough providing adequate technical and financialassistance and extension to improve their culturepractices for better productivity and sustainability.

The Consultation recommended anumber of specific areas for futureresearch including, in particular,research to determine carryingcapacity of coastal ecosystems forshrimp culture with an emphasis onapplication of this knowledge tolocal areas. It also recommendedexploring economic incentives as astrategy to generate financialresources for promoting andsupporting sustainable developmentof shrimp culture practices.

VOLUNTARY CODES

The Consultation concluded that codes of conduct,codes of practice and guidelines all have usefulpurposes and should be encouraged. Codes can beuseful instruments for reduction of government costs,to promote efficiencies, to provide protection andassurance to consumers and to producers alike, andmost important, to help achieve sustainable operations.The Consultation further concluded that the Code ofConduct for Responsible Fisheries, particularly in itssections pertaining to aquaculture, provides an acceptedbaseline for development of additional codes orguidelines applicable to shrimp culture. Since voluntarycodes of conduct or practice specific to shrimp culturecan be extremely useful, FAO should encourage theirdevelopment.

FOLLOW -UP

The Consultation recommended that FAO conveneexpert meetings to elaborate best practices for shrimpculture, desirable elements of the legal and regulatoryframeworks for coastal aquaculture and the criteria andindicators for monitoring sustainability of shrimpculture. Regarding the latter, the Consultationrecommended that FAO specifically requestgovernments of countries engaged in shrimp cultureto report on progress in implementing the Code ofConduct for Responsible Fisheries in relation to shrimpculture activities to the FAO Committee on Fisheries(COFI) at its next and subsequent sessions . This isseen as a means of encouraging the use of the Code toachieve more quickly full sustainability and tomaximize the benefits of shrimp culture.

Furthermore, the Consultation recommended that itsreport be submitted to the next session of COFI forconsideration and endorsement.


In the last issue of FAN we reported that Drs D.Bartley and K. Rana travelled to the IslamicRepublic of Iran on a mission to help Shilatevaluate stocking programmes and themanagement of aquatic genetic resources inaquaculture. This article reports on some of theirfindings concerning stocking; findings onaquaculture will be presented in a future issue ofFAN.

BACKGROUND

In 1992, the Government of the Islamic Republic ofIran’s (IRI) policy for the fisheries, livestock and poultrysectors was aimed at increasing production to meetdomestic needs. Today there is also a policy to increasenon-oil exports from IRI, as well as a desire to improvethe nutritional food security of Iranians throughincreased consumption of fish. Shilat, the governmentagency in charge of fisheries and aquaculture, aims toincrease per capita fish consumption from the currentlevel of approximately 5kg/yr to 13.5 kg/yr and toincrease aquaculture production from approximately60,000 mt/yr presently to 102,000 mt/yr over the nextfive years through both direct and indirect assistance.Large restocking programmes for several species offish in the Caspian Sea and smaller inland water bodiesare actively supported by Shilat and play a major rolein many fisheries. The purpose of this article is tohighlight some of the issues surrounding the stockenhancement practices primarily of the Caspian Sea inIRI.

Although inland fishery production has increased overthe long term (Figure 1), an unknown proportion of theincrease has been due to large-scale restocking effortsand many of the fisheries may be severely threatened.The fisheries of the Caspian Sea are being heavilyimpacted by environmental degradation and illegalfishing activities. Extensive oil exploration and extractionare increasing throughout the region. In the past, theSoviet Union was a major regulator of the fisheries inthe northern sections of the Caspian Sea. Now however,this regulatory force no longer exists and there areextensive poaching and illegal fishing activities. Manyof the Caspian Sea’s anadromous fishes, such assturgeon, Caspian trout, Salmo trutta caspius, andmahi sephid, Rutilus friisi kutum, can no longer accessinland spawning grounds because of riverine waterdiversion and dam development, and the fisheries arenow heavily dependent on stocking.

Sturgeon produce the most valuable fishery productfrom the Caspian Sea – caviar, estimated to be worthapproximately $US 45 million in IRI, but these fishesare very susceptible to overfishing and environmentaldegradation. In Asia and the former USSR, sturgeonfisheries have drastically declined and illegal harvesthas presumably increased substantially. This decline hasbeen seen elsewhere in the world and as a result, allsturgeons are now listed on Appendix II of theConvention on International Trade in EndangeredSpecies (CITES).

Stocking inland

waters of the

Islamic Republic

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Figure 1. Inland fisheries of Iran (including aquaculture) and sturgeon fisheries in the region

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Devin M. Bartley1 and K. Rana2

1Fishery Resources Officer Fishery Resources Division2Fishery Statistician (Aquaculture) Data and Statistics Unit

No. 18, April 1998 17

STOCKING PROGRAMMES - STATUS

Stocking the Caspian Sea with sturgeon started in Russiain the 1950’s and in Iran in the 1970’s. Although manyof the former Soviet Union hatcheries are no longerproducing fingerlings for stocking, in IRI fingerlingproduction for restocking of sturgeon, mahi sephid, andCaspian trout, pike-perch, and bream has increased fromaround 15 to 196 million from 1978 to 1996; the mahisephid accounts for the majority of the production(Table 1).

Table 1. 1996 fingerling production from Shilathatcheries for restocking the Caspian Sea and otherinland water bodies. (N = number of fingerlings stocked(millions)).

There is evidence that the harvest of these enhancedor culture-based fisheries is correlated with stockingintensity and that stocking has, in fact, maintained thesefisheries (Abdoulhai, personal communication). Themahi sephid fishery, which collapsed in 1980, has risenfrom 500 tonnes in 1981 to around 10,000 tonnes in1996 following restocking from around 400,000fingerlings/yr in 1981 to around 142 million/yr in1997 (Figure 2). Similarly, for pike-perch and bream,landings increased from around 5-10 tonnes in 1990to around 35-40 tonnes in 1996. However, thestocking program-me in IRI is expensive; the costof running the Shilat hatcheries was reported to beone billion tuman (3.3 million US$, 300 tuman = 1US$). In addition, little information exists on thebiology and ecology of many of the stocked species;levels of natural spawning/reproduction areunknown and difficult to determine becausehatchery releases are not tagged.

Shilat is examining the stocking programmes as part ofa national programme to increase fish production andconserve valuable aquatic diversity. Other approachesare also being used to manage the sturgeon fisheries inaddition to the large scale sturgeon restockingprogramme. For example, the government has boughtback fixed gill nets from 4,000 fisherfolk and trainedthem to use beach seines at a cost of approximatelyUS$ 10 million. This was deemed necessary because,in addition to the targeted species, these nets alsoinadvertently trapped juvenile sturgeon and Caspiantrout. There is a newly created Sturgeon InternationalResearch Institute that has, or is developing, programmeson genetics, nutrition, water quality, physiology, and fishhealth.

POTENTIAL

The potential to optimise fishery rehabilitation strategiesis substantial in IRI based on the following:

• Well developed hatchery facilities for artificialreproduction and larval rearing in several areasalong the Caspian Sea shore (Figure 3);

• Increasing capacity in aquaculture related sciences,such as genetics, physiolology, biotechnology, etc(Figure 4).

• Extremely high value of certain fishery products,(caviar);

• Interest from the international community inrehabilitating Caspian Sea fisheries;

• Commitment of Shilat to restore fisheries of theCaspian Sea (Figures 5-7).

Species NMahi sephid ( Rutilus frisii kutum) 142.1Chinese carp spp 22.7Sturgeon spp (Acipenseridae) 12.5Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) 6.0Bream (Abramis brama) 8.5Pike-perch (Stizostedion lucioperca) 2.4Caspian trout (Salmo trutta caspius) 0.42

Figure 2. Mahi sephid broodstock traps and egg incubators.Broodstock are collected and spawned at riverside. Approximately90% of migrating adults are intercepted. Photo courtesy of Shilat.


The IRI has overcome many constraints to aquacultureand fishery development, but problems persist withrehabilitation of Caspian Sea fisheries. These include:

• Long generation time of key species, such assturgeon;

• Lack of general awareness of, and extensionservices for genetic technologies in some areas;

• Extensive activities that immediately threaten thefisheries, e.g. oil extraction, illegal fishing, habitatdegradation;

• Lack of regional/international coordination andcommitment to the problem;

• Poor information base on stock structure, stockbiomass, migration routes, and genetic stockstructure of key species; and

• Lack of accurate assessment of alternatives torestocking.

The mission of Drs Bartley and Rana identified somebroad activities that could assist in the rehabilitation andconservation of Caspian Sea fisheries:

• Measures to ensure the immediate safety of theresource through ex situ conservation are urgentlyrequired in light of the numerous threats facing severalof these fisheries, e.g. oil pollution, illegal fishing, andhabitat loss, and the difficulty in addressing them in atimely fashion for in situ conservation. Ex situmeasures such as gene banks of both live fish and frozensemen can be developed in IRI in conjunction with on-going activities at the International Sturgeon ResearchInstitute and in the Kelardahst region.

Figure 3. Shaheed Beheshti Fish Propagation and Rear-ing Complex produces sturgeon and bony fish fingerlingsfor stocking. In 1997, 9 million 3-5 g sturgeon were pro-duced here. 50-60% of facility is devoted to production oflive food for larvae and fingerlings.

Figure 4. The capacity of Iranian fishery scientists has im-proved due to participation in advanced training both inIran and abroad. Drs Bartley and Rana provided a oneday training course on genetic resource management instocking programmes, aquaculture, and ex situ conserva-tion.

• Efforts should be made to evaluate more rigorouslythe benefits of the stocking programme; stockingstrategies need to be optimised and put into a broaderfishery management context that includes habitatprotection/rehabilitation, education and outreach, fisherymanagement, and enforcement.

• International workshop on stock rehabilitation in theCaspian Sea should be convened to bring all stakeholderin the region together. Management of sturgeon andother stocks is being hampered by lack of regionalcoordination and by insufficient data on the populationgenetic structure and size of the stocks. The extent ofthe migration routes of many species is not known,therefore it is difficult to determine whether the productsof Iranian enhancement are harvested by other littoralStates. The States bordering the Caspian Sea arebeginning to claim control of their EEZ and this mayaffect many of the migratory fish stocks that are sharedby more than one country.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The release of hatchery-raised fish to maintain orincrease fishery production is controversial; if doneincorrectly, stocking programmes can endanger wildresources and be a financial drain on the publicinstitutions that support the hatchery. Others feel thatstocking is a good means to provide fish in habitats thatare affected by development and to increase productionfrom managed water bodies, e.g. reservoirs. Evidence

No. 18, April 1998 19

in the Caspian Sea suggests that stocking hasmaintained several important fisheries for a number ofyears. However, the future of these fisheries is uncertainand the IRI is to be commended for its efforts toexamine critically the role of hatcheries in fisheryenhancement and conservation.

Figure 5. The ships sturgeon, A. nudiventris, like many sturgeon, hasdeclined in Iranian waters and efforts to restock and to create genebanks(live and frozen) are underway.

Figure 6. Caspian trout broodstock, collected fromTonekobon River for restocking the Caspian Sea. Two malesare used to fertilize eggs from 2 females. Due to cold watertemperature fish reach only 10 g in 10 months.

Figure 7. Dr Krishen Rana examining sturgeon fry atShaheed Beheshti Fish Propagation and Rearing Complex.Larvae begin feeding at about 4 d on live food such asArtemia, daphnia, and oligochaetes. At 60-80 mg, larvaeare transferred to earthen ponds and stocked into majorrivers at 2-5 g.

We would like to gratefully acknowledge theassistance of Shilat and especially MrMaygolynedjad, Mr Abdoulhai, Mr Yousefpor, andMr Pourkazemi.


PRODUCTION AND PRODUCTION TRENDS

Aquaculture in this region continued growing steadilyduring 1984-95, with an APR1 of 12.8 (Figure 1). Totalproduction in 1995 was 499,000 mt with a value ofUS$1.87 thousand million, representing 1.8% and4.4% of world production by volume and value,respectively. In the same year, aquaculture contributed2.3% in volume to the total production in this regionfrom capture and culture. Production from sevencountries accounted for 92% in volume of the totalaquaculture production in the region in 1995: Chile(41.4%) and Ecuador (18.3% ) were by far the mainproducers, followed by Mexico (13.8%), Colombia(7.3%), Brazil (6.1%), Cuba (4.2%) and Costa Rica(1.4%) (Figure 2).

Three sub-regions can be clearly differentiated: SouthAmerica, Central America (including Mexico) and theCaribbean. All the eight countries from CentralAmerica (including Mexico), the 14 countries fromSouth America, and 13 out of 23 in the Caribbean sub-region have reported 1995 aquaculture data to FAO.

In 1995, production in volume was 378,000 mt (75.8%)in South America, 94,000 mt (18.9%) in CentralAmerica, and 26,000 mt (5.3%) in the Caribbean. SouthAmerica had a rather high APR of 21.8, typical of anemerging activity, during 1984-1988, followed by alower APR of 15.1 over the next six years, 1990-1995(but still above the world APR of 12.1 for the same

period), as to be expected from analready consolidated sector. CentralAmerica had a low APR of 7.1 duringthe first six years and an even lower APRof 2.2 during the second period, whichmeans that aquaculture has not yet takenoff in that sub-region. The Caribbeansub-region shows a similar pattern, withan APR of 6.7 for the 1984-1989 periodand an even lower APR, 0.2, for 1990-1995.

Status ofAquaculture inLatin America

and theCaribbean

Manuel Martinez1 and M. Pedini2

Fishery Resources Officer1

Senior Adviser (Aquaculture Development)2

Fishery Resources Division

Figure 1. Aquaculture trends in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1984-1995

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No. 18, April 1998 21

A specific characteristic of aquaculture in LatinAmerica is that it is mainly export oriented, with shrimpand salmonids as the main export products. Shrimpculture in Ecuador, the main producing country,showed rapid growth during 1984-1889 (APR 16.5)followed by moderate growth during 1990-1995 (APR3.0).

Culture of salmonids and shrimp, which are exportedto the USA, Japan and Europe, accounted for 82.1%of the total value of regional aquaculture productionin 1995. Salmonid production in Chile accounted for28.4% (141,000 mt) by volume and 30.5% by value oftotal aquaculture production in the region; shrimpproduction in Ecuador represented 18.2% (90,000 mt)of total regional aquaculture production in volume and51.5% of total value. The growth in aquacultureproduction of shrimp during 1984-1995 was linearwhile that of salmon was exponential (Figure 3).

Salmonid culture has developed almostexclusively in Chile with a growth ratesuperior to any other culture activity in theregion (APR 1984-1989, 88.2; APR 1990-1995, 37.7). Production in 1995 (141,000mt) represented 15.0% of world salmonidaquaculture production. The proportions byvolume of production of the three culturedspecies in 1995 were: rainbow trout(Oncorhynchus mykiss), 37%; Atlanticsalmon (Salmo salar), 35%; and cohosalmon (O. kisutch), 28%. Salmonid cagefarms are concentrated in the southern coastof the country where the lakes for smoltproduction are also located. The industryhas benefited from numerous protected

coastal areas, cheap fishmeal derived fromthe rich anchoveta fishery, and alternate harvestingseasons with respect to European producers.Significant foreign investment has been attracted bythese conditions plus cheap labour and a sound politicalwill to develop the sector.

Trout culture, a traditionally stagnant activity in mostof the region, has had an impressive growth in Chilefrom 20 mt in 1988 to 40,000 mt. in 1995. Othercountries seem to be following this trend: Colombiawith 9,000 mt in 1995, Mexico with 1,500 mt, andArgentina with 1,400 mt.

Shrimp production grew at an APR of 12.8 during1984-1995. Production in 1995 (146,000 mt)represented 15.6% of world shrimp aquacultureproduction. The proportions by volume in 1995 of themain cultured species were: white shrimp (Penaeusvannamei), 72.0%; and blue shrimp (P. stylirostris),

6.8%. In 1995, 11 countriesproduced more than 1,000 mtof shrimp: Ecuador (62.4%),Mexico (11.0%), Colombia(5.6%), Panama (3.6%),Honduras (3.5%), Peru(3.2%), Guatemala (2.0%),Costa Rica (1.8)%, Nicaragua(1.7%), Brazil (1.4%), andBelize (1.2%).

Figure 2. The seven main aquaculture-producing countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1995

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Shrimp culture in Ecuador started in 1979. Colombia,Brazil, Honduras, Panama and Peru started at thebeginning of the 1980s, followed by Mexico in 1985,Costa Rica 1987, Venezuela 1988, and Belize in 1989.Shrimp culture in Latin America has been from thebeginning and with minor exceptions an industrial-scale activity.

Production trends of the other five main commoditiesfor the period under review are shown in Figure 4.Gracilaria is mostly produced in Chile (49,000 mt in1995). In 1987, growth of this activity began toaccelerate. The growth curve started flattening againin 1992, and since then production has increased verylittle (APR 1984-1995, 19.7; APR 1990-1995, 5.3).

Oysters (Crassostrea virginica) account for about 65%of mollusc production in the region. There was adecline during 1989-1993, and although productionseems to be recovering, it has not yet reached previouslevels (APR 1984-1995, 14.9).

Freshwater fish culture accounted for 19.8% by volumeof total aquaculture production in the region in 1995.Culture of red tilapia has experienced the highestgrowth rate due to the high prices it fetches in exportmarkets. In spite of the enormous existing potential,very few native freshwater fish species are beingcultured in the region. Tilapia culture shows a steadyincrease which seems bound to continue (APR 1984-1995, 12.7). The main producing countries areColombia, Mexico, Cuba, Costa Rica and Jamaica.This is the main species group cultured at the ruralsmall-scale level. Some important cases of intensiveculture are those in Jamaica (2,800 mt in 1995) andCosta Rica (3,800 mt in 1995). The proportions by

volume in 1995 of the main cultured species were:Oreochromis spp., 43%; O. niloticus, 37%, and O.aureus, 19.7%.

Production of carps, the main species beingHypophthalmichthys molitrix (65%) and Cyprinuscarpio (21%) as well as production of colossoma(Colossoma brachypomum (79%) is the main speciesof the group) has shown a very moderate growthalthough they have been present in regional productionstatistics for more than 15 years. The causes ofstagnation in the culture of these promising speciesare still not clear.

Commerc ia l -sca lemarine fish culturebegan in Chile in 1991,and in 1995 turbot(Psetta maxima) culturewas at the pilot stage.Culture of other marinefish, such as red-drum(Sciaenops ocellatus), isentering the pilot phase(in Martinique) but hasbeen commercializedonly at the sub-regionallevel. Other species, stillin the experimentalphase of culture,include: pompano

(Trachinotus spp.), snook (Centropomus spp.), snapper(Lutjanus spp.), mullets (Mugilidae), and carangids(Seriola spp.). Development of the technology to culturesnook is well advanced and this activity is expected toenter the pilot stage very soon. The main problemsencountered in marine aquaculture are the scarcity oftechnologies for local species, the fact that most of theexperimental species are carnivorous, and competitionwith capture fisheries, the products from which are veryoften low priced.

MAIN ISSUES

Although there are considerable areas with physical andresource potential, only industrial-scale, export-orientedaquaculture has had significant growth in the region;and this type of activity still has a moderate potentialfor growth. Other kinds of aquaculture, such as ofmolluscs, aquatic plants and freshwater fish, as well asrural aquaculture and aquaculture-based fisheries inreservoirs, have grown at a rate slower than expected,

Figure 4. Trends in production of main cultured groups in Latin America and the Caribbean, excluding shrimps and salmons, 1995

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No. 18, April 1998 23

considering their potential and the economic needs ofthe countries resulting from recent trade and financeconditions. Most of these forms of aquaculture areoriented toward domestic markets. The difficultiesencountered in promoting aquaculture for domesticmarkets in the region are not linked to existing physicalresources, but mainly to institutional factors, as well asto research and entrepreneurial capacity. With very fewexceptions, aquaculture in the region is not properlyintegrated into government structure and policyframeworks. In addition, structural adjustment policieshave reduced the governments’ capacity to promote anddevelop aquaculture oriented towards the production ofcheap products for the poor. Competition with inlandfisheries production is sometimes a serious hinderingfactor for aquaculture development.

Trends towards shrimp culture intensification havedecreased in recent years due to disease problems.During 1992-1995, Ecuadorian shrimp culture wasaffected by increased incidence of disease (mostlyTaura Syndrome virus), which caused drasticproduction drops. Measures taken to avoid this problemhave included stocking at lower densities, less feedingand less water pumping. The epidemic initiallypromoted diversification, because some farms thatwere closed by the virus started culturing Cherax spp.and finfishes such as tilapia and redfish, as well aspolyculture of shrimp and tilapia. This tendency sloweddown when the Taura Syndrome virus impactdecreased.

Latin America has about 11 million ha of water surfacein reservoirs. It is estimated that present productionthrough fisheries and aquaculture-based fisheries inthese water bodies represents only a small percentage(about 12%) of its potential. The main constraints forthis development are managerial and very much linkedto institutional problems.

In general, freshwater culture in the region is makinglittle use of alternative ways to increase productionsuch as through fertilization, polyculture andintegration with other farming systems. The prevailingtechnology uses expensive and sophisticated highenergy-consuming methods: high stocking densities,exclusive use of commercial feed, and methods toincrease the carrying capacity of the ponds, such asaeration and strong water exchange. Apart from anysocial concern, a monoculture technology based on thestocking of fingerlings that are fed with expensivecommercial feed and harvested for export markets,does not seem to be an economically sustainableactivity for small-scale rural farms.

In summary, aquaculture development in the region ishindered by problems which can be grouped in thefollowing categories:

Environmental. Problems mostly related to industrial-scale aquaculture are beginning to arise. Mangrovecutting in Ecuador, and conflicts with capture fisheryactivities in several countries, mainly due to allegeddestruction of larval resources, are some of theconsequences of culture intensification and faultyfarm site selection.

Climatic. Events such as El Niño, which has had impacton the shrimp culture industry on the Pacific coastof the region through floods and undesirable changesof temperature, and hurricanes in the Caribbean area,are important concerns for aquaculture farms.

Biological/technical. Diseases are affecting not onlyshrimp culture (viral) but also oyster culture(parasites), and in many cases, there is no knowntreatment. The reproductive cycles of severalaquaculture species are also not fully understood.Seed supply is a serious limiting factor in manyareas, affecting industrial, semi-commercial andrural aquaculture.

Institutional and legal framework. There has beendelayed reaction to developments in the aquaculturesector.

Social. These problems are related to land tenure,conflicts on the use of certain resources, access toaquaculture products by the poor, and personnel(processing workers, larvae collectors, etc.).

Economic. Instability, frequent currency changes, highinflation rates, high commodity prices andcompetition with capture fisheries are some of themain economic problems.

OUTLOOK

The Latin America and Caribbean region has beencharacterized by macro-economic changes in the lasttwo decades. Even in recent years, fluctuations incurrencies and inflation rates in some of the majorcountries have created difficulties for investment inaquaculture, still a relatively new industry in the region.Mid- and long-term projections for aquacultureproduction are therefore particularly speculative, andthis paper will only attempt to provide an outlook forthe short-term scenario, 1995-2000. The more recentAPRs for countries and species provide some guidanceon how aquaculture production may evolve in theregion.


Aquaculture growth in the Caribbean has stagnated inthe last five years due to the Cuban crisis. This countrystrongly influences projections for the sub-region as itcontributed over 78% of Caribbean production in 1995.The rest of the countries seem to have reached asituation of slow growth. The Cuban government iscommitted to invest in aquaculture development forfood security reasons, and is investing in new stations.Growth rate of the sector may be expected to increasemarkedly, although the targets established in 1996 forthe year 2000 appear to be too optimistic. A productionof 60,000 mt per year by 2000 would be a very goodresult and would bring the annual total for theCaribbean to about 70,000-75,000 mt. This growth islikely to be due to culture of tilapias in more intensivesystems and to the farming of Chinese carps. Anexpansion of crustacean culture in the Caribbean,mainly for export, will also see Cuba as the mainproducer.

Central America had a low APR in 1990-1995 due tothe poor performance of the sector in Mexico, whichcontributed 72% of the production of this sub-region.The outlook for Central America is a relatively fastgrowth of shrimp culture on the Pacific coast due tothe combined efforts of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras,Nicaragua and Panama. Shrimp culture has taken offin these countries since 1990 with APRs ranging from9 to 104 in 1990-1995, and this growth is expected tocontinue, disease epidemics permitting. It is likely thatfuture growth may accelerate with a more importantcontribution of shrimp culture to the total productionthan at present. Mexico has potential for areas to bedeveloped, already-established marketing channels forexport, and investment programmes that have beenrecently promoted by the Government with assistanceof the World Bank. All this suggests favourable growthprospects, in spite of the complex institutional situationwhich may be an impediment to rapid growth. Acontribution of about 70,000 mt of cultured shrimp byyear 2000 for Central America is not unreasonable (anAPR of 15 for 1995-2000), and a similar output couldbe expected for other commodities (APR 4), bringingthe total to 140,000 mt per year by 2000.

In South America, the major prospects for expansionof production are with salmonids, shrimp, tilapia andGracilaria. Salmonid culture is concentrated in Chile,which produces 90% of the sub-region’s total salmonidproduction, and has recorded APRs ranging from 27

to about 80 for the three major species. Prospects forAPRs in the order of 20 in the short term may even beconservative considering the advantages of the countryfor salmonid production, and the fact that it is alreadyan established industry. Projected overall annualsalmonid production of the sub-region by the year 2000would be about 350,000 mt. Shrimp production ismainly in Ecuador (84% of the total output), but thegrowth rate in 1990-1995 slowed down to an APR ofabout 3 due to the saturation of areas under cultureand the incidence of diseases. Future prospects maynot be very different from present rates and will bebased on sustainable extensive/semi-intensive farmingpractices, and measures to control diseases. However,other countries of the sub-region such as Venezuelaand Brazil may experience much faster growth ofshrimp culture due to the availability of suitable areasand the stagnation of supply at the world level, whichcould encourage investment. An annual total of about140,000 mt could be expected for year 2000 at an APRof 5. Tilapia culture is one of the fastest growing sub-sectors, pushed by the availability of export marketsand the introduction of intensive production packages.Production is concentrated in Colombia and Venezuelaand this situation is expected to remain stable up toyear 2000. A conservative APR for these two countriesof around 30 would mean an annual production levelof about 67,000 mt by year 2000. Gracilaria culture isalso concentrated in Chile and is expected to stabilizeat about 65,000 mt annually by 2000, although theextensive nature of the production and the climaticvariation in the sub-region may produce considerablevariations in output from year to year.

Overall, the contribution of the major cultured groupsis expected to increase the supply of aquacultureproducts, mainly oriented to export, from the 330,000mt (87% of the total production) in 1995 to about622,000 mt by 2000. Adding the rest of the speciesfarmed, total annual regional aquaculture productioncould be expected to be about 690,000 mt by year 2000.

No. 18, April 1998 25

PROJECTS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES ...

Meeting of GESAMP Working Group 31 onAquaculture and Coastal Management

The GESAMP Working Group 31 on EnvironmentalImpacts of Coastal Aquaculture held its Third Sessionduring 1-5 December 1997, in Bangkok, to reviewconcepts and experiences related to the integration ofaquaculture into coastal area management schemes.The Working Group addressed a wide range of issuespertinent to coastal aquaculture development, coastalmanagement, as well as experiences and conceptsrelated to efforts of integration. It decided to synthesiseits findings and conclusions to provide guidance toreaders on available technical information, and onoptions for initiating or strengthening actions forplanning and managing coastal aquaculturedevelopment in relation to existing or possible coastalmanagement efforts. The WG’s draft study report willbe presented to the 28th Session of GESAMP (Geneva,20-24 April 1998), for discussion and approval forpublication in the series of GESAMP Reports andStudies.

First Session of the Committee on Aquaculture andInland Fisheries (AIFIC) of the Asia-Pacific FisheryCommission (APFIC)

This session, which was originally scheduled forNovember 1997, was postponed to mid 1998 due tothe lack of quorum. The invitation to the countries hasbeen dispatched with the indication that the rescheduledmeeting would take place from 13 to 16 July 1998.The provisional agenda of this first session of theAIFIC includes: reviews of the status of inlandfisheries and aquaculture in Asia and the Pacific, basedon a synthesis of national reports; fisheries in foodsecurity in Asia and the Pacific (policy issues andpolicy measures); rural aquaculture, starting with focuson a proposed framework for country reviews; intra-regional cooperation; the future role and activities of

the AIFIC for which the countries are requested totake into consideration FAO’s on-going efforts to (i)formulate technical guidelines for the implementationof the Code of Conduct for Responsible fisheries, (ii)implement the Special Programme for Food Security,(iii) develop or facilitate the elaboration of informationsystems to support development and management ofthe sub-sectors, and (iv) to facilitate follow-up onidentified aquaculture development research priorities.

FAO/NACA Workshop on AquacultureInformation Systems In Asia

A three days workshop will take place at the NACAheadquarters in Bangkok from 11 to 14 May 1998 toinitiate discussion on the possibility of establishing anAsian Aquaculture Information System. The meeting,to which a selected group of representatives of Asiancountries and regional and sub-regional agencies willbe invited, will:

- review the result of a survey of existing data basesand aquaculture information systems conducted bythe FAO in major aquaculture producing countriesin Asia,

- discuss the perceived needs of the participatingcountries and agencies for aquaculture informationsystems,

- present the aquaculture information systems whichthe FAO is implementing in the Mediterranean underthe aegis of the Committee on Aquaculture of theGeneral Fisheries Council for the Mediterranean, and

- discuss an action plan for follow-up work and forcollaboration with other agencies of the region forthe implementation of the action plan.

Mario PediniSenior Development Adviser (Aquaculture)



The meeting will be jointly sponsored by the FAO andNACA, which has repeatedly indicated interest in thedevelopment of aquaculture information systems.

Second Meeting of the IOFC Gulfs Committee Ad-Hoc Working Group on Aquaculture

The second session of the Indian Ocean FisheriesCommission/Gulfs Committee Ad Hoc WorkingGroup on Aquaculture is being convened in Kuwaitfrom 18 to 21 May at the premises of the Maricultureand Fisheries Department of the Kuwait Institute forScientific Research. The provisional agenda of thismeeting, which follows a previous session in Cairo,Egypt, in October 1996, includes the following points:(a) the establishment of an aquaculture informationsystem, including a follow up work plan and schedule,(b) confirmation of the research priorities identified inthe First Meeting and identification of relatedintersessional activities, and (c) reports/technicalpapers on advances in aquaculture research anddevelopment, including progress in the application ofthe Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.

Strategy for International Fisheries and AquaticResearch (SIFAR), Support Unit

Following previous recommendations of the FisheryDevelopment Donor Consultation, a new Support Unitfor the Strategy for International Fisheries and AquaticResearch (known previously as SIFR - Strategy forInternational Fisheries Research) has now been set upalongside the Fisheries Department at FAO, Rome.

The role of the SIFAR Support Unit is to facilitate theidentification and funding of research proposals fromnational institutions and other responsible bodies inmember countries. Although not in itself a fundingsource, the SIFAR Support Unit will neverthelessprovide the necessary linkage between donors andrecipient organizations. This should ensure thatproposals are developed in a manner that meetsrespective technical and policy requirements, and arepresented in formats considered appropriate for donorfunding.

Although the Unit will be working primarily incollaboration with all of the Fisheries Department’stechnical services, it is attached administratively to theInternational Institutions and Liaison Service, FisheryPolicy and Planning Division. Furthermore, in orderto reinforce its cross-sectoral role, the Unit will develop

strategic linkages with other FAO Departments andthe various Regional and Sub-Regional offices.

The Unit became operational on 1 March 1998 withthe arrival at FAO of Mr. Tim Bostock who takes upa new appointment as Deputy Executive Secretary, andwill be acting as Executive Secretary until this post isfilled, possibly later on this year. With funding fromthe Department for International Development (DFID),he will be working with the Unit on secondment fromthe UK’s Natural Resources Institute (NRI). Mr.Bostock has extensive practical and managerialexperience in the field of fisheries research anddevelopment. Having spent 13 years working overseaswith several DFID-funded fisheries initiatives in LatinAmerica and south Asia (Bay of Bengal Programme),he has more recently been undertaking a variety ofshort-term consultancy activities in Africa with NRI,as well as a long-term assignment as Co-ordinator ofan EU-funded fisheries project in Mozambique. Since1995, he has held the post of UK Co-ordinator for theUNDP/GEF Lake Tanganyika Biodiversity Project.

The task now begins of transferring to FAO the existingbackground knowledge and experience from theprevious SIFR Secretariat based in IDRC, Ottawa,Canada. The Unit is financed by contributions from arange of bilateral and multi-lateral donors.Contributions are also received in kind.

For further information, please contact:Mr Tim BostockDeputy Executive SecretarySIFAR Support UnitFisheries Department, Room C646/7FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla00100 Rome, ITALYTelephone: (06) 5705 4606 (SIFAR Unit)

(06) 5705 5959 (Tim Bostock, direct)E-mail: [email protected]

[email protected] (direct)

Evaluation of Project CUB/91/005 “Developmentof Intensive Shrimp Culture in Cuba”

In 1997, UNDP requested FAO to organize a missionto evaluate the results of the above mentioned project.The mission was carried out in September 1997 by aninternational Consultant, Mr. C. Berger and a nationalexpert, Mr. Alfredo de la Cruz. This project was afollow-up of CUB/86/004, implemented by FAO, forthe improvement of culture techniques of the localspecies Penaeus schmitti and development of theshrimp culture subsector. By the end of this project, in

No. 18, April 1998 27

1990, Cuba had developed a total of 2 000 ha of shrimpponds and produced 1 200 mt. Shrimp postlarvae wereproduced in hatcheries which had an installed capacityof 570 million PLs. The objectives of the CUB/91/005were: to increase production through intensificationto an average of 3 mt/ha/year in two to three cycles; toautomate management controls to improve all phasesof the cycle; and to develop appropriate diets for thevarious culture stages. The project should have resultedin a production of 5 200 mt at the end of the project, in1995.

The project was nationally executed, and implementedthrough the Empresa Nacional de Camaronicultura(ENC) and later through the Asociación para el Cultivodel Camarón (CULTICAM). The area of the projectwas the southern part of the island in the provinces ofCienfuegos, Sancti Spiritus, Camagüey, Las Tunas andGranma. The project started in April 1993 andconcluded in July 1997. It suffered during itsimplementation from the drastic changes which tookplace in the Cuban economy, in what has been calledlocally the “special period”, resulting in reducedinvestment in the subsector. As a result of thesechanges, the project management revised theproduction strategy to adapt it to the new situation, ingeneral adopting methods requiring less inputs. Themain activities carried out concern experiments onintensification and diet formulation; as well as trainingof technicians; development of infrastructure andpurchase of equipment for grow-out facilities andhatcheries; and informatization of the productionprocess.

Project evaluation was generally positive, although notall the expected results were achieved. The countryhas benefited from the training imparted through theproject and from the availability of equipment forproduction. Management of the project was consideredto be of good standard. The output in terms of expectedproduction was not achieved, but the mission was ofthe opinion that production targets were excessivelyoptimistic, as they did not take into account thefinancial viability of proposed models. As a result ofthe activities of this development project, Cuba hasacquired a better understanding of shrimp culture interms of sustainability and financial viability. Themission recommended to UNDP that, for future similarprojects in areas where there is limited experience,prefeasibility and feasibility analysis be implemented,inorder to identify viable production scenarios. In thecase of Cuba, this would mean to consider more semi-intensive practices, to promote growth of natural foodin the ponds, as well as different feeding strategies and

changes in the harvest strategies. The mission alsorecommended the use of external assistance when newtechnologies were to be introduced.

Assistance for Responsible Movement of LiveAquatic Animals

A new regional TCP project TCP/RAS/6714 of twoyears duration has been approved for the Asian regionto assist in the area of movement of live aquaticanimals. The project, which is to be implement throughthe Network of Aquaculture Centres for Asia-Pacific(NACA), has already started operating. Diseaseoutbreaks are becoming increasingly recognized as asignificant constraint to aquaculture production. In1990 the losses in developing countries of the Asianregion were estimated at no less than US $ 1 400million, and in 1993 in China alone the losses in shrimpfarms amounted to about US $ 1 000 million. Recentestimates based on farms surveys in 16 Asian countriessuggest losses in the order of US $ 3 000 million.Movements of live aquatic organism are consideredto be an important factor in the spread of diseases inAsia. This has prompted the Asian countries to requestassistance to improve regulatory and technicalmeasures (as recommended in Article 9, onAquaculture Development, of the Code of Conductfor Responsible Fisheries).

The Immediate Objective of this new project is todevelop national and Asia Regional TechnicalGuidelines on Animal Quarantine and HealthCertification for the safe and responsible transboundarymovement of live aquatic animals. The expected resultsof the project are: the development of national technicalguidelines on quarantine and health certification for19 countries; formally agreed and standardized AsiaRegional technical guidelines on quarantine and healthcertification of live aquatic animals; and improvedcapacity of national aquatic animal quarantine andhealth certification authorities in 19 Asian countriesto exchange information on aquatic animal pathogens,disease outbreaks epizootics, standardized diagnosticprocedures, and control and preventive measures. Theproject workplan is divided in six phases, the first onefrom December 1997 to January 1998 for theestablishment of an Information Base, the second phase(February 1998) dealing with provision of training andestablishment of information collection procedures, thethird phase (March to April 1998) for the installationof computer facilities and start of the data/informationcollection. The fourth and key phase (till June 1999)will include the analysis of information collected andthe drafting of the technical guidelines. The guidelines


will be revised in the fifth phase (July to August 1999),while the sixth phase (September 1999) will be devotedto the adoption of the technical guidelines.

FAO will provide international experts and consultantson computer networking and data base development,aquatic animal health information systems andepidemiology, and aquatic animal health certificationand quarantine. In addition, personnel of the FAOFisheries Department will be directly involved in theimplementation and backstopping of the project. TheFAO will assist with equipment (computers) and withliking the new network to the Internet. Funds will alsobe provided for regional and national (China and India)training. The project also receives some technical andfinancial assistance from a number of national, regionaland international institutions and agencies such asOffice International des Epizooties (OIE), UKDepartment for International Development (DFID),and the Governments of Japan and Australia.

NACA will contribute to the project by assuming alladministrative, planning and implementationresponsibilities, providing physical facilities andsecretarial services, and will assume responsibilitiesfor maintaining the Internet links once the project isconcluded. NACA will also be responsible for thepreparation and distribution of publications.

Third Technical Coordination Meeting of the SouthPacific Aquaculture Development Project (PhaseII), GCP/RAS/116/JPN

The Third Technical Coordination Meeting (TCM) ofthe SPDAP II took place from 20 to 22 November 1997,in Nadi, Fiji with participation of delegations from Fiji,Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands,Tonga, and Vanuatu. The meeting was also attendedby ICLARM, the Canada-South Pacific OceanDevelopment Programme II, South Pacific ProjectFacility, University of South Pacific, Tonga/ JICAproject, Overseas Fishery Cooperation Foundation ofJapan, the donor agency: the Fisheries Agency of Japan,representative of the FAO RAP office in Bangkok andresource persons.

This project had started operations in April 1994 andis scheduled to terminate in mid 1999. It is assisting15 island nations of the South Pacific in their effort todevelop sustainable aquaculture as a contribution totheir food security. The main purpose of the TCM wasto review the progress of the project and to formulatethe work plan for 1998/99.

The activities carried out since August 1996 on aspecies basis were:

Tilapia culture: assistance to restocking programmein Samoa; taste test in Samoa and Nauru; assistanceto development of commercial culture andmarketing information in Fiji; organization ofworkshop/training in Fiji and organization of astudy tour.

Milkfish farming: training and demonstration inTuvalu and Nauru; assessment of milkfish as baitfor tuna fishing in Fiji; organization of workshops/training in Tuvalu and Fiji; organization of studytours and distribution of information materials toall countries.

Freshwater prawn culture: the project suppliedpostlarvae to Fiji.

Seaweed farming: assistance to Fiji, Samoa, Tongaand Kiribati in marketing surveys; collaborationwith the University of South Pacific on the cultureof sea grapes and red algae; brown algae stocksurvey in Tonga; organization of a workshop/training on seaweed farming in Kiribati and onseaweed handling in Tonga; and distribution ofinformation materials to the member countries.

Mollusc culture: exploring possibilities for jointventures on Mabe pearl farming in Tonga and Palau;site selection for green snail culture in Samoa;marketing studies on giant clam meat; surveys andrestocking of trochus in Niue, Cook Islands, andKiribati; study tours and training on green snailrestocking; a regional training course (jointly withJICA) on green snail seed production and stockenhancement; pearl farming and distribution ofinformation material on giant clam culture and onpearl production.

In addition, the project obtained CITES clearance forSolomon Islands and Tonga; organized and held aworkshop on Marketing of Aquaculture Commodities;assisted Fiji in the relocation of the freshwateraquaculture center; and collaborated with ICLARMand SPC in setting up a self supporting mechanism forthe development of aquaculture in the region.

The proposed plan of work for the remaining periodof the project was drawn according to the seven projectobjectives, with special emphasis on the specific needsand current status of aquaculture development in the15 member countries of the project.

No. 18, April 1998 29

FAO. 1997. Review of the state of world aquaculture.FAO Fisheries Circular, No. 886, Rev. 1. Rome, FAO.1997. 163p.

The circular updates the regular review of worldaquaculture, based mainly on national statisticsprovided to FAO bits Members through 1995. Thereview is prepared in three parts. The first provides aglobal perspective of production and production trends,and the contribution of the sector to food fish supplies.It identifies some of the major strategic issues facingaquaculture development and presents a roughestimation of production by the year 2 000. The secondpart reviews developments and trends in someimportant fields, including environmental interactions,biodiversity and genetics, feed resources, fish healthand quarantine, regulatory frameworks, product safety,international trade, and international aid to researchand development. The third part reviews productionand production trends, as well as main developmentissues and outlook on a regional basis, for each of sevenregions: Asia, Africa, Former USSR Area, NorthAmerica, Latin America and the Caribbean, andOceania.

Charles, A.T.; Agbayani, R. F.; Agbayani, C.E.;Aguero, M.; Belleza, E.T.; Gonzalez, E.; Stomal, B.and Weigel, J.Y. 1997. Aquaculture economics indeveloping countries: regional assessments and anannotated bibliography. FAO Fisheries Circular, No.932. Rome, FAO. 1997. 396p.

As aquaculture expands in importance globally, thereis an increasing need for corresponding information,to aid managers, policy-makers and planners. Thisdocument seeks to provide a review of the current stateof the aquaculture economics information and researchbase in developing countries, based on acomprehensive compilation of available literature onthe subject. A broad integrated view is adopted,encompassing micro- and macro-economics, marketanalysis, socio-economics and environmentaleconomics, the relationship with non-aquacultureeconomic activities (household economics), as well asrelevant socio-cultural considerations. The circularcontains two principal components. First, there is a setof regional assessments (Africa and the Middle East,Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific)reviewing the economics of aquaculture activity, thestate of the art in aquaculture economics research, andresearch priorities for the future, on a region-by-regionbasis. Second, a set of annotated bibliographies isprovided, one for each of the three regions, togetherwith a bibliography of general references. In total, 1154 references are included: 77 general; 223 for Africaand the Middle east; 133 for Latin America and theCaribbean; and 721 for Asia and the Pacific. Eachbibliography documents available literature on theeconomics of aquaculture systems, emphasizing themost recent literature, but also including older literatureas relevant to the current state of aquaculture. Allbibliographies are indexed according to country,aquatic species, production environment, productionsystem and eight economic subject areas.

NEW FAO PUBLICATIONS

Ziad H. ShehadehSenior Fishery Resources Officer



Rana, K. J. 1997. Guidelines on the collection ofstructural aquaculture statistics. Supplement to theProgramme of the World Census of Agriculture 2 000.FAO Statistical Development Series, No. 5b. Rome,FAO. 1997. 56p.

The Census of Agriculture is a large scale nationalstatistical operation for collecting quantitativeinformation on the structure of the countries foodproduction sector. The new programme for the WorldCensus of Agriculture 2 000 (WCA 2 000 Programme)recommends extending the scope of the programmeto include aquaculture. This Supplement onaquaculture is intended to assist countries to improvetheir current surveys of aquaculture and to provide aframework for those countries intending to developdatabases on aquaculture information. Its four chaptersprovide background information on the need for theSupplement and definitions, concepts, standards andguidelines for collecting internationally comparabledata on aspects such as location and size of the farms,types of aquacultural activity, employment structure,resource use and other aquacultural inputs. The itemsproposed for collection address issues related to naturalresource utilization and sustainable aquaculturedevelopment issues. The Supplement also providesexamples of summary tables which could be used todevelop a questionnaire. Also included are relevantnotes from the main WCA 2 000 Programme and thespecies classification list for farmed aquatic speciesused by FAO.

FAO. 1997. Pêche et aquaculture au Proche-Orient eten Afrique du Nord: situation et perspectives en 1996.FAO Circulaire sur les Pêches No. 919. Rome, FAO.1997. 39p.

This is the French version of the Circular of the samenumber, published in 1996 (see FAN 15: 33-34). Itpresents a detailed analysis of the state of fisheries andaquaculture in the region, one of eight such regionalstudies carried out for the preparation of The State ofWorld Fisheries and Aquaculture (see FAN 16: 27).The contents were described earlier in FAN 15, page34.

FAO. 1997. Inland fisheries. FAO TechnicalGuidelines for Responsible Fisheries, No. 6. Rome,FAO. 36p.

This is yet another of a continuing series of guidelinespublished by the Organization to facilitate theimplementation of the Code of Conduct forResponsible Fisheries. Inland fisheries differ from most

other fisheries forming the subject of the Code in theirhigh degree of inter-relatedness with other users of theaquatic resource. In most areas of the world theprincipal impacts on fisheries do not originate fromthe fishery itself but from outside the fishery.Consequently most aspects of the Code directed at theconservation and sustainability of the resource areunder the control of a wide range of superior socialand financial implications for society. Implementationof the provisions of the Code in these cases is more aquestion of negotiation and consultation with theseinterests. The fishery has to be managed within theconstraints imposed by these external sectors and,while there is space for conventional management ofthe fishery as such, much attention is paid to techniquesfor mitigation or rehabilitation of external impacts.Inland fisheries are increasingly sharing the problemsof aquaculture in that there are attempts in manyfisheries to deliberately influence the composition ofthe fish assemblages in favour of societal goals. Theseintroduce concepts of sustainability which correspondmore to agriculture than to conventional capturefisheries, and here interpretation of some articles ofthe Code has to be liberal.

Sugunan, V.V. 1997. Fisheries management of smallwater bodies in seven countries in Africa, Asia andLatin America. FAO Fisheries Circular, No. 933.Rome, FAO. 1997. 149p.

The current interest in small water bodies derivesmainly from their utilization for fisheries enhancement,which involves guidance on stocking, exploitation andspecies management in order to obtain optimum yieldon a sustainable basis. This Circular contains the resultsof an attempt to probe into the national experience inmanagement of small water bodies in selected tropicalcountries with a view to gauging the resource size andassessing the strengths, weaknesses and issues involvedin their management from a global perspective in orderto facilitate bilateral or multilateral interaction amongnations displaying similar characteristics. The Circularprovides an overview of the small water bodies andtheir fisheries in southern Africa, Asia and LatinAmerica, represented by Zimbabwe, India, Thailand,Sri Lanka, Brazil, Cuba and Mexico. It depends heavilyon the secondary data collected from variousgovernment agencies of the countries. A mainconstraint has been the remote and nondescript natureof the resources, the details of which, if available, werescattered among a number of agencies. Nevertheless,major facets of fisheries management in small waterbodies in the seven countries have been highlighted.The main emphasis was on the resource size,

No. 18, April 1998 31

organization of fisheries management and speciesmanagement, depending on the availability of data andinformation. An endeavour has also been made to offerpolicy prescriptions of operational significance forstreamlining the fishery management of small waterbodies, particularly the reservoirs and other man-madeimpoundments which have promising fishery potential.

FAO/DFID. 1997. Report of the Expert Consultationon Inland Fishery Enhancements. Dhaka, Bangladesh,7-11 April 1997. FAO Fisheries Report, No. 559.Rome, FAO. 1997. 18p.

The potential for enhancement of fish production frominland waters is a priority activity of the Inland WaterResources and Aquaculture Service of the FAOFisheries Department. Recognizing the highsignificance of the enhancement of fisheries for itsmember countries, FAO, in close collaboration withthe Department for International Development of theUnited Kingdom (DFID, UK), organized an ExpertConsultation on Inland Fisheries Enhancements inDhaka, Bangladesh, from 7 to 11 April, hosted by theGovernment of Bangladesh. The consultation wasattended by 42 participants from 13 countries. Themajor objective was to promote better understandingof how the various technical, socio-economic, culturaland administrative factors involved in implementinginland fisheries enhancements programmes must fittogether to achieve success. The key conclusions werethat: (i) enhancements of fisheries resources are likelyto be accompanied by changes, (ii) significantproduction increases and associated benefits arepossible via enhancements, but resource limitations andinstitutional constraints are likely to moderate the paceof enhancements; (iii) proper resource managementof the fishery and the ecosystem, often through theuse of traditional systems, is necessary to maintain theresource equilibrium that is needed for long-termsustainability; (iv) governments need to recognize bothtraditional and non-traditional approaches prior to theformulation of new fishery laws and regulations; and(v) institutional constraints are equal to or greater thantechnical limitations.

CIFA. 1997. Report of the sixth session of the Sub-Committee for the Protection and Development of theFisheries in the Sahelian Zone. Accra, Ghana, 21-24July 1997. FAO Fisheries Report, No. 567, Accra,FAO, 1997. 32p.

This document is the final formal report of the SixthSession of the Sub-Committee for the Protection andDevelopment of the Fisheries in the Sahelian Zone of

the Committee for Inland Fisheries of Africa (CIFA).Major topics discussed were: the contribution offisheries in man-made lakes and irrigation dams to foodsecurity in the Zone; the current status of fisheriesdevelopment and management in the Saheliancountries and the contribution of aquaculture to fishproduction in the Sahel; future of the CIFA Sub-Committee for the Protection and Development of theFisheries in the Sahelian Zone and the sub-regionalproject proposal for management planning of Sahelianfisheries. The report provides information on the maindecisions, directives and recommendations of thesession.

GESAMP (IMO/FAO/UNESCO-IOC/WMO/WHO/IAEA/UN/UNEP Joint Group of Experts on theScientific Aspects of Marine EnvironmentalProtection). 1996. The contributions of science tocoastal zone management. Reports and Studies,GESAMP, No. 61. Rome, FAO. 1996. 66p.

The scope, objectives and defining features ofIntegrated Coastal Management (ICM) are brieflydescribed and a conceptual framework for the effectiveoperation and evolution of ICM programmes ispresented. ICM programmes have the dual goals ofconserving the productivity and biodiversity of coastalecosystems while improving and sustaining the qualityof life of human communities. This requires the activeand ongoing involvement of the interested public andthe many sectoral groups with interests in howresources are allocated, development options arenegotiated and conflicts mediated. Selected case studiesfrom a diversity of settings in developed anddeveloping nations reveal striking commonalties in theinterplay between science and ICM and demonstratethat effective ICM cannot occur in the absence ofscience. The natural sciences are vital to understandingthe functioning of ecosystems, and the social sciencesare essential to comprehending patterns of humanbehaviour that cause ecological damage and to findingeffective solutions. Scientists and resource managersoften have different perspectives and imperatives, butneed to work together as a team and reach agreementon the scientific work needed to address priorities andguide policy development. The case studies alsounderscore that programmes must tailor their scopeand objectives for a given period to the capabilities ofthe institutions involved.


Mr. Jiansan Jia Assumes Post As FIRI Chief

Mr. Jiansan Jia has been appointed Chief of the Inland Water Resources andAquaculture Service (FIRI) of the Fishery Resources Division and took up hisduties at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy on 16 March 1998. A Chinese national,he gained his M.Sc. in aquaculture from the University of the Philippines in Visayasin 1982.

Mr. Jia worked for the Ministry of Agriculture in Beijing from 1986 to 1988, asDirector of the Division of External Economic Relations, Bureau of Aquatic

Products. In this capacity, he was responsible for promoting cooperation in fisheries with other countries andinternational organizations and was directly involved in externally funded aquaculture development projects.Subsequently (1988-1993), he was Deputy Director-General of the Bureau of Aquatic Products, Ministry ofAgriculture (MOA), in Beijing, where he participated in the formulation of national development policies ofthe fisheries sector, with emphasis on aquaculture development. From 1993 to 1994, Mr. Jia served as ViceGeneral Manager of the China National FisheriesCorporation in Beijing, with full responsibility for theaquaculture-related business of the company.Thereafter he was first Deputy Director-General andthen Director-General a.i. of the Department ofInternational Cooperation, (MOA) in Beijing for theperiod 1994-98. Here, he supervised and coordinatedbilateral and multilateral cooperation with variousgovernmental and international organizations in thefields of agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries.

In January 1998 he was appointed General Managerof the China National Agricultural Livestock/FisheryCorporation in Beijing, where he implemented thetechnical assistance programmes provided by theGovernment of the People’s Republic of China todeveloping countries in the fields of agriculture, animalhusbandry and fisheries.

Mr. Jia is a member of the Asian Fishery Society, the China Society of Fisheries, the International Institute ofFisheries Economics and Trade, and the North Pacific Marine Science Organization, as well as a member ofthe editorial boards of a number of scientific journals.

Mr. Jia is the first service chief of FIRI with a predominantly aquaculture background. His extensive experiencein shaping the aquaculture sector in the People’s Republic of China (PR China), is a major asset for FIRI andthe Fisheries Department in general. The PR China accounted for 63% of global production from aquaculturein 1995, as well as 27 % of global landings from inland capture fisheries. It is also largely responsible for thehigh global growth rate of aquaculture. At a time when many countries are increasingly looking to aquacultureto help maintain per capita fish supplies, Mr. Jia’s appointment is both timely and appropriate. We bid himwelcome and look forward to working with him in furthering the development of sustainable aquaculture andinland fisheries.

Mr. Jiansan Jia (left) with Mr. Moritaka Hayashi,Assistant Director General (Fisheries)

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