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ISSN 0859-600X Volume IX No. 2 April-June 2004 New Marine Finfish Aquaculture Magazine! All-male Macrobrachium culture in India Opportunities in Myanmar aquaculture Koi herpes virus and transboundary diseases Now available on CD-ROM! Carp culture in Iran HACCP in shrimp culture

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Page 1: New Marine Finfish Aquaculture Magazine!library.enaca.org/AquacultureAsia/Articles/April... · 1. Network of Aquaculture in Asia-Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand 2. Department of Aquaculture,

ISSN 0859-600X Volume IX No. 2 April-June 2004

New Marine Finfish Aquaculture Magazine!

All-male Macrobrachium culture in India

Opportunities in Myanmar aquaculture

Koi herpes virus and transboundary diseases

Now available on CD-ROM!

Carp culture in Iran

HACCP in shrimp culture

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Aquaculture Asia is an autonomous publicationthat gives people in developing

countries a voice. The views andopinions expressed herein arethose of the contributors and do

not represent the policies orposition of NACA

EditorSimon Wilkinson

[email protected]

Editorial Advisory BoardC. Kwei Lin

Donald J. MacIntoshMichael B. New, OBE

Patrick Sorgeloos

Editorial ConsultantPedro Bueno

NACAAn intergovernmental

organization that promotes ruraldevelopment through

sustainable aquaculture. NACAseeks to improve rural income,increase food production and

foreign exchange earnings andto diversify farm production. Theultimate beneficiaries of NACAactivities are farmers and rural

communities.

ContactThe Editor, Aquaculture Asia

PO Box 1040Kasetsart Post Office

Bangkok 10903, ThailandTel +66-2 561 1728Fax +66-2 561 1727

[email protected] http://www.enaca.org

Printed by Scand-Media Co., Ltd.

1

From the Editor’s desk

Asia-Pacific Marine Finfish Aquaculture Magazine

As of this issue the marine finfish section has been revised and expanded into a smallmagazine in its own right, the Asia-Pacific Marine Finfish Aquaculture Magazine,produced quarterly. The hard-copy version will be printed as part of AquacultureAsia, and a stand-alone electronic version is available for download from the NACAwebsite. This is a natural progression of the highly successful MFAN electronicnewsletter, coordinated by NACA in cooperation with ACIAR, APEC, the QueenslandDPI&F, and SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department. It builds on and supplements theregular Marine Finfish Aquaculture Network e-news service, which is now alsocirculated with greater frequency (fortnightly).

Contributions to the magazine are most welcome. If you are involved in marinefinfish aquaculture and have some research findings or perhaps some hot hands-onfarming tips then please write them down!

Regular visitors to the website may have noticed the ‘Marine finfish photos’ link inthe Databases & services section, which leads to an online collection of high-qualityphotographs. We are always on the lookout for more, particularly for clear “specimen”shots of different species that can be used for identification purposes, and culturesystems. Please help us put a good collection together - if you have any photographsyou would like to share with the network please send them in. All contributions to theMarine Finfish Aquaculture Network should be sent to [email protected].

With regards to Aquaculture Asia Magazine itself, we have recently added a‘Magazine’ section to the website as a further alternative means of access (thismagazine is now circulated in print, on CD, and online in html and PDF formats). TheMagazine section contains all of the feature articles in html format, so you can simplyclick and view them in your browser. Down at the bottom of each story you will alsofind two useful buttons: ‘Printer friendly page’, so you can generate your own hardcopy if you wish, and ‘Email to friend’, which speaks for itself. The website isupdated in real time with new articles added as soon as they are edited, so check itout from time to time for the latest stories.

Lastly, we are expanding both our magazine and website coverage to includeornamental fish and genetics. In order to kick off these new sections we need high-quality articles and regular contributions of news stories, market prices and industrygossip !

If you would like to contribute to either of these sections please contact me [email protected]. We that request prospective authors please refer to ourGuidelines for Contributors before making a submission. You can email me to requesta copy, or download them directly from the website at:

http://www.enaca.org/modules/mydownloads/viewcat.php?cid=83

Volume IX No. 2 ISSN 0859-600XApril-June 2004

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A q u a c u l t u r e A s i a2

In this issue

Sustainable AquacultureGenetic impacts of translocations on biodiversity of aquatic species with particular 4reference to Asian countriesThuy T. T. Nguyen and Uthairat Na-Nakorn

Carp culture in Iran 8Hassan Salehi

Opportunities and challenges in Myanmar aquaculture 12U Hla Win

Research and Farming TechniquesImpacts of mono-sex Macrobrachium culture on the future of seed availability in India 15Paramaraj Balamurugan, Pitchaimuthu Mariappan and Chellam Balasundaram

Use of new technology and skill enhancement to obtain eco-friendly production of 17Tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) ?Asbjorn Drengstig, Asbjorn Bergheim & Bjorn Braaten

Larval rearing and spat production of the windowpane shell Placuna placenta 20S. Dharmaraj, K. Shanmugasundaram and C.P. Suja

Aquatic Animal HealthTrans-boundary aquatic animal diseases: Focus on Koi herpes virus (KHV) 24Melba G. Bondad-Reantaso

BusinessHACCP in shrimp farming 29Siri Tookwinas and Suwimon Keerativiriyaporn

Asia-Pacific Marine Finfish Aquaculture Network 33

Aquaculture calendar 46What’s new on the web: NACA website 48

Page 8

Page 12

Page 15

Page 27

Page 37

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April-June 2004 (Vol. IX No. 2) 3

Notes from the Publisher Notes from the Publisher Notes from the Publisher Notes from the Publisher Notes from the PublisherPedro Bueno is theDirector-General ofNACA. He is theformer Editor ofAquaculture Asia

I.R. Iran and NACASHILAT (Iranian Fisheries Company).NACA also arranged visits of expertson shrimp and freshwater prawn toIran. There have also been instanceswhen NACA identified for the privateaquaculture sector of Iran suitableconsultants for their projects.It had taken time to complete theaccession but the Government,following the initial contacts,continued to actively and responsiblytake part in a number of regionalprojects under NACA as well asparticipate in all but one GoverningCouncil Meeting since 1992 and allseven the Technical AdvisoryCommittee Meetings so far.

Indonesia confirms

At the same meeting, the Governmentof Indonesia through its ForeignMinistry, confirmed the Government’sdecision to accede to the NACAAgreement. The announcement wasmade at the Governing CouncilMeeting by an official of the Embassyof the S.R. of Sri Lanka in Jakarta. Sincethe NACA project years from 1980 to1989, Indonesia had been an activeparticipant in all the core activities andprojects. It hosted the 7th TechnicalAdvisory Committee Meeting, held inBali in July 2003. A regular course ongrouper culture, as a component of theAsia-Pacific Marine Fish R and DProgram - has been instituted at theGondol Research Institute forMariculture in Bali. During the periodwhen NACA was funded by UNDP andoperated by FAO, Indonesiavoluntarily contributed a yearly sum toNACA; after autonomy, it continuedwith this yearly contribution.Also taking part for the first time asobserver at GC 15 was the Sultanate ofOman represented by its FisheriesDirector General Dr. Younis Khalfan Al-Akhzami. Dr Younis mentionedpossible areas of cooperation and said

that Oman will study the possibility oftheir participating in NACA.

Way to go for Sri Lankanaquaculture

Preceding the 15th Governing CouncilMeeting was the Third AquaBusinessSeminar with the theme “Aquaculturefor Rural Development: Way to Go forSri Lanka”. It was organized byNAQDA and the Fisheries Ministrywith the cooperation of the privatesector, and the assistance of NACA.More than 150 people participatedincluding the Council Meetingdelegates. The two-day seminardiscussed technical, environmental andsocial issues related to aquaculture andaquatic resources management. Theresource persons were from NAQDA,NARA, Fisheries Ministry, theuniversities, and were complementedby experts from the Governing Council,the NACA Secretariat, STREAMInitiative, the NACA Regional LeadCentres, and others who have been“sourced” out by NACA, particularlythe expert on ornamental fish fromPrague (Dr.Petr Pozel), who stayed onto provide advice to farmers and toNAQDA. A presentation on theprinciples and prospects forcertification of harvested as well asbred marine ornamental animals wasalso contributed by Paul Holthuis ofthe Hawaii-based Marine AquariumCouncil.

We would like to announce themembership of and warmly welcome theIslamic Republic of Iran to the NACAOrganization. The Governing Councilunanimously accepted I.R. Iran’sapplication – made through the Officeof the FAO Director General inaccordance with the provisions of theNACA Agreement - during its 15th

Meeting, held in Colombo and Kandy,Sri Lanka in on 21-25 April 2004.Iran first had official contacts withNACA in 1992: Attendance in the FirstTechnical Advisory Committee Meetingin Hat Yai, Thailand and the 4th

Governing Council Meeting held inHong Kong. The delegation was led bythen Vice Minister for Jehad-e-Sezandegui, the Hon. Lahijanian, whotold the Council of the desire of Iran tojoin NACA as a member. An immediateoffshoot of this was the visit, on theinvitation and hosting of Iran, of aNACA Team consisting of then NACACoordinator Dr BanchongTiensongrusmee, India’s GoverningCouncil Member Dr P.V. Dehadrai, andthe NACA Information Specialist toidentify areas for cooperation.Following these initial official contacts,Iran requested NACA to organizeseveral training and study tourprogrammes for their professional andtechnical personnel in a number ofareas including shrimp hatchery andpond culture management (in Thailandand the Philippines) and Indian majorcarp breeding and culture (in India), aswell as continuing participation in theintegrated farming course in Wuxi,China. (I was at the opening ceremonywith other NACA and FAO and IDRCrepresentatives, and represented theNACA Coordinator as the closingspeaker for the 1988 IFF course inwhich 18 Iranians were among 39graduates). A number of theparticipants have gone on to pursuegraduate studies, and many havesubsequently taken up managerialposts in various field offices of

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Sustainable aquaculture

Genetic impacts of translocations on biodiversity ofaquatic species with particular reference to Asian

countries

Thuy T. T. Nguyen1 and Uthairat Na-Nakorn2

1. Network of Aquaculture in Asia-Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand2. Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Fisheries, Kasetsart University,

Thailand

Long term damage could result toaquaculture and to fisheries whentranslocations (or transfers orintroductions) of aquatic species arehaphazard. This article by Dr NguyenT. T. Thuy and Professor Uthairat Na-Nakorn, explores some past andpotential influences on the geneticdiversity of aquatic fauna fromtranslocations, focusing on geneticinteractions that could be broughtabout. Some 30 years ago, Dr T.V.R.Pillay suggested that the era ofhaphazard translocations was overand that any future translocations willbe better planned and evaluated. Thishas not yet happened; many nationsand countries, signatories tointernational conventions included,continue to indulge in translocation ofaquatic species for aquaculture andthe pet trade, often based on thenarrow objective of increasingproduction.

Fish species translocations,inadvertently or otherwise, have beentaking place ever since humans startedlarge-scale migrations. Most majorhuman migrations were associated withmovement of plants and animals thatwere familiar to the migratingcommunities. In the modern era,translocations of fish and other aquaticanimals (as well as plants) has becomemore deliberate, carried out mainly forpurposes of food production, as petsor for ornamental value, and even forcontrol of noxious weeds and the like(Welcomme 1988). In addition toapparently purposeful translocations,unintentional and accidental

translocations occurred and continueto be so even today. A major problemfacing most maritime countries istranslocations or accidentalintroductions associated with thedischarge of ballast water, which is asubject on its own right (Crossman andCudmore 2000)

Translocation is defined as thetransfer of an organism, by humanagency, from one place to another(Hodder and Bullock 1997). A numberof synonyms are also commonly used,these being “introduction” or“transfer”. Translocation thereforeincludes the introduction of speciesinto areas where they did notpreviously exist, and the movement ofindividuals or populations from onelocality to another within the naturaldistributional range of the species(Doupé and Lymbery, 2000). Theintroduced species/populations arethen referred to as exotic or alienspecies/populations. The use of theterm “alien” came into prominencesince its adoption by the Conventionon Biological Diversity (CBD)(Convention on Biological Diversity,1994), and is the preferred term of someinternational and national agencies.

The bulk of translocations ofaquatic species have been primarilyassociated with fish food production.The overall success of suchtranslocations as well as the impacts oftranslocations on native fauna havebeen reviewed by Welcomme (1988)and De Silva (1989). In general, most ofthese translocations have been a postWorld War I phenomenon and havebeen associated with aquaculture

development in the world and thecommercial pet trade. In 1977, Pillaysuggested that the era of haphazardtranslocations was over and that anyfuture translocations will be betterplanned and evaluated. This is still along way from being realised; manynations, even though they aresignatories to internationalconventions, continue to indulge intranslocation of aquatic species foraquaculture and the pet trade oftenbased on the narrow objective ofincreasing production.

In general, analyses and evaluationsof translocation have been confined todirect, visible affects on the diversityof native flora and fauna. Theseinclude specific influences on thestatus of individual native speciessuch as whether an alien species/populations has affected thevulnerability of a species or a flock ofspecies, such as for example the effects

Thuy Nguyen graduated from NhatrangFisheries University, Vietnam, in 1995 inaquaculture and proceeded to completeher Diploma and Masters in Aquaculture(1999) at Deakin University, Australia.Thuy obtained her PhD from Deakin inmolecular genetics in 2003. Her particularinterest is using molecular geneticsmarkers to addressing questions relatingto phylogenetics, phylogeography andpopulation genetics. Currently she holdsthe position of Research Associate inNACA and is responsible for developingprograms on application of genetics inbiodiversity issues related to inlandfisheries management and aquaculture inthe region.

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of the introduction of Nile perch (Latesniloticus) on the Haplochrominidcichlid species in Lake Victoria, Africa(Leveque, 1995). In addition, diseaseand parasite transmission associatedwith translocations also have been welldocumented (Dobson and May, 1986)and indeed in the recent times thisaspect has been given muchprominence particularly in respect ofdisease transmission associated withthe shrimp aquaculture industry(Bondad-Reantaso, 2004). On the otherhand, relatively unnoticed and paidscant attention to are the effects oftranslocations on the genetic make upof indigenous species/populations.

This article explores and documentssome past and potential influences onthe genetic diversity of the aquaticfauna, with particular reference toAsian countries, as whereverappropriate, resulting fromtranslocations. It makes no attempt toevaluate ecological impacts ofintroductions apart from indirectgenetic impacts on the native genepools. Although generally notevaluated, in some areas these aspectshave been dealt with (eg. Beverton,1992; De Silva et al., 2004; Guerrero,1999; Kudhongania et al., 1992;Welcomme and Vidthayanon, 2003,amongst others). The major focus herewill be on genetic interactions thatcould be brought about throughtranslocations.

Potential genetic effects oftranslocations

Genetically, translocations can beconsidered in two ways: (1) theintroduction of an entirely new speciesinto a new location/habitat, and (2) theintroduction of new populations/strains of species already present inthat locality. The former is relativelyeasy to detect and the effects aregenerally more obvious (Beverton,1992; Kudhongania et al., 1992;Welcomme and Vidthayanon, 2003). Incontrast, the latter event is oftendifficult to recognise due to the lack ofmorphological differentiation betweenpopulations/strains within species.Also, more often than not, genetic dataregarding population structure prior totranslocations are not available andthis makes it difficult, if not impossible,to conduct comparative studies on the

changes brought about as a result ofthe translocation.

Introduction of exotic species/populations into a new environmentcan alter the genetic composition of thenative fauna in many different ways.Direct effects include reduced geneticdiversity and outbreeding depressionby hybridisation/introgression, andindirect effects are those related toreduced population size and changesof selective pressure due to ecologicalinteractions such as competition,predation and disease transmission(Waples, 1995). Domestication foraquaculture can alter allele frequenciesand reduce genetic variation andtherefore also contribute significantlyto the modification of geneticcomposition of the native fauna ifthese stocks are released for stockenhancement and/or escape fromaquaculture operations.

Hybridisation and introgression

Hybridisation is interbreeding ofindividuals from genetically distinctpopulations, regardless of thetaxonomic status of such populations(Harrison, 1993). Introgression is geneflow between populations whoseindividuals hybridise, and occurs whenhybrids backcross with one or bothparental populations. Hybridisation,however, need not necessarily beaccompanied by introgression. Forexample, offspring of hybrids might allbe sterile. Introgression can also beunidirectional, with backcrossing withone parental population only, buthybridisation can pose a threat to smallpopulations even if gene pools do notmix. Hybridisation and introgressioncan be especially problematic for rarespecies when they are forced tointeract with more abundant anddominant ones.

An example of loss of diversity ofnative species due to massiveintrogression has been reported for anumber of trout species in Western USwatersheds (Allendorf and Leary, 1998;Dowling and Childs, 1992; Leary et al.,1993). For example, rainbow trout(Oncorhynchus mykiss) hybridiseeasily and extensively with threatenedApache trout (O. apache) andendangered Gila trout (O. gilae). Now itis known that 65% of Apache trouthave rainbow trout alleles and one

native population is completelycomposed of rainbow trout.Comparable molecular studies are alsoavailable from Northern Italy withregard to domestic forms of browntrout (Salmo trutta), as well as fromPoland with regard to Coregonus pelethat have affected the native C.lavaretus in about 70% of lakes.

Although Asia has experienced alarge number of translocations ofaquatic species since the World War I(Welcomme, 1988; De Silva, 1989;Welcomme and Vidthayanon, 2003),and it is the leading continent inaquaculture production in the world,there is very little information availableon Asian fish species with regard togenetic effects arising fromhybridisation and introgression. Todate, there is only limited numbers ofgenetic studies in this regard. Based ondiagnostic alleles at six allozyme lociand one microsatellite locus, the studyby Senanan et al. (2004) demonstratedthat introgression of African catfish(Clarias gariepinus) genes into nativeC. macrocephalus has occurred in fourwild and two broodstock populationsin central part of Thailand. Later, Na-Nakorn et al. (2004) reported suchintrogression in 12 natural populationsof C. macrocephalus; nine fromChaophraya river system, one fromMekong river system, two from thesouth; and a hatchery population.These observations indicate that thenative gene pools of C. macrocephalushave been diluted and are threatened ifno appropriate management strategiesare undertaken. Similar problems mayarise in Bangladesh through the use ofhybrid C. batrachus x C. gariepinus foraquaculture (Rahman et al., 1995).

Hybridisation can also have avariety of effects on fitness of theresulting mixture of gene pools.Although hybridisation is known toproduce heterosis this is more likely inthe case of the two parental stocks thatare not too different genetically. Ifgenetic distance between the twoparental stocks increases, geneticincompatibilities become more likelyand fitness (usually in either fertility orviability) of hybrids declines (Waples,1991). The assumption is that localadaptation leads to the possession bymembers of a population of a particulararrangement of alleles at different loci,called co-adapted gene complexes.

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Hybridisation between two populationsmay lead to the breakdown of thesecomplexes, resulting in reduced fitness.This effect has been demonstrated inpink salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuschaby Gharret and Smoker (1991) and littleis known in the Asian context.

Indirect genetic effects

Any factors such as predation,competition and disease transmissionfrom exotic species/populations canreduce population size of nativespecies and would eventually lead toinbreeding and as a consequence resultin loss of genetic diversity. Althoughinbreeding can only happen when thebottleneck is severe and lasts for manygenerations it has important long-termeffects. In the short-term a significantreduction in population size candisrupt various demographic featuresof a population and may lead toextinction from severe perturbation inenvironmental conditions (Waples,1991). One of the classic examples inthis regards probably the introductionof the Nile perch, Lates niloticus intoLake Victoria in the 1950s. Thisintroduction may have contributed tothe extinction of up to 260 endemic fishspecies (Leveque, 1995).

In Asia, one of the worstdocumented negative effects on fishbiodiversity has resulted from withincountry translocations, for example inDonghu Lake, Wuhan, China when theintroduction of grass carp resulted inthe decimation of submergedmacrophytes and the consequentecological changes brought about anupsurge of bighead (Aristichthysnobilis) and silver carps(Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) butalso the disappearance of most of the60 fish species native to the lake (Chen,1989). The introduction of the Niletilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) wasalso blamed to be the cause of thedisappearance of the endemic speciessinarapan (Mistichthys luzonensis)from Lake Buhi, Philippines(Gindelberger, 1981), although a recentanalysis of the available evidence doesnot suggest so (De Silva et al., 2004).Also, there are anecdotal andunconfirmed evidence that tilapia (O.mossambicus) is a nuisance species inmany countries. However, morerecently, De Silva et al. (2004) evaluated

the current status of tilapiaintroductions into the Asia-Pacificregion and concluded that that there isno scientific evidence to confirm thattilapias have negatively influenced fishbiodiversity in the region.

The presence of exotic species mayalso alter the genetic composition ofnative ones via the change in selectivepressures, for example predation oncertain phenotypes or competition on acertain kind of food. These changes aredifficult to demonstrate. However, thepotential for deleterious effects onnative stocks is real and needs to beconsidered in the planning stages ofany translocation events.

Effects of cultured stocks on wildpopulations

Genetic effects of translocationsinvolving the movements of geneticallydistinct conspecific individuals,including the release/escape ofcultured fish into wild populationshave been well documented in the lastdecade, particularly in respect ofsalmonids in North America (Hindar etal., 1991). It is noted that the geneticmake up of most cultured populationshas often been altered throughinbreeding, selective breeding,domestication and more recentlythrough genetic modification such astransgenic (Beaumont and Hoare, 2003;Gjedrem et al., 1988) and all of thesemay affect gene pools of thecorresponding wild populations.

When fish are removed from thenatural environment and placed in acultured environment, random geneticdrift and domestication effects (newand greatly different selective forcesact upon fish in the domesticenvironment compared to the naturalenvironment) alter the gene frequenciesand reduce genetic variation.Domestication reduces geneticvariability in fish through bothselective processes and randomgenetic drift.

One of the primary reasons for thelarge increases in Asian aquacultureproduction over the past two decadeswas the ready availability of artificiallypropagated seed stocks of majorcultured species, such as of Chineseand Indian major carps, therebyenabling culture of these species to beindependent of the wild seed supplies.

The technical developments in artificialpropagation led to the establishment ofa specialised hatchery sector in theleading aquaculture productionnations, include the establishment ofbackyard hatcheries that use simpletechnology but have been verysuccessful. However, most of thesehatcheries did not practise or rarelypractised a turn over of thebroodstock(s) from the wild. Poormanagement of breeding practicespotentially lead to the reduction ofgenetic diversity of cultured stocks.

The limited number of studiesavailable seems to indicate thatextensive inbreeding has beenoccurring in hatchery-produced seed ofmajor cultured species in Asia.Frequently, broodstock are derivedfrom a small founding number and thenumber of broodstock kept is relativelysmall. In the Philippines, the commonlycultured “Israel” strain of Nile tilapia(Oreochromis niloticus), which is amajor contributor to the annualproduction of over 90,000 tonnes, isderived from a single introduction of100-200 fry, possibly from a singlefamily, and this situation is similar inmany countries in Asia (Pullin, 1988).Eknath and Doyle (1990) based on astudy of 18 hatcheries in Indiademonstrated that there had been rapidinbreeding of stocks of six carp species(catla, rohu, mrigal, common carp, silvercarp and grass carp). They estimatedthat the annual rate of inbreeding wasfrom 2 to 17% per year. In a recentstudy by Deepak et al. (2004) the aboveobservations were reinforced by adetailed analysis of hatchery stocks ofthree Indian major carp species. InVietnam there is also evidence ofinbreeding of grass carp. In a recentallozyme study on grass carp inVietnam, collected from four majorhatcheries, only one variable allozymelocus was observed out of 25 lociscreened, thereby indicating low levelsof genetic variability of the hatcherystocks (pers. obs.).

Increasing release of hatchery-bredindividuals into the naturalenvironment could bring about dilutionof the native gene pools. In this regard,there appears to be emerging evidencein respect of Barbodes gonionotus inThailand. A study of 12 naturalpopulations and 29 hatchery stocks ofB. gonionotus indicated that the

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natural variability was high (Kamonrat,1996). Although there was high geneticvariability within populations andsignificant genetic differentiationbetween populations of both wild andhatchery stocks there was evidence toindicate the possibility of loss oralteration of genetic integrity of bothgroups. For example, mixed stocksampling indicated that 75 to 96% ofriver samples were from hatcherypopulations, possibly resulting fromconsequences of restocking or stockenhancement programs. In this regardthere was also evidence of reduction ofgenetic integrity between regions andit has been suggested that geneticallybased stock management policies areneeded urgently.

Conclusion

It is clear that translocations haveimpacted on the aquatic fauna in Asia.The few studies done to date haveprovided significant warnings of thegenetic effects of translocations ofaquatic animals within the region. Anytranslocation event should be wellplanned with proper risk assessments.In the present context of development,ecology, disease aspects andmanagement implementations thatcould arise from translocations need tobe supplemented with geneticconsiderations of the particulartranslocation or stocking plan beforeembarking on a decision. In order toachieve this there is an urgent need toincrease human capacity in moleculargenetic techniques and their usage andapplication, and awareness building inthe region on the issues discussed tohelp sustain the aquaculture industryand in aquatic resource management.Genetic information will provide anadditional and a useful tool to ensurethat environmental integrity andbiodiversity are sustained in the longterm.

Acknowledgements

TTTN would like to thank PedroBueno and Professor Sena De Silva fortheir corrections on an early draft ofthis manuscript. Special thanks to Dr.Devin Bartley for his advice on indirectgenetic effects.

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Deepak, PK, Shrinivas, J., Sharada, MK, Indira, NK,Biradar, RS, Lakra WS. 2004 (Abstract only).Prediction of cumulative inbreeding rate in futuregenerations of hatchery reared Indian major carps.Fourth World Fisheries Congress, Vancouver, 2nd -6th May, 2004.

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De Silva, S.S., Subasinghe, R., Bartley, D., Lowther, A.,2004. Tilapias as exotics in the Asia-Pacific: a review.FAO Fisheries Technical Paper, 453, 000 pp.

Dobson, A.P., May, R.M., 1986. Disease andconservation. In: Soulé, M.E. (Ed.), ConservationBiology: The science of scarcity and diversity.Sinauer, Sunderland, MA, pp. 345-365.

Doupé, R.G., Lympery, A. J., 2000. Managingtranslocations of aquatic species. AquacultureResearch 31, 151-156

Dowling, T.E., Childs, M.R., 1992. Impact ofhybridisation on a threatened trout of theSouthwestern United States. Conservation Biology6, 355-364.

Eknath, A.E., Doyle, R.W., 1990. Effective populationsize and rate of inbreeding in aquaculture of Indianmajor carps. Aquaculture 85, 293-305.

Gharret, A.J., Smoker, W.W., 1991. Two generations ofhybrids between even- and odd-year pink salmon(Oncorhynchus gorbuscha): a test for outbreedingdepression. Canadian Journal of Fisheries andAquatic Science 48, 1744-1749.

Gindelberger, B., 1981. Why sinarapan almostdisappeared from Lake Buhi. ICLARM Newsletter4: 3-5.

Gjedrem, T., Gjerde, B., Refstie, T., 1988. A review ofquatitative genetc research in salmonids atAKVAFORSK. In: Weir, B.S., Goodman, M.M., Elsen,E.J., Namkoong, G. (Eds.), Proceedings of the SecondInternational Conference on Quantitative Genetics.Sinauer, Sunderland, MA, pp. 527-535.

Guerrero, R.D., 1999. Impacts of tilapia introductionson the endemic fishes in some Philippine lakes andreservoirs. In: van Densen, W.L.T., Morris, M.J. (Eds.),

Fish and Fisheries of lakes and Reservoirs inSoutheast Asia and Africa. Westbury Publishing,Otley, UK, pp. 151- 157.

Harrison, R.G., 1993. Hybrid Zones and the EvolutionaryProcess. Oxford University Press, New York.

Hindar, K., Ryman, N., Utter, F., 1991. Genetic effects ofcultured fish on natural fish populations. CanadianJournal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 48, 945-957.

Hodder, K.H., Bullock, J.M., 1997. Translocations ofnative species in the UK: Implications forbiodiversity. Journal of Applied Ecology 34, 647-565.

Johnson, M.S., 2000. Measuring and interpreting geneticstructure to minimise the genetic risks oftranslocations. Aquaculture Research 31, 133-143.

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Leary, R.F., Allendorf, F.W., Forbes, S.H., 1993.Conservation genetics of bull trout in the Columbiaand Klamath River drainages. Conservation Biology7, 856-865.

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Rahman, M.A., Bhadra, A., Begum, N., Islam. M.S.,Hussain, M.F., 1995. Production of hybrid vigorcross breeding between Clarias batrachus Lin. &Clarias geriepinus Bur. Aquaculture 138, 125-130.

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Carp culture is the most importantfisheries subsector. This articleprovides a comprehensive overview ofthe industry, its structure, operationsand economics

The culture of carp is an ancientactivity, using a mixture of four specieswith different feeding habits: Plankton-consuming, herbivorous, malacivorous,and benthivorous. Carp is widely soldfresh, whole and in a range of valueadded forms. In Iran, warm-water fishfarming is based on Chinese carps,namely common, silver, grass, andbighead carp. These carps are easy tobreed in hatcheries in large numbers atlittle cost, and are distributed tofarmers to grow out in ponds or openwaters. The common carp and the threeChinese ones are often reared inpolyculture. Since the 1970s carpfarming has spread along the Caspiancoast, with total carp productionpeaking at almost 54,000 tonnes in2001. The structure of fishconsumption has also changedresulting in expanded markets andgrowth in fish demand.

Iran is large and rapidly developingand its pattern of supply and demandmay be expected to change markedlyover coming years. The carp cultureindustry is currently the mostimportant sub-sector of fisheries in Iranand its rapid development has attractedconsiderable attention in recent years.Iran covers an area of about 1.6 millionsquare kilometres1 and had apopulation of more than 66 million in20032. Since the end of the Iran-Iraq war

Carp culture in IranHassan Salehi

Assistant Prof. of Iranian Fisheries Research Institute and the Vice President of Fisheries, Iran, No.250, West Fatemi,Tehran, Iran. Email [email protected]

in 1988, Iran has undergone a processof economic transition, changing from agovernment controlled militaryeconomy towards a more liberal andmarket oriented economic structure.Key factors contributing to thegovernment’s decision making havebeen the large population growth,unemployment rate, as well as theattempt to optimise management of theeconomy by privatisation. Other keysocial developments have been rapidurbanisation leading to more jobopportunities, better living standards,higher literacy levels, growth ofstudent numbers in universities,growth in the role of women in society(eg. the female literacy rate, 35% in1979, has risen to 75% in 1995, and thenumber of female students inuniversities had increased to more than55% by 2002) and better facilities inurban areas However, all of these key

factors have also improved morerecently in rural areas.

The characteristics of the carpfarming industry in the four main fishfarming provinces, Gilan, Mazandran,Golestan and Khuzestan are different.For almost 20 years, carp has beenconsidered a subsistence food,particularly in Gilan, but also inMazandran and Golestan, and is apreferred food item by a majority ofpeople in these provinces. Carp cultureinitially developed in the Caspian area,with more than 95 % of farms, in Gilan67% of farms are less than 1 ha and95% are less than 5 ha, while inMazandran and Golestan 59% of farmsare less than 1 ha and 86% of farmsless than 5 ha, and only 1% of farms inthe Caspian Sea littoral are larger than20 ha. In Khuzestan, more than 90% offarms are larger than 5 ha and 33%larger than 20 ha

Table1: Percentage share of number of farms in provinces and categories.

Kiosk for wholesale of fishery products and other agricultural produce, nearShilat, Tehran.

Province <1 ha 1 to 5 ha 5 to 20 ha 20< ha Total % p % c % p % c % p % c % p % c Gilan 80 67 77 28 41 4 24 1 75 Mazandran and Golestan

20 59 22 27 32 11 26 3 22

Khuzestan 0 0 1 9 27 58 50 33 more than 3 Total 63 27 7 almost 3 100 % p: as % in province, % c: as % in categories, Sources: Salehi3,8.

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According to stocking density, carpsystems can be distinguished, as:• Extensive fish farming, where

stocking density is generally low;with no supplementary feeding,

• Semi-intensive fish farming, wherestocking density is higher, withbetter management and supplementsof daily feed.

Carp culture

In 1970, Shilat (the fisheriesorganization of Iran) established a carpculture research station in Gilanprovince, while the first commercialfacility for carp culture was establishedin 1969, supported by Romanianexperts3. Since 1985 aquaculture hasbeen developed mostly by privateentrepreneurs and co-operatives. Small-scale trials are also being conducted byShilat in cages and pens in the Anzalilagoon4 and Dez reservoir. Iran has

recently directed considerable effort todeveloping freshwater aquaculture andenhancing fish stocks in inland water-bodies5. In 2001, there were some 3,065registered carp culture farms, with atotal pond area of almost 9,493 ha.Warm-water fish production nowincludes several cyprinid species,raised either in monoculture orpolyculture in earthen ponds or in openwater bodies. Annual productionfigures for carp show large changesfrom year to year, although the trendover the last decade has been positive.

Hatchery production

Hatchery production is the main sourceof seed for both carp farming andculture-based fisheries. Production ofcarp fingerlings increased to 90 millionpieces by 2001, of which only 15% isproduced by Shilat. Hatcheryproduction of carp species was started

by Shilat, but Government policyencouraged the role of the privatesector and in 2001, some 20 privatehatcheries produced more than 85% ofthe carp seed. It is expected thateventually all hatchery production ofcarp fingerling will come from co-operatives and private farms.

Production systems andpractices

Traditional fish farming in Iran wasbased on the European system and thiswas expanded in 1970 with theintroduction of the Chinese carps,namely the grass, silver and bigheadcarp. The common carp and theChinese carps are often reared inpolyculture, although some farmersprefer to keep common carp inmonoculture. After hatching, larvae aretransferred to tanks and fed with dietsof powdered yolk and powdered milk.When the larvae are about 8 days ofage they are transferred from thehatchery to nursery ponds where theyfeed on natural food. Fry of 10 g sizeare usually transported for release intowater-bodies, or grown to market sizeon fish farms. Recently, both publicand private hatchery operators havebeen testing the traditional Chinesetechnique. This avoids all handling ofthe spawning adults until the eggs areready for transfer to the hatchery or, insome cases, the eggs hatch and thelarvae remain in the tanks until transferto nursery ponds3.

Table 2: Carp farming production in Iran, 1991-2000 (tonnes)

Table 3: Production in open water-bodies (culture-based fisheries) in key provinces, 1991-2001 (tonnes)

Year 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2000 % growth

1990-2000

CC 5502 4206 6561 5435 4600 7000 27

BhC 983 1052 1269 1360 1150 1500 53

SC 10019 12619 15228 16310 13800 17000 70

GC 3143 3155 3942 4078 3450 2000 -36

Total 19647 21032 27000 27183 23000 27500 40

CC: Common carp, BhC: Bighead carp, SC: Silver carp, GC: Grass carp

Source: FAO9.

Year 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 % share in

1995

% share in

2001

Khuzestan 9119 6019 2830 12000 4309 200 11 0.8

Gilan 6689 2164 1445 1360 1029 1270 6 4.8

Mazandran

and Golestan

1958 3813 8975 10060 9518 15700 36 60.9

Sistan-B. 4353 3000 4600 4200 11307 0 19 0

Fars 216 2657 1320 1450 743 400 5 1.5

W.Azarbiajan 875 1065 1633 1800 1905 2350 7 9

Others 1693 3539 4036 3915 5007 5865 16 23

Total 24903 22257 24836 34785 33818 25785 100 100

Sources: Salehi3 and Aquaculture Department10.

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FAO4 and Salehi3 concluded that carpfarming in Iran was economicallyattractive. In Khuzestan, carp farmingwas profitable but farmers claimed thatthe cost of construction of ponds haddrastically increased, possibly makingcarp farming a risky investment. In Gilan,Mazandran and Golestan, where carpfarming is mainly an artisanal activitycarried out by small farmers as a sole or apart-time activity, carp farming is anotherincome-generating venture. There areabout 15,800 non-governmental personsactive in carp farming6. The majority ofthese people will also have anotheremployment, either seasonal or non-seasonal activity.

Production systems andpractices in the culture-

based fisheries

There are about 1,900 natural, semi-natural and artificial water-bodies and150 earth dams, 235 barrage dams and1,500 irrigation reservoirs3 in Iran. Thetotal water surface is estimated at558,000 ha. These are distributedthrough all the provinces and can beused for fresh fish culture. Thecomposition of carp species used tostock these water-bodies depends onthe availability of fingerlings from theShilat or other hatcheries, but isusually (28-32%) common carp, (40-50%) silver carp, and (5-10%) bigheadcarp, the rest being grass carp. Carpproduction in open water-bodies in thekey provinces is shown in Table 3.

Harvests of carp and other warm-water species from the water-bodies,whether natural, semi-natural orartificial, are difficult to measure.Incomplete production data preparedby the aquaculture department indicateaverage yields of 43 kg ha-1 in 1993,and 40 kg ha-1 in 1994, increasing to 49kg ha-1 in 1995.

The agriculture sector contributes21% to the GDP so that there isconsiderable emphasis on waterconservation and management. As partof this national effort, there arethousands of small artificial reservoirs,earthen ponds, and tanks constructedas integral parts of irrigation schemesfor valuable agriculture land. Thesesmall units, many of which areseasonal, are used as focal points forvillage fish farms, in which villagers,working as a co-operative, take up fish

farming as a part-time activity. In thefirst year, the units are stocked withfingerlings while certain operationalneeds are provided by Shilat free ofcharge, after which the co-operativehas to provide fingerlings and otherrequired facilities. Typically, fingerlingsare 30 g in weight, and are stocked at adensity of 2,500 ha-1. With growthpossible only during the warm monthsof the year, this type of extensiveproduction differs by region. Withsuitable farming practices but withoutmechanical aeration and possiblywithout additional water, the yieldsrange from 300-500 kg ha-1, thoughyields have improved over recentyears. In Mazandran province it hadreached 1,300 kg ha-1 by 1997 and 1,540kg ha-1 by 2001 with some 13,400 t totalproduction3,7.

Carp harvesting andmarketing

Carp farmers use different marketingchannels depending on the quantity offish they have for sale, the distance totheir intended market, the availability oftransport and the credit they mayreceive for production. In general, smallcarp producers sell to local markets,dealers or wholesalers within the sameprovince, whereas large producerswould ship directly to the capital orother large provincial fish markets, orauction at the farm gate.

The marketing channels for carpdiffer between provinces. In Gilan,Mazandran and Golestan harvest startsin September, but in Khuzestan it maybe two or three months later. Thestandard market size for carp is about 1kg. Some farmers may delay theirharvesting up to November, or evenDecember to obtain larger fish andpotentially better prices. However, thisdelay is constrained by additional cost,

and most farmers, except a few withlarge farms and high capitalinvestments, are unable to do so.Harvesting is by draining water fromthe pond or by using a net, and usuallycarried out by the farmers. Buyers areusually responsible for transportingthe fish to the market. The majority offarmers harvest a pond only once ayear, or even once per farm, but verylarge ponds or farms may require morethan one harvest.

A variety of market outlet rangesfrom local fish markets, wholesalerswithin each province, and the co-operatives or wholesalers at Tehran.Wholesalers in Gilan, Mazandran andGolestan, often provide credit to thefarmers3. As Figure 1 shows, in Gilanprovince, 50% of carp production issold to wholesalers in Rasht city, thecentre of Gilan province, 15% to theLangarod fish market, 10% to the Anzalifish market and the balance is sold tolocal market, co-operatives or shippedto Tehran. The wholesalers at Rashttransport and sell some 50% of theircarp to wholesalers in Tehran.

In Mazandran and Golestan, morethan 60% of cultured carp is sold towholesalers in the large cities of theprovince, though small farmers may selltheir fish in the local market, and 20%of cultured carp is auctioned at thefarm gate. A small amount of the fishsold by auction to wholesalers or at thefarm gate is transported to Tehran. InKhuzestan province more than 80% ofcarp production is sold to wholesalersfrom Tehran, less than 20% sold atAhvaz city, the centre of the province,and the balance is sold in local markets.

Carp prices

In Iran, the prices of carp are lowrelative to prices of red meat andchicken, and these have fallen in real

15% 10% 50% 10% 15% 20% 80% 10% 10% 20% 60%

G producers K producers M&G Producers

Langarod Anzali

Tehran

WP L cities WP Farm gate Locally Rasht

Locally

WP: Within province, L cities WP: Large cities within province, G: Gilan province, M&G:Mazandran and Golestan provinces, and K: Khuzestan province, Sources: Completedfrom FAO, 1992, op.cit and Salehi, 1999 & 2003b op.cit.

Figure 1: Carp marketing outlets in main provinces.

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0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

.1<<1 1<<5 5<<20 20<<50Four groups(ha.)

F&F S L&S W&E H&Ph D M

terms. Grass carp usually has thehighest price followed by silver carp,while common carp is the cheapest.The price of bighead is between silverand common carp. In 2003, wholesaleprices of grass, silver and commoncarps were US$ 1.60, 1.15 and 1.12respectively in Tehran.

Cost structure andprofitability of carp farming

The various producer locations,categories and cultured systems havedifferent cost structures andconsequently different profitability,depending on availability and qualityof inputs, farm management, climate,area of farms, location of production,selling price and other factors. Onaverage, farmers in all locations andcategories made a profit (gross revenueminus total costs). However, thisaggregate picture includes notablevariations as profits of farms of lessthan 5 ha, and farms in Gilan,Mazandran and Golestan. Special casefarms such as those obtainingadditional income from seed sales weremore profitable than other systems.

Considering only farms inKhuzestan, on the basis of costs per kgof production, total cost declined asfarm size increased, though economiesof scale for this province may berelevant. In the Caspian region it mayalso be relevant to conductcomparisons between farms of 1-5 hawith farms of 5-20 ha as economies ofscale may also be relevant.

In the Caspian littoral the history ofcultured carp is longer and farms of lessthan 1 ha water surface are only foundin this area. Smallholder carp culture, insome cases integrated with agriculturalactivity, is seen as a simple and low costsource of income in this area. Carpfarming does not appear to be aparticularly attractive investment inWest-Azarbiajan, but in Kerman it maybe. Factors such as feed and fertilizer,seed, water and energy, labor and salarycosts all influence yield and profitability,but farm management, location,production system and size of farmsalso influence this. In the Caspianregion, a wide range of plant materials,and other organic by-products are usedto improve pond productivity and carpgrowth, either directly as feed orindirectly as fertilizer. This practicereduces total operating costs andconsequently increases profitability.Some farmers in Gilan, based on theprice of fish and the price of rice havereported shifting from aquaculture torice farming. However, in the presentsituation, carp farming would bringconsiderably higher operating returnsthan the principal crop (rice).

In many cases, especially in Gilan,Mazandran and Golestan, family labormay be used during the off-agriculturalseason, in which case there would beminimal costs for pond preparation. Itappears that farmers in Gilan andespecially small farmers were moreprofitable because they can takeadvantage of management withreduced cost of inputs especially feed

and fertilizer. The break-evenproduction point averaged 2.3 t ha-1,ranging from 1.5 t ha-1 in Mazandranand Golestan to 3.2 t ha-1 in Khuzestan.On average, the benefit-cost ratio andthe rate of farm income were closelyrelated to location. This suggests thatGilan farmers practice more efficientlyand have better conditions, resulting inhigher farm income per ha followed byMazandran.

Future development

Applied research, market-orientedstrategy, extension services and thetraining of core personnel fordevelopment may need to be givenparticular attention, consideringexisting technology, the transfer,adaptation and development of newtechnology for hatching, farming,harvesting, handling, processing andmarketing. Considering the lack ofinformation services for producers,distributors and marketing agencies, aswell as development institutions, theestablishment of an informationnetwork needs to be given attention.This would draw support fromorganisations like NACA andINFOFISH. The absence of a legalbasis for the sector as a whole andaffiliated sub-sector is also a criticalneed to be addressed. The Shilat lawprovides a framework for this sector,but additional and specific legislationfor aquaculture is required.

References

1. SCI (1998) Iran Statistical yearbook 1998 (in Persian),Statistical centre of Iran, Tehran, Iran, 958 p.

2. Salehi H. (2003b) Market perspective on culturedcarp products in Iran, presented in Asia-Pacificaquaculture 2003, Bangkok, unpublished, 13p.

3. Salehi H. (1999) A strategic analysis of carp culturedevelopment in Iran, PhD Theses, University ofStirling, Stirling, 328p.

4. FAO (1992) Aquaculture sector fact-finding mission,Technical co-operation programme, FI: TCP/IRA/2251 (F), FAO Rome, Italy 65p.

5. Shehadeh Z. H. (1996) Major trends in globalaquaculture production and summary overview ofthe Gulfs (Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman) area TOFCCommittee, Cairo, Egypt, 1-3 Oct. 8p.

6. Abzigostar (1996) Iran Fisheries sector study,Shilat, Tehran, Iran, 190p.

7. Salehi H. (2003a) Carp culture sector in Iran: Aneconomic analysis of farmed production, presented inWorld Aquaculture 2003, Brazil, unpublished, 17p.

8. Salehi H. (1997) Analysis of the key factors onproducing and improving of carp farming in Iran (inPersian), unpublished, Tehran, Iran, 92 p.

9. FAO (2002) The World Fisheries and Aquacultureproduction, FAO, Italy, Rome, p.

10. Aquaculture Department (2003) Annual report ofaquaculture production in Iran, (in Persian), Shilat,Tehran, Iran, 40p.

F&F: Feed and fertiliser, S: Seed, H&Ph: Harvesting and post harvest, W&E: Water andenergy, L&S: Labour and Salaries, D: Depreciation, and M: Miscellaneous.

Figure 2: Contribution of costs per ha of carp farms production in fourcategories3.

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The coastline of Myanmar faces theIndian Ocean in Rakhine State, the Bayof Bengal in Ayeyarwady Division, andthe Andaman Sea in TanintharyiDivision. These long stretches of coastprovide 213,720 km2 of continental shelfwith water rich in nutrients and marinelife. Myanmar is also endowed withlarge rivers and huge networks of theirtributaries that are rich in freshwaterfisheries resources.

Myanmar’s inland water bodiesconsist of 8.2 million hectares of lakes,rivers and reservoirs, producing morethan 53 million tons of fish and prawnsin 2002-3 including catch from 3,742lease fisheries. During the monsoonseason from May to September,inundated flooded plain are breedingand nursery grounds for freshwaterfishes. At this time of year, DOF isstocking fish seed and broodstock innatural and man-made water bodies toenhance and sustain commerciallyimportant species.

Fisheries have a major role in socialand economic development; the peopleof Myanmar are largely rice and fisheaters. Annual per capita fishconsumption was 26.18 kg in 2002, andfisheries are the country’s third largestsector in export earnings, afteragriculture and forestry.

Aquaculture has been the fastestgrowing sector for over a decade,registering a growth rate of over 40percent per year since 1988, comparedwith 5 percent for capture fisheries. By

Opportunities and challenges in Myanmar aquaculture

U Hla Win

1988 there were only 6,300 acres (2,550hectares) of fishponds. As fish is thestaple diet for the people and one ofthe potential growth industries in thenational economy of Myanmar, theState Peace and Development Councilpromulgated Aquaculture Law No. 24/89, which lead to a substantial increasein the number of fishponds in thecountry.

The Department of Fisheries plays avital role in National Aquaculturedevelopment. There are 14 fisheriesstations for fish seed production,located in Mandalay Division in theupper Myanmar region, Bago Division,Ayeyarwady Division, and YangonDivision in the lower part of thecountry. In line with the three-year fishculture development special project, 19new stations are being establishedthroughout the country. These stationswill:• produce quality seeds;• provide fish seed to fish farmers and

stock replenishing activities andculture-based fisheries;

• impart technical knowledge onaquaculture and expertise to fishfarmers through extension services;

• conduct aquaculture research andtraining.

Status and targets

Freshwater fish culture has beenpracticed since the early 1950s andcurrently almost 50,000 hectares offreshwater fishponds are underoperation. However, marine finfishculture has only recently begun to takehold as a commercial venture by privatecompanies and is only present in a fewplaces at present. Local communitieshave not previously been interested infarming seabass (Lates calcarifer) andgroupers (Epinephelus spp.) as theyare abundant and easy to catch.Recently, due to high foreign marketdemand, groupers and seabass havebecome more popular for fisheriestrade, which has encouraged farmers tobegin trials on their aquaculture.

A three-year fish culture expandedplan (2000-2003) has been prepared toaccelerate the development of theaquaculture sector. The plan’s targetsinclude: Development of 26,315hectares of fishpond and establishmentof 19 new fishery stations, includingthree stations for mariculture. The DOFmariculture fishery station is underconstruction at Chaungtha inAyeyarwady Division. Two others areto be constructed at Taungok

Sub-leased lake-based fishing, such as the unique ‘saung’ trap (opposite) used by Inthafishers on Inle Lake in Shan State provides a livelihood for canoe owners for an annualfee of K1000. Fishers can fish every day and sell their catch at K600.

Large-scale fisheries of 10s to 100s ofacres are leased, via auction, to thosewith means to operate and sustain them.Lease holders are required to managethese as culture-based fisheries.

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Township in Rakhine State and KyunSu Township (Myeik area) inTaninthayi Division respectively.

The area of aquaculture in 2002-2003was 127,204 hectares including 80,000hectares of freshwater prawn (M.rosenbergii) and marine shrimp (P.monodon) ponds.

Mariculture

Commercial scale net cage culture ofgroupers is found in Kyun SuTownship (Myeik area) in TaninthayiDivision. It is a pioneering farm run byprivate sector, which has some 300-350net cages of 3 x 3 x 3 meters in size. Iton-grows Epinephelus coioides and E.tauvina. Grouper juveniles arecollected from the wild during Maythrough November. Different sizes ofjuveniles of 10 cm to 25 cm are stocked.According to initial stocking size,culture period varies from three totwelve months to reach marketable size.Generally stocking rate is 800-2,500fishes per cages depending on the fishsize and the survival rate is about 30%at harvest.

Similarly grouper juveniles arecollected at Thandwe and GwaTownship, in Rakhine State for holdingin net cages before marketing. Fish are

fed with small trash fishes for someperiod until they attain size andstrength for transport to grow-out farmand restaurants, as well as for export.The most common species in that areais E. coioides but commercial-scaleculture is not yet practiced in that area.

Regarding sea bass farming,hatchery management techniques areurgently needed for its developmentinto commercial culture. Inadequateseed supply due to lack of skills inhatchery technology is now the majorconstraint for the development ofmarine finfish aquaculture.

Freshwater culture

Freshwater pond fish culture is a majorsource of aquaculture production. Thedominant species is Rohu (Labeorohita). Most farmers practicepolyculture, using major carps, andcommon carps. Farmers in upperMyanmar prefer to stock fingerling 2 to5 cm but those in lower Myanmarespecially in Yangon and AyeyarwadyDivision, prefer stocking yearling of 12to 15 cm so that the fish can reachmarketable size in a short time.

A common practice is to put 3,000yearlings into an acre of pond. Cultureperiod is 10-12 months and the averageyield 5 tons per acre (or 12 tons perhectare).

The most successful cultureindustry is found in TwanteeTownship, near Yangon where 50% ofthe total fishpond area is situated. Thesizes of the ponds vary from four toeight hectares with an average waterdepth of 1.5 meters.

Tilapia cage culture has beendemonstrated successfully by DOF inthe Ayeyarwady River in MagweDivision, situated in the dry zonewhere there is not only poor soilcondition but also scarce waterresources for fish culture. Altogetherover 300 cages of 5 x 5 x 3 metre size arestocked with 2,000 fish seed per cage.One company, the Yuzana Companyhas cage culture operations inAyeyarwady River in the delta region.Pangasius species are grown in cagesof 2 x 8 x 8m at a rate of 110,000 fish 10cm size per cage.

Culture species

Twelve freshwater fish species arebeing cultivated, Rohu (Labeo rohita),Catla (Catla catla), Mrigal (Cirrhinus

This canoe ownerat Inle Lake claimshook and line gearprovides a betterreturn for the sameK1,000 annual fee.This man will leavehis 200 m line (withhooks at meterintervals baitedwith shrimp)overnight every dayof the year. Bestcatches are inApril.

Grouper cageculture near Myeik

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mrigala), Common Carp (Cyprinuscarpio), Grass carp(Ctenopharyngodon idella), Big headcarp (Aristichthys nobilis), Silver carp(Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), Redtilapia (Tilapia mossambica, T.nilotica), Hybrid catfish (Clariasgariepinus x Clarias macrocephalus),Rohtee (Rohtee cortio), Striped catfish(Pangasius hypopthalmus). DOF hasrecently succeeded in breeding threenew species, freshwater pomfret(Pitratus brachypomum), feather back(Notopterus chitala), and silver barb(Puntius gonionotus).

The stations under the Departmentare producing quality fish seeds byapplying various breeding techniques.Fish seed production in 2000-2001 wasover 300 million out of which 85 millionfish seed were stocked into naturalwater such as lakes reservoirs and bigrivers. To expand the industry a goodnumber of seeds are distributed freelyto potential fish farms and institutionsas an incentive.

Experiences and culture techniquesof some species such as eel (Anguillaspp; Synbramchus spp.), Soft shellturtle (Tryonix spp and Lyssemes spp.)are also to be introduced. Thereforetraining course on culture andpropagation techniques ofcommercially importance species isneeded.

Feeds

Most of the aquaculture feeds are madeup of locally available agricultural by-products such as rice bran, boiledbroken rice, and oil cakes ofgroundnut, sesame, and coconut andcotton seed. Rice bran and groundnutcake are a major source of fish fed andpellet feed are commonly used incatfish farms. To attain one kilogram offish about 4-5 kilograms of bran arefeed. So food conversion ratio is 4-5,depending on quality and type of ricebran FCR is significantly improvedwhen it is mixed with other ingredients,vitamin and minerals.

Several feed factories have beenestablished recently. They areproducing thirty to fifty tons offormulated fish or shrimp feed per dayin pellet form. Apart from these biggerones, medium size feed mills with dailyproduction capacity of five to ten tonsof aqua-feed either in mixed powder or

pellet from are also supporting the fastgrowing industry.

Challenges

The aquaculture sector faces a numberof constraints despite its seeminglybright prospects and high potential forexpansion and continued growth.There is also an urgent need toconsider the practical foundation onwhich to establish a sustainableaquaculture sector to ensuresustainable development. Awareness ofenvironmental responsibilities in theaquaculture industry is growing andfarmers and investors are increasinglypracticing improved managementpractices.

The following issues faceMyanmar’s fast growing aquaculturesector:• Technologies and farming systems• Environmentally friendly

technologies, which have benignimpact on the community. Dueconsideration should be given inselection of farming system applied,i.e. traditional, extensive, semi-intensive, intensive, super intensive.

• Improved management practices andcodes of good practice foraquaculture sector.

• Minimize the harmful effects of farm-bred species to the ecosystem.

• Improved culture-based fisheries.

Species

Selection and improvement of speciesfeeding low on the food chain.• Appropriate use of genetic

resources and biotechnology.• Careful introduction of exotic

species.• Diversification of animal and plant

species for aquaculture.

Socio-economics

Better awareness of responsibleaquaculture concepts and practices.• Mitigating the impact of industrial

aquaculture in rural areas.• Improving the contribution of small-

scale aquaculture to rurallivelihoods.

• Defining property rights and accessto resources.

• Mitigate conflicts among commonresource users.

Fish seeds

• A consistent supply of high qualityand healthy seeds.

• Deterioration of quality seed due toinbreeding, limited number ofcaptive and wild breeders, lack oftechniques in broodstockmanipulation and poor hatcherytechnologies.

Feeds

• Improving the efficiency of foodthrough good aquaculture feedmanufacturing practice and feedingtechniques.

• Cost effective feed.• Research on the dietary nutrient

requirement and feeding habits ofcultured species.

• Culture of species that can utilizegood farm made feed rather thanrequire high quality protein richfeed.

Conclusion

There are considerable opportunitiesfor further development in aquaculture,especially mariculture in Myanmar.Joint efforts of the government and theprivate sector would realize for thenation and people the hugeaquaculture potential. To do so withoutthe adverse side effects and impacts onthe environment and social harmony,the government is taking measures toencourage, with appropriate incentivesand assistance, the investors, farmersand other stakeholders to practiceresponsible production practices. Ithas, for instance, tasked theDepartment of Fisheries with theresponsibility of promoting theconservation of biodiversity andhabitats and providing assistance to allforms of aquaculture.

U Hla Win is the Deputy DirectorGeneral for Fisheries. He had beennational coordinator for the RegionalSeafarming Development Project ofUNDP/FAO managed from NACA,coordinator for NACA in Myanmar,and chairman of the GoverningCouncil.

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Research and farming techniques

India has about 2.36 million hectares ofponds and tanks of which hill statescover 0.4 million ha. Out of the 1.9million hectares remaining at least300,000 could be utilized formonoculture and polyculture offreshwater prawn1.

Macrobrachium culture is gainingmomentum since it is less likely to havea detrimental impact because theseprawns cannot be reared at densities ashigh as the marine shrimp. Indeed whileits productivity is generally lower,management is less labour intensiveand the potential pollution of watersources is minimal. Among the 200species reported under the genusMacrobrachium, M. rosenbergii is byfar the most commercially importantspecies, with its life cycle closed overthree decades ago in Malaysia4. Otherspecies such as M. malcolmsonii, M.nipponense, M. carcinus, M.amazonicum, M. vollenhovenii and M.acanthurus are under trial as newcandidate species and have thepotential to enter the commercialaquaculture6. Almost all the riversystems and even some of theindependently flowing small streams ofpeninsular India are richly endowedwith giant freshwater prawn7.

Impacts of mono-sex Macrobrachium culture onthe future of seed availability in India

Paramaraj Balamurugan*, Pitchaimuthu Mariappan and Chellam Balasundaram

Crustacean Aquaculture and Behaviour Unit, Department of Animal Science, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirapalli620024, India.

*e-mail: [email protected]

In India freshwater prawn farminghas been practiced by adoptingtraditional methods, where the youngones collected from the wild are rearedin semi intensive farms8. The firstartificial seed production techniquewas attempted during the year 1963-65at the Central Inland FisheriesResearch Institute, Barrackpore;afterwards systematic research onfreshwater prawn culture began in thepond culture division of the CentralInland Fisheries Research Institute atCuttack9. The successful rearing oflarval stages of M. rosenbergii wasachieved in 1975 at prawn breedingcentre, Kakinada10.

Freshwater prawn culture hasattracted more attention in the recentyears due to its export potential andincreasing demand as luxury protein.India is the second largest contributorof freshwater prawn to the worldmarket with production of 30,450 MT in2002-2003 (Table 1). The farmed areautilized for scampi productionincreased from 12,022 ha to 34,630 hamarking a four-fold spurt and a three-fold increase in cultivation11. The mainconstraint in the culture potential iscurrently a lack of quality seeds. Atpresent 56 freshwater prawn hatcheries

are in operation with a productioncapacity of nearly 1.3 billion seeds.

The present commercial requirementfor quality seeds cannot be fully metby collection from the wild, which hasresulted in over exploitation of wildbrooders, which sell for Rs 100/ each(US$ 2). Due to the shortage of brooderavailability in the wild, hatcheries haveresorted to procuring brooders fromcommercial farms. Such pond-rearedbrooders have advantages such asyear round availability for seedproduction coupled with the possibilityof genetic improvement. However thereare some demerits like inbreedingdepression, insufficient feeding andincreased density in grow out pondsthat affect the brooder quality.Moreover the pond-reared populationsare characterized by lower reproductiveperformance and precocious maturationeven at a 7-10g weight, which yieldpoor quality eggs when compared tothat of wild brooders12. The mainreason may be that these animalscannot grow large enough and cannotcompete for resources in theirenvironment and hence tend to matureprecociously.

The natural stocks have the superiorquality over pond populations. In the

Table1. Showing State-wise details of farmed freshwater prawn (Scampi) production in India in 2002-2003 (Source:MPEDA, 2003).

States Area (ha) % total area Production (Tonnes)

% total production

Production/ha (kg)

West Bengal Orissa Andhrapradesh Tamilnadu Kerala Karnataka Goa Maharashtra Gujarat

4,100 2,995

21,580 180 830 165

0 4,420

360

11.8 8.6

62.3 0.5 2.5 0.5

0 12.7

1.1

2,140 410

27,020 130 200 180

0 290

80

7.0 1.4

88.6 0.4 0.7 0.6

0 1.0 0.3

521 137

1,252 722 241

1,090 0

204 22

Total 34,630 100.0 30,450 100.0 879

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wild the females attain first maturity at30 ±10g; eggs produced by thesefemales are of good quality with ahigher larval survival13. Moreimportantly the brooders collected fromwild populations have more chances tocross with individuals of differentparentage with the unique advantageof natural selection. The feedinghabitat and spatial distribution aremore favorable for the quality broodersfrom wild population. The majorproblem is over exploitation of wildbrooders, which is a limiting factor tomeet the ever-increasing needs of theaquaculture industry13.

Monosex culture (all male)

Differential growth and dominance oflarger individuals characterizeMacrobrachium populations. Malesgrow faster than the femalesaggravating the differential growthpattern within and between sexes.Monosex culture of this species aims toavoid sex based size hierarchy14.Further, when reared with the males theprecocious maturation of the femalesthat enter into reproductive phasestunts somatic growth, whichultimately affects the total yield of thepopulation and production cost sincethe females by virtue of their smallersize are not marketed. This has pavedthe way for the monosex culture of allmale populations. All male culture isthe new trend adopted in commercialfarming of freshwater prawn, in order toensure maximum yield and unit weight/prawn. Extensive research has beeninitiated to determine the factors,organs, hormones and gene sequencefor regulatory mechanisms of sexdifferentiation15. In India, some farmersclaim to have acquired expertise in theculture field to segregate males andfemales by various morphologicalcharacters. The PL 10 are collectedfrom hatchery and stocked at nurseryfor a period of two months, after whichexperienced farmers can segregatemales and females with an accuracy ofaround 95%. At this time an averagefemale weigh 6.5±1.5g. Any femalesthat finds its way into the farm arepicked out and sold to the hatchery atthe cost of Rs.15/individual. Throughconstant observation and training overa period, these local fishermen claimthat they can segregate males and

females even at 5g size. This has led tothe wide spread practice of all maleculture.

Currently the hatchery operatorsneither maintain specific broodstocknor maintain the brooders over a longtime. They collect brooders (the 5%females that get mixed duringsegregation in all male culture) as andwhen they need them from localcommercial farms. The brooderscollected from these populations willbe of poor quality, characterized bypoor fecundity, larval survival andgrowth. Due to dearth of wild femalesthe hatcheries have to depend on farmsfor brooder supply, despite the factthat in the long run larval quality andsurvival ranges from 25 to 35%, whereas local hatcheries report that larvaeobtained from wild stock have around70% survival.

The recently held “Internationalsymposium on Freshwater prawns2003” at Cochin, Kerala, India, stronglyemphasized the vital need to augmentquality seed production to improve andsustain freshwater prawn culture in thecoming years. For instance thefreshwater prawn production potentialof India is 150,000 tonnes worth Rs3000 crores @ Rs.200/kg (US$ 65million) among the nine coastal statesof India except Goa where freshwaterprawn culture is yet to take off. AndhraPradesh contributes the lion share of88.6% in all India production offreshwater prawns (Table 1). In thisstate the current production is about27,020 tonnes, is expected to increasethree fold to reach 75,000 tonnesaccounting to 50% of the total Indianproduction within the next 5 years. Toachieve this target India needs toproduce 12,000 million seeds with asurvival rate of 50% to get 6,000 millionseeds per annum16. In order to fulfill theseed demand the country requires 200hatcheries located in different areas.With a viable-quality average of 30,000eggs/ female for seed productionaround 2,000 broodstock are requiredper hatchery per year. Hence, for yearround seed production the 200hatcheries would need 400,000brooders to supply six billion seeds.

Such a huge requirement ofbrooders may adversely affect thealready over exploited wild stock. Thesituation will worsen since theemerging all male culture also can not

satisfy the need for brooders. The onlysolution for this impasse is forhatcheries to begin maintaining theirown broodstock.

References

Gopakumar, K., S. Ayyappan, J.K. Jena, S.K. Sahoo, S.K.Sarkar, B.B. Satapathy and P.K. Nayak. 1999.National Freshwater Aquaculture DevelopmentPlan. Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture,Bhubaneswar, India. 75 Pp.

MPEDA/NACA (2003). Shrimp health managementExtension Manual. Prepared by the Network ofAquaculture Centres in the Asia-Pacific, incooperation with the Aquatic Animal HealthResearch Institute, Bangkok, Thailand, SiamNational Resources, Bangkok, Thailand and AusVetAnimal Health Services, Australia. Published by theMarine Products Development Authority, Kochi,India. 31p.

Chanrachakool, P. 2003. Farm level management optionsfor minimizing shrimp disease risk. MPEDA/NACANational Workshop on shrimp disease control andcoastal management, Chennai, March 5-6, 2003.Papers for Technical Sessions.pp1-6.

Ling, S.W. (1969). The general biology and developmentof Macrobrachium rosenbergii (De Man). FAOWorld Conference on the Biology and Culture ofShrimps and Prawns. Fisheries Report 57: 607-619.

New, M.B. 2003. The role of freshwater prawns insustainable aquaculture. Freshwater prawns 2003.International symposium Souvenir, KeralaAgriculture University, Kochi, India.pp10-13.

Kutty, M.N., F. Herman and H. Le Menn. 2000. Culture ofother prawn species. Chapter 21, pp.393-410. In:M.B.New and W. Velenti (eds), Freshwater PrawnCulture: The Farming of Macrobrachiumrosenbergii, Blackwell Science, Oxford. 467p.

Tripathi, S.D. 2000. Need to conserve and revive thedepleting stock(s) of the giant freshwater prawn inNature. National workshop on Aquaculture ofFreshwater prawns.Souvenir, Central Institute ofFisheries Education, Mumbai, India.pp 9-12.

Mariappan, P., Balamurugan, P and C. Balasundaram.2002. Diversity and utilization of freshwater prawns(Macrobrachium) in river Cauvery in Tamilnadu.Zoo’s Print Journal 17(10): 919-920.

Ayyappan, S. and J.K. Jena. 2001. Sustainable freshwateraquaculture in India. Sustainable Indian Fisheries.National Academy of Agricultural Sciences.NewDelhi.pp 88-133.

Tripathi, S.D. 1992. Status of freshwater prawn fisheryand farming in India. In Silas, E.G. (ed), Freshwaterprawns, Kerala Agricultural University. Thrissur,India. 42-49.

Kutty, M.N.2003. Sustainable Aquaculture - Acomparative view of freshwater prawn and marineshrimp. Freshwater prawns 2003. Internationalsymposium Souvenir, Kerala AgricultureUniversity, Kochi, India.pp14-20.

Palacios, E., Racatta, I.S. APSA, 1999b. Spawningfrequency analysis of wild and pond-reared of WhitePacific shrimp Penaeus vannamei broodstock underlarge-scale hatchery conditions. J. WorldAquaculture.Soc. 30: 180-191.

Hien, T.T.T., Minh, T.H., N.T. Phuong and M.N. Wilder.1998. Current status of freshwater prawn culture inthe Mekong River Delta of Vietnam. JIRCAS Journal6:89-100.

Sindhukumari, S and T.J. Pandian. 1987. Effects ofunilateral eyestalk ablation on moulting, growth,reproduction and energy budget of Macrobrachiumnobilii. Asian Fish. Sci., 1: 1-17.

Sagi, A., Snir, E and I. Khalaila. 1997. Sexualdifferentiation in decapod crustaceans: role of theandrogenic gland. Invertebrate Reproduction andDevelopment, 31: (1-3) 55-61.

Sakthivel, M. 2003. Utilization of untapped waterresources for scampi culture for a rapid jump inproduction and export in India. Freshwater prawns2003. International symposium Souvenir, KeralaAgriculture University, Kochi, India.pp21-24.

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Research and farming techniques

About the HOBAStechnology

The HOBAS aeration technologyconsists of a motor, an impeller(pump), an air hose with a regulatingvalve, a manometer and a floating raft.The impeller, which is mounted insidethe pump at the lower end of the motor,turns rapidly creating a partialvacuum inside the pump. The partialvacuum causes air above the waterlineto be pulled into the air intake portwhere air is dispersed into the water.The air intake port (submerged in thewater at the lower part of the pump) isconnected to air above the waterlinethrough a hose going onshore.Onshore a valve and a manometer areused to regulate the amount of airbeing introduced into the impeller.Due to the partial vacuum, the waterleaving the pump is slightly over-saturated with oxygen.

Most aerators employed inaquaculture today mix water with aireither after the pump (e.g. ejectorbased aeration) or with a propeller inopen water (e.g. Aire-O2, paddle-wheels). The HOBAS aerator isdesigned to introduce air directly inthe pump housing and mechanicallycrush the air with water under vacuumwithout reducing the effect. Suction offalse air usually makes pumps lessefficient. Moreover, compared to otheraeration technology, the HOBAStechnology also introduces severalother advantages in practical farmmanagement:• Farmers can freely regulate the

depth and position of the inlet andoutlet of the pump

• Farmers can freely regulate the angleof the outlet from the pump and thusavoid agitation of the pond bottomindependent of pond water depth inaddition to controling the direction

Use of new technology and skill enhancement to obtain

eco-friendly production of Tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon)

Asbjørn Drengstig1*, Asbjørn Bergheim2 & Bjørn Braaten3

1. Managing Director, HOBAS Tropical Aquaculture Water Engineering LTD, email [email protected];2. Senior Researcher, Rogaland Research;

3. Researcher, Norwegian Institute for Water Research

of the physical water currentaccording to the pond shape(individually adjustable)

• Farmers can control and regulate theamount of aeration according to theDO level in culture water (e.g. noaeration during the day – fullaeration during the night, orsomewhere in-between thesecategories)

• The pump prevents any kind ofstratification and creates uniformconditions in the water column

• The HOBAS technology is easy touse, has low maintenance, runs moresmoothly and makes less noise thancompetitive technology

Introduction

The Norwegian R&D company HOBASTropical Aquaculture LTD, has beenworking in Sri Lanka since 1999. At thattime, the shrimp farming industry wasseverely struck by disease outbreaksand bankruptcies. Although Sri Lankadoes not have a tradition of

aquaculture practices, the islandexperienced an enormous expansionwithin the shrimp farming sector in thebeginning of the 1990s. This rapiddevelopment was mainly possible dueto a high economic return oninvestments and free access tounpolluted water from local lagoons.During this period (1990 – 1995),neither the environment nor the welfareof the shrimps was considered, and asa result, the industry collapsed in 1997/1998. As recently as December 2003,the industry along the western coast ofSri Lanka was again struck by a severedisease outbreak. Thus, it is nowevident that measures need to beinitiated in order to improve farmmanagement and reduce the negativeenvironmental impact from shrimpfarming. The industry today realisesthe importance of unpolluted brackishwater and suitable land sites for pondconstruction, and the present focus ison sustainable production yields,preserving coastal environments andachieving an eco-friendly production.

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Research and farming techniques

Material and methods

The present study was conducted incooperation with Rogaland Research inStavanger, Norway. The overall aim ofthe project was to evaluate the possibleeffects on water quality in earthenshrimp ponds when production wasintensified by means of new technology.Four small-scale commercial pondsstocked with three different densities(12, 25 and 31 PLs m-2) and appliedthree different aeration technologieswere used. These were the HOBAStechnology, ordinary paddle-wheelsand Aire-O2 diffuser system. Theponds were approximately 40 x 40meters with a water depth of 3 feet(pond volume: 1920 m3). Continuousmonitoring of dissolved oxygen (DO),pH, temperature, salinity, carbondioxide (CO2) and ammonia (NH3) wereperformed during the entire productioncycle. DO, pH, salinity and temperaturewere measured by a hand-held YSI-556MPS (Multi-Probe-System) instrument.Analysis of CO2 and TAN were done atRogaland Research’s certified QA-labin Stavanger.

In addition, water current velocitieswere measured along a transect (10meters from shore) in all four ponds tocompare the different aerator’s abilityto maintain the horizontal watercirculation. The water current velocitieswere monitored by an Aquadop CurrentMeter measuring velocity (cm/s,accuracy: 0.5 cm/s or 1%) and direction(accuracy: 0.1?).

Results

The results are indicating, first andforemost, that the HOBAS technologyis able to keep key water qualityparameters (O2, CO2, TAN, (salinity), pHand temperature) un-stratified, stableand within acceptable levels in semi-intensive and intensive shrimp culture.Most efficiently, the HOBAS aeratortotally removed the potentially toxicgases (CO2, NH3) in a highly intensivepond (stocked with 31 PLs m-2). Neitherpaddlewheels nor aeration usingdiffusers proved a similar effect (Figure 1).

Moreover, the three ponds installedwith standard aeration equipment (e.g.paddlewheels) did allow theaccumulation of CO2 and TAN duringthe last month of the production cycle.The HOBAS technology employed inthis trial was superior to the othersflushing capacity wise. These resultsclearly demonstrate that the existingtechnology commonly employed inshrimp farming today is not adequate tokeep CO2 and TAN at acceptable levels;at least not during the last period of theproduction cycle of intensive culture.

The HOBAS aerator also displayeda better utilisation of nutrients.Contrary to the other three ponds, avery healthy phytoplankton growthwas observed where no algae mats(lap-laps) were produced. This simplyimplies that nutrients (nitrates andphosphates) were suspended in thewater column for a longer time, and alarger concentration was therefore usedto stimulate the bloom before

sedimentation or being discharged.Moreover, the HOBAS technologymaintained an optimum horizontal watercurrent velocity (3.4 - 7.3 cm s-1) in thepond which corresponds to theacceptable range suggested byPeterson et al. (2001). According to thenumbers employed, paddlewheelseither created too high velocities (14.9– 20.9 cm s-1) or insufficient velocities(1.5 – 5.1 cm s-1).

Discussion

During the last decades, there has beena development towards more efficientand intensive production units inseveral shrimp producing countries. Inlight of the worldwide debate onenvironmental and socio-economicissues, the industry clearly needs toproduce shrimp more efficiently.However, important prerequisites forthe long-term sustainability of shrimpfarming have often been neglected inthe past. In order to achieve an eco-friendly production, farmers mustunderstand the complex mechanismscontrolling the water quality and usetechnology suited for intensiveproduction.

Poor water quality conditions inponds stress the shrimps, whichsubsequently makes them moresusceptible to disease. The biggeststressors are mainly toxic levels ofcarbon dioxide (CO2) or ammonia (NH3)which are much more likely to occur inintensive systems. Traditionally, CO2and TAN levels are seldom measured incommercial shrimp farming. Accordingto EIFAC (1986), the daily cycle ofmetabolite levels in culture watershould be determined at least onceduring the production cycle in order tolocate the periods of maximum andminimum levels of the relevant watermanagement components (DO, pH,TAN, CO2). Therefore, in intensivelyrun farms (20 PLs/ m-2 and upwards), itis of vital importance to know the exactconcentration of these potentiallystressful and toxic components. Theresults from the present study confirmthe importance of monitoring waterquality throughout the productioncycle in intensive systems.

Furthermore, the organic content ineffluent causing unwantedeutrophication in lagoons tends to bemuch higher in semi-intensive and

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April-June 2004 (Vol. IX No. 2) 19

Research and farming techniques

Figure 1. Sampling of pH, carbon dioxide (CO2) and total ammonia (TAN) in four ponds in July (left) and August 2002(right) (no pH and CO2 measured in Pond 15 in August) Pond 14: HOBAS aerator/31 PL m2; Pond 15: Paddlewheels/31 PLm2; Pond 16: Paddlewheels/12 PL m2 (control); Pond 17: Paddlewheels & diffuser/25 PL m2

CO 2

02468

10121416

14 15 16 17

Pond No.

mic

ro g

/L

pH

6.5

7.0

7.5

8.0

8.5

9.0

9.5

1 4 1 5 16 17

Pond No.

TAN

0500

100015002000250030003500400045005000

14 15 16 17

Po nd No .

mic

ro g

/L

CO 2

02468

10121416

14 15 16 17

Pond No.

mic

ro g

/L

pH

6.5

7.0

7.5

8.0

8.5

9.0

1 4 1 5 16 17

Pond No.

TAN

0500

1 0001 5002 0002 5003 0003 5004 0004 5005 000

14 1 5 16 17

Po nd No .

mic

ro g

/L

intensive farming areas than in extensivesystems. In fact, extensive shrimpculture is not expected to represent anysignificant load of nutrients to thesurrounding waters at all (Phillips et al.1993). Recent studies of shrimp culturein Bangladesh, where mainly extensivesystems are employed, support thisview (Bergheim & Braaten 2002).Bangladeshi ghers actually function asbiofilters and sedimentation ponds(silting) discharging rather unpollutedeffluents. However, in more intensivesystems, where artificial feeds are themain nutritional source, water beingdischarged strongly contributes topollution of adjacent environments.Thus, more efficient technology able toreduce or remove these waste

components and to improve theutilisation of available nutrients in thewater column is clearly needed to reduceeffluent loading in the future.

Conclusions

The overall most important conclusionsfrom the project are:• The HOBAS technology, contrary to

commonly employed technology,will sustain an eco-friendlyproduction of shrimp

• The new technology has a strongability and a high capacity to flushthe possible toxic gasses carbondioxide (CO2) and ammonia (NH3)from culture water in earthen pondsystems

• The new technology renders farmersto intensify their production withhigher stocking density at reducedrisk of sub-optimal water qualityconditions and disease outbreaks,and without sacrificing the welfareof the shrimp

• The new technology will workexcellently in combination withordinary paddlewheels and otherdiffuser aeration systems

Based on the technical results from thetesting of the new technology in SriLanka, HOBAS has, in cooperationwith Rogaland Research (RF) and theNorwegian Institute of Water Research(NIVA), started the process of initiating

Continued on page 40

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Research and farming techniques

The windowpane shell, Placunaplacenta is one among the pearlproducing bivalves. It was identified asthe second-priority mollusc species forresearch during the Second Conferenceon Aquaculture Development inSoutheast Asia held in the Philippinesin July 1994 and is the basis for a‘kapis’ (windowpane shell) fishery inthe Philippines. Windowpane shellprovides fishermen an additionalincome-generating source through thesale of its pearls and shells. The emptyshells are used as raw material inmaking shell craft products and areexported.

In India the distribution of thespecies is confined to the Kakinada Bayin Andhra Pradesh1,2,3,4; to theOkhamandal Coast in the Gulf ofKutch5,6; to the Nauxim Bay of Goa7 andto Tuticorin Bay8 and Vellapatti nearTuticorin9. The oysters were fished fromthese areas in considerable quantitiesevery year for pearls and shells causingconcern about over exploitation of wildstocks. The development of techniqueson breeding, larval rearing and spatproduction of the species mighteventually help to sustain the fishery.Hence efforts are made in different partsof the world to breed the windowpaneshell in captivity and produce the seedsfor replenishment of wild stocks.Previous research has documented thespawning and larval development of P.placenta10; documented the techniquesin induced spawning and earlyembryonic and larval development11;studied the effect of salinity on theembryonic development, larval growthand survival at metamorphosis12;evaluated the effect of microalgal dietsand rearing condition on gonad maturity,fecundity and embryonicdevelopment13; and reported onhatchery management techniques14.

Larval rearing and spat production of thewindowpane shell Placuna placenta

S. Dharmaraj, K. Shanmugasundaram and C.P. Suja

Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Tuticorin Research Centre, 115, N.K.Chetty street, Tuticorin-628001 (India),e-mail:[email protected]

In Tuticorin Bay, the windowpaneshell occurs in a 0.46 ha bed and itsexploitation during the fishery is almosttotal leading to the depletion of stockin the bay. The natural population hasto be augmented in order to meet theneeds of mariculture. We thereforeundertook to develop the technologyfor the production of seed of thespecies in the hatchery and to searanch them for the replenishment ofwild stock. The report is the first to bepublished on larval rearing and seedproduction of P. placenta from India.

Techniques

The windowpane shells, collected fromthe Tuticorin Bay in the Gulf ofMannar, were brought to the ShellfishHatchery of the Tuticorin ResearchCentre of the Central Marine FisheriesResearch Institute. Prior to theexperiment, these broodstock animalswere kept for 24 hours in aeratedseawater held in a rectangular tank.The oysters were treated for spawningon the following day by thermalstimulation at 37ºC at 1445 hours.Males started to spawn at 1530 hoursfollowed by females. When thespawning was over the brood stockanimals were removed and the eggsallowed to fertilize. The eggs wereyellow in colour.

We collected the fertilized eggs bygently siphoning through a 30µm sieve.The material collected in the sievecontained fertilized eggs, faecalmatters, broken tissues, shell fragmentsand other waste materials. Thecontents of the sieve were passedthrough an 80µm sieve and theunwanted materials discarded. Thefertilized eggs that passed through80µm sieve were allowed to develop inthe tank and the larval developmentwas studied. No aeration was provided

and antibiotics were not used duringlarval development. We observed thedevelopment under an invertedmicroscope using 10x10 magnification.After 24 hours straight-hinged larvaewere collected in 40µm mesh sieve. Thelarvae were reared in two 75 literrectangular fiberglass tanks. Feedingwas initiated at veliger stage on daytwo. The unicellular microalgaIsochrysis galbana was given as foodto the larvae once in a day at aconcentration of 5,000 cells larva -1 day -1 (10 cells µl -1) from day two; 10,000cells day -1 (20 cells µl -1) from day five;15,000 cells day -1 (30 cells µl -1) fromday seven; and 20,000 cells day -1 (40cells µl -1 from day ten. The microalgawas cultured in Conway medium15 andharvested during its exponential phase.Algal density was assessed usinghaemocytometer and proportionatefeed was given. Water change wasdone once in two days by siphoningthe larvae through a sieve with themesh size smaller than the larval size.Random sample of 50 larvae wasmeasured along the dorsoventral axis(DVM) and anteroposterior axis (APM)as a parameter to assess the growth.The spat were allowed to settle free inthe tank itself, as they did not havebyssus thread or cement gland forattachment. No cultch material wasprovided for settlement of spat.Aeration was given only after spatsetting. Unicellular microalga I.galbana was continued to be suppliedas food for the spat up to 1.0mm andwas gradually replaced afterwards bymixed algal food. The mixed algae,chiefly containing Chaetoceros sp.andother diatoms, were developed inoutdoor tanks. During larval rearing thewater temperature ranged from 28ºC to30ºC; salinity 34.6 – 35.2 ppt. and pH7.91-8.09.

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Window-pane shell Placuna placenta.

4-celled, 8-celled and 32-celled stages.

Typical umbo stage, size 140 x 130 µm.

Hatchery reared juveniles of P. placenta, average size 26.4 x 10.6mm on day 135.

Larval development

The spawned eggs are spherical in shape measuring 50µm.Fertilization was immediate and the first polar body wasreleased 15 minutes after fertilization. First cleavage startedafter another 15minutes leading to the two-celled stage. Thetwo-celled stage had a smaller micromere and a largermacromere along with a polar body at the furrow ofcleavage. The trefoil stage, containing three micromeres andone macromere was obtained four minutes. After the two-celled stage. The cell wall of the 3 micromeres slowlydisappeared and resulted in the four-celled stage 65 minutesafter fertilization. The macromere did not take part in furthercell divisions. The 8-celled, 16-celled and 32-celled stagesare obtained in 80 minutes, 100 minutes and 155 minutesrespectively after fertilization. Morula stage was reached in

Fertilized eggs with polar body, size 50µm.

Spat with its transparent shell.

Straight-hinge larvae, average size 79.9 x 65.2µm.

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four hours and 45 minutes. The embryobegan to move at the morula stage. Asthe larvae move in water column, themorula is transformed to a blastulastage by the development of ablastocoel, which opens to the exteriorthrough blastopore. Gastrulationcommenced at this stage byconvolution of cells to interior throughblastopore. After completion ofgastrulation, the dermal layers namelyectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm areformed along with an archenteron. Bythe formation of single flagellum at theapical end, the embryo reachedtrochophore stage in 5 hours and 41minutes. The ectodermal cells secreteembryonic shell material(prodissoconch 1) and formed a D-shaped veliger 18 hours and 45 minutespost fertilization and measured anaverage of 65.2µm in DVM or shellheight and 79.9µm in APM or shelllength. The shell valves of the veligerare equivalve and transparent with

conspicuous granules. The timesequence of early embryonicdevelopment of larvae of P. placenta isgiven in Table 1 and the time seriesgrowth data of the species from veligerto spat is presented in Table 2.

Larval growth

The relationship between the larvalshell length (APM) and shell height(DVM) is linear and is described by theequation:

Y=17.982 + 0.9595X with r = 0.9981Where Y represents APM and X

represents DVM in µm.On day three all larvae were at

veliger stage and subsequently the D-shaped veliger became globular at110µm APM x 100µm DVM resulting inthe disappearance of straight hingeline. On day four the typical umbostage constituted 90% of thepopulation measuring 140 x 130µm. Thelate umbo stage is reached at 210 x

200µm on day five, pediveliger at 215 x205µm on day seven, and plantigrade at235 x 210µm on day eight. On day ninethe umbo larvae constituted 14%,eyespot 28%, pediveliger 34% andplantigrade 24% of the population. Thespat had grown to 340 x 300µm on dayten. On day thirteen the pediveligerformed 14%, plantigrade 36% and spat50% of the population. In view of suchheterogeneity in growth, the averagesize of larvae at different stages wastaken into account in working out thegrowth rate. The average shell heighton day one is 65.2µm; 81.6 µm on daythree; 121.6 µm on day six; 205.8 µm onday nine and 300 µm on day thirteen.The average daily rate of growth of thelarvae is 23.0 µm from day 0 to 13.

Spat setting and spatproduction

The larvae set as spat on day 7-8. Thespat has neither byssus nor cementgland for attachment and hence theywere allowed to settle on tank surface.The spat has an exceptionally long footwhich would be of much use inburrowing. The shell is highlytransparent with concentric growthline. The initial larval population in allthe culture tanks was 1.5 x 105 in a totalvolume of 150 litres of seawater. Thetotal number of larvae thatmetamorphosed as spat was 12,500,giving a survival rate of 8.3 % andproduction rate of 83.3 spat/liter.

Growth of spat

The average growth in shell height ofspat was 0.300mm on day thirteen;0.806mm on day 22; 3.09mm on day 36and 12.44mm on day 80. The equation

Table 1. Time sequence of early embryonic development of larvae of Placunaplacenta

Time after fertilization Stage Madrones-Ladja (1997) Present study

Egg 0 0 First polar body 15 min 15 min Second polar body - 20 min 2-celled stage 30-40 min 30 min Trefoil stage 40-50 min 34 min 4-celled stage 50-60 min 65 min 8-celled stage 115-120 min 80 min 16-celled stage - 100 min 32-celled stage 120 min 155 min Morula stage - 285 min Blastula stage - 295 min Gastrula stage 235 min 305 min Trochophone stage 325 min 341 min Water temperature Salinity

27 ºC 33 ppt

28 ºC 34.6-35.2 ppt

Table 2. Time series growth data of Placuna placenta. The larval measurements are in µm. Whenever two measurementsare given with an X sign, the first is APM and the second is DVM. Time from fertilization is given in hours (h) andminutes (m) or in days (d).

Madrones-Ladja (1997) Present study Stage size Time Size Time

Egg- spherical 0 50 D-shape 89 x 75 18 h 20 m 79.9 x 65.2 18 h.45m Early umbo 98 x 82 d 5 110 x 100 d 3 Umbo 138 X 105 d 7 140 x 130 d 4 Pediveliger 192 x 190 d 9 215 x 205 d 7 Plantigrade 232 x 225 d14 235 x 210 d 8 Spat - - 340 x 300 d 10 Water temperature Salinity

24.0-27 ºC 32.0-35.0 ppt

28.0-30 ºC 34.6-35.2 ppt

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for the growth of the spat from day 13to 80 is described as:

Y = 0.1634 + 0.9754 X with r-value of0.9998.

The spat was transferred to farm onday 80 and the growth rate of spat after54 days in the farm was 0.59mm/day.During the same period the spat rearedin the hatchery showed a growth rateof 0.08mm/day (average size 26.4 x 10.6mm on day 135). The followingequation was fitted to the spat growthdata: y = aebt w here y = DVM in mm andt = time in days. The fitted equation forhatchery reared spat was: Y = 0.6973 +0.9365 X with r-value of 0.9998 and thatfor farm reared spat was Y = 0.3410 +0.9955 X with r-value of 0.9984. It isevident from the equation that the farmreared spat had a higher instantaneousgrowth rate (b). The farm-reared spatattained juvenile stage with an averagesize of 44.4mm on day 135. The spatproduced in the hatchery was ranchedin the bay.

Applications

Regular fishing of windowpane shell isconducted in the Kakinada Bay inAndhra Pradesh and in OkhamandalCoast in the Gulf of Kutch. Hugequantities of these animals areexploited every year causing depletionof stock. In a notification dated July 21,2001 the Ministry of Environment andForests, Government of India, hasincluded the windowpane shell inSchedule 1 of the Wildlife (Protection)Act, 1972. As a result the naturalpopulations of P. placenta areprotected against exploitation. Whilebreeding of several species of bivalveshas been achieved16, this is the firstreport on breeding, larval rearing andspat production of windowpane shellfrom India.

Initial attempts to induce spawningwindowpane shell were made usingwater manipulation techniques10.Others resorted to chemical andphotochemical stimulations11. In thepresent study thermal stimulation wassuccessful in the induction ofspawning in P. placenta when watertemperature was increased to 37ºC. Thetemperature at which P. placentaresponded to spawning seemed to behigh when compared to other bivalvesstudied from India such as the bloodclam Anadara granosa which spawned

at 32ºC after conditioning at 24.0-26.0ºCfor 15 days17; the great clam Meretrixmeretrix at 4-5ºC above the ambientlevel of 24.0-26.0ºC18.

The easy response of induction ofspawning by thermal stimulation andfaster growth of larvae/spat hasfacilitated the scaling up of productionof the seeds of P. placenta in India.The Shellfish Hatchery at Tuticorin hadalready demonstrated the production ofpearl oyster seed to a maximum of 1.3million per run19. An average survivalrate of 5% of pearl oyster seeds wasachieved. In the present study the rateof production of windowpane shellseed is 8.3%. The culture conditions(water temperature 28-30ºC and salinity34.6-35.2 ppt) prevailing during thisstudy seemed to be favorable for theproduction of seeds. Large-scaleproduction of seeds of P. placenta toreplenish natural stocks seems quitefeasible.

Madrones-Ladja12 reported thesettlement after fourteen days in thesalinities ranging from 22-34 ppt. Thepresent investigation not onlyobserved earlier settlement (betweenthe day seven and eight) but alsoindicated faster growth of larvae/spatat a water temperature of 28-30ºC andsalinity 34.6-35.2 ppt. The growth oflarvae/spat up to day thirteen was23.0µm day -1 whereas the same, asreported by others14, was 11.0 µm day -1up to the day fourteen. The fastergrowth rate in India may perhaps berelated to higher water temperature.Madrones-Ladja11 provided petri dishas cultch at the time of settlement andreported poor survival, which may beattributed to the lack of deficiency ofessential nutrients in the microalgaefed to the larvae and the non-availability of suitable substrate.Similar results have been reported fortridacnid clams when suitable substrateis not available20.

P. placenta has neither cementgland nor byssus thread forattachment. Hence at the time ofsettlement if a suitable substrate isprovided, as in the natural habitat, highsurvival may be achieved. The foot ofthe windowpane shell is exceptionallylong when compared to other bivalves,and facilitates in burrowing. In thenatural habitat the lengthy foot may bebeneficial in positioning the spat at thetime of settlement in the clayey bottom.

P. placenta is naturally found burrowingin muddy or sandy-mud substratum21.Provision of cultch material like glass orplastic items might not be useful forsettling in P. placenta. Hence, in thepresent study no cultch materials wereprovided and therefore the larvae areallowed to set at the bottom of thefiberglass tank.

The rate, at which Madrones-Ladja11

fed the larvae is higher than in thepresent study and still the growth andsettlements are faster in India. Thenutritional value of Isochrysis galbanamay likely vary at different locations andthis may reflect in the vigor, viability andgrowth of the embryo, larva and spat.Higher larval growth of Ostrea edulishas been reported when fed a microalgaldiet of I. galbana and Chaetoceroscalcitrans22 Madrones-Ladja12 reportedthe food value of I. galbana with 41 %crude protein and 23 % crude fat. In thepresent work the food value of I.galbana is 59.6 % crude protein (dryweight) and 14.4 % crude fat (dryweight). I. galbana is one of the mostcommonly used marine unicellular algaein mariculture and is rich in fatty acidC22:623. However a detailed study isneeded to determine the optimum algalcell ration to the larvae and its foodvalue on the growth of larvae and spat.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Prof. (Dr.)Mohan Joseph Modayil, Director andDr. K.K. Appukuttan, Head, MolluscanFisheries Division, Central MarineFisheries Research Institute, Cochin fortheir interest and encouragement. Oursincere thanks are due to Miss. Anualias Meena, Senior Research Fellow,Tissue Culture Project, Tuticorin forthe help in computerization of data.

References

1. Narasimham, K.A. 1973. On the molluscan fisheriesof the Kakinada Bay. Indian J. Fish., 2(1):209-214.

2. Murthy, V.S.R., Narasimham, K.A. and Venugopalan,W. 1979. Survey of windowpane oyster (Placentaplacenta) resources in the Kakinada Bay. Indian J.Fish., 26(1&2): 25-132.

3. Narasimham, K.A., Selvaraj, G.S.D. and Lalitha Devi,S. 1984. The molluscan resources and ecology ofKakinada Bay. Mar. Fish. Infor. Serv., T & E Ser.,No.59:1-16.

4. Syda Rao, G. and Somayajulu, K.R. 1996. Resourcecharacteristics of exploited bivalves and gastropodsof Kakinada Bay with a note on stock assessment.Mar. Fish. Infor. Serv., T & E Ser., No.144: 25-28.

Continued on page 28

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Chris Baldock of Ausvet (Australia)defined ‘trans-boundary animaldiseases’ (TADs) as epidemic diseaseswhich are highly contagious ortransmissible, with the potential forvery rapid spread irrespective ofnational borders and cause serioussocio-economic and possibly publichealth consequences1. Some of themost serious problems currently facedby the sector are those pathogens anddiseases spread and introducedthrough movements of hatcheryproduced stocks, new species foraquaculture and development andenhancement of the ornamental fishtrade. Aquaculture is faced with what isknown as trans-boundary aquaticanimal pathogens/diseases (TAAPs/TAADs), similar to the TADs in thelivestock sector. Minimizing the risks ofintroduction and spread of TAAPs/TAADs through responsible movementof live aquatic animals has been themain subject of technical support andregional/international cooperationwhen the regional aquatic animal healthmanagement program of FAO/NACA2-4

started since 1999. The programreceived enhanced support from anumber of regional/internationalorganizations such as the AustralianCentre for International AgriculturalResearch (ACIAR), the Asia-PacificEconomic Cooperation (APEC)5,6, theAssociation of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN), the OfficerInternational des Epizooties (OIE) andthe Southeast Asian FisheriesDevelopment Center (SEAFDEC)7.

The OIE8 lists some 30 pathogens/diseases of finfish, molluscs andcrustaceans as either ‘Notifiable’ or‘Significant’ fitting the criteria of beingof socio-economic and/or public healthimportance and significant in the

Trans-boundary aquatic animal diseases:Focus on Koi herpes virus (KHV)

Melba G. Bondad-Reantaso

Dr. Melba G. Bondad-Reantaso was NACA’s Aquatic Animal Health Management Specialist from 1999 to 2002. Dr.Reantaso organized and led the Emergency Disease Control Task Force on a serious disease of common and koi carp in

Indonesia. She now works as Aquatic Animal Research Pathologist at the Cooperative Oxford Laboratory of theMaryland Department of Natural Resources in Oxford, Maryland.

international trade of aquatic animalsand aquatic animal products. Thesediseases are known and affect the mostcommonly traded species such assalmonids, catfish, oyster and shrimps.The Asia-Pacific Quarterly AquaticAnimal Disease Reporting System(QAAD), established in late 1998 byFAO/NACA/OIE-Tokyo, covers theOIE listed diseases and an additionalsix diseases deemed important to theAsia-Pacific region9,10. In addition tothe OIE-listed and the NACA/FAOlisted diseases, there are many morediseases of regional and nationalinterests which have impacted Asianaquaculture11 and some are newlyemerging in the region.

In early January 2002, duringNACA’s 12th Governing CouncilMeeting (GCM-12, Langkawi,Malaysia), a Hungarian colleague,Andreas Peteri, asked whether I wasaware of some Koi Herpes Virus (KHV)report in Asia. I wasn’t fully cognizantof this disease at that time! During theWorld Aquaculture Society (WAS)meeting in Bejing in April, I chancedupon Dr. Ra’anan Ariav, one of my fishdisease teachers who spoke about Koi

herpes virus (KHV) experience in Israel.He predicted that it will only be amatter of time when the disease willspread to the Asian region.

In June 2002, while arranging for amission to assist in the development ofIndonesia’s National Strategy onAquatic Animal Health12, Dr. Rukyani ofIndonesia’s Ministry of Marine Affairsand Fisheries (MMAF) consultedregarding an on-going diseaseoutbreak affecting common and koicarps. Based on the clinical signsdescribed, patterns of mortality andspecificity to koi and common carp, Istrongly suspected Koi Herpes Virus(KHV). During the National StrategyDevelopment workshop, a smallsession regarding the current diseaseoutbreak was held where Dr. Rukyaniand I made presentations, mypresentation was based on materialskindly provided by Dr. Ariav withadditional information from thescientific literature. There was nodoubt from both presentations that wewere talking about a very similardisease. Most of the participantsduring the workshop were convinced

Attentive participants during the NationalStrategy Development Workshop, Bogor,Indonesia, June 2002.

Melba Reantaso presenting KHVinformation during the National StrategyDevelopment Workshop, June 2002. Onright is Ahmed Rukyani.

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that that the on-going mass mortality inIndonesia was similar to KHV.

The pattern of mortality, rapidspread, specificity to koi and commoncarps and clinical signs werecharacteristics of the outbreaks of KHVreported in 1999 in mid-Atlantic and in1998 and 1999 in Israel13,14. Clinicalsigns from the current Indonesianoutbreaks were characterized by severebranchial hemorrhage and necrosis,and hemorrhages on the body surface.The affected populations, limited to koiand common carps, were also sufferingfrom non-specific secondary infectionsof bacterial, parasitic and fungal origin.Internally, the kidney and liver

consistently showed abnormalconditions and extensive abdominaladhesions. The disease, reportedly firstobserved in April 2002 affecting EastJava, had subsequently spread to Westand Central Java where many koi andcommon carp farms were affected.Losses were estimated at US$ 5.5 M (50B Rupiah, 1 US$ = 9,000 IndonesianRupiah conversion rate at the time ofthe outbreak).

Immediate positive responses werereceived from the ACIAR, the AquaticAnimal Health Research Institute(AAHRI, Thailand), Intervet Norbio(Singapore), University of California,(UC Davis, California, USA), and the

Institute of Aquaculture of theUniversity of Stirling (IA, StirlingUniversity, Scotland). The Food andAgriculture Organization of the UnitedNations (FAO) and OIE (Tokyo)provided valuable advice to theorganization and development of theterms of reference of the Task Forceand also pledged support to follow-upactions.

The Local Task Force was headedby Dr. Rukyani with staff members fromthe Fish Health Research Laboratory,Central Research Institute forAquaculture (Jakarta, Indonesia) andthe Directorate of Fish Health andEnvironment, Directorate General ofAquaculture (Jakarta, Indonesia), bothof the MMAF, and researchers/scientists from the Fish DiseaseLaboratory and Faculty of VeterinaryMedicine, Bogor AgriculturalUniversity (Bogor, Indonesia).

Field visits were undertaken from 8-12 July and laboratory examination ofcollected samples followed shortly. Thefocus of the Task Force investigationwas to assess the disease situation,determine the possible involvement ofKHV13,14, and provide advice andrecommendations to the Government ofIndonesia on how to control theepizootic. The scope of theinvestigation included fieldobservations (i.e. field visits, local/district officials and farmer interviews)and collection of samples forlaboratory examinations (e.g.histopathology, virology, polymerasechain reaction (PCR) and electronmicroscopy (EM)).

The Task Force findings revealedthat an infectious agent/s is involvedin the outbreak (from previous andrecent epidemiological observations ofsudden onset, rapid spread, specificityto koi and common carp, analogy withKHV outbreaks), that the disease wasintroduced to Indonesia through fishimportation and spread into other areasthrough fish movements. This nationalepizootic, which occurred in ponds,raceways, and floating cages in openwaters has spread both north andsouthward directions creatingsignificant concern for a realinternational epizootic which mayaffect several neighboring countries.

The clinical signs, consistent in allcases, include branchial hemorrhage,necrosis and focal dermal ulceration.

Koi and common carps showing clinical signs of the disease, i.e. branchialhaemorrhage and necrosis, focal dermal hemorrhages on body surface.

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The level of morbidity and mortalityreported by farmers ranged from 50 to100%; water temperatures during theoutbreak period ranged from 19-23°C.Water temperature has been suggestedto be a principal environmental factorinfluencing the onset and severity ofKHV infection15.

While the Task Force recognized theimportant role that KHV played in theoutbreak (based on the detection ofviral DNA through PCR16,17 from allcase samples), there was noconfirmation whether the agentresponsible was KHV (due to absenceof typical KHV pathology, failed viralisolation and non-observance of

typical EM virions). Because this is afirst time diagnoses of a diseaseproblem of significant magnitude, it isessential that all available diagnostictechniques be used in order to confirmthe involvement of KHV. A carefuldiagnosis is required and this iscurrently the subject of future follow-up work under an FAO project as amatter of priority. The Task Forcefindings recommended that this seriousoutbreak of koi and common carp becalled ‘Mass mortality of koi andcommon carp’ until a clear associationwith KHV or any other specific diseasecan be established.

This suspected KHV introduction toIndonesia presents a huge tradeimplication for the high valueornamental koi carp and the regionallyimportant food fish common carp. KHVis a serious disease condition causingsignificant losses and has beenreported from countries such asIsrael13,14, the United Kingdom,Germany, Netherlands, Belgium,Denmark18,19 and the United States13. Itis now clear that unregulated trade inornamental fish is responsible for theescalating global spread of thedisease15.

Most recently, carp populations intwo major lakes in Japan (LakeKasumigaura and Lake Kitaura) wereaffected by this devastating diseasewith losses estimated at 150 M yen(approximately US$ 1.4 M) (Pro-MedNews, November 4, 2003). Japan’sMinistry of Agriculture, Forestry andFisheries is considering suspension ofcarp exports (http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=119). Outbreaks,which have reached epizooticproportions during the past twomonths, have been reported by 22prefectures since May 2003 (http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=139).

Barry Hill (of the Centre forEnvironmental, Fisheries andAquaculture Sciences (CEFAS) andOIE’s Aquatic Animal Health StandardsCommission), was correct when he saidduring his plenary talk at the FifthSymposium on Diseases in AsianAquaculture in Queensland, Australiain November 2002, that one of thepossible reasons for the emergence of anew disease in a country is ‘slow

KHV gill pathology. Hyperplasia and fusionof secondary gill lamellae; intranuclearinclusion (arrow) in the branchialepithelium (gill section stained withhematoxylin and eosin). Photo courtesy ofProf. R. Hedrick, UC Davis.

Koi carp showing typical signs of necrotic gills.

Common carps exhibiting typical signs of branchial necrosis.

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awareness on emerging diseases by theexporting country’, citing KHV as anexample. This is an important lesson.

The Government of Indonesia wasadvised to temporarily restrict themovement of koi and common carpsand a Ministerial Circular took effect inJuly 2002. Intensive informationdissemination was also undertaken toraise awareness and inform the publicsector about relevant information,including risks to human health,available at that time.

Since the completion of the TaskForce work and perhaps due to theimpacts of the Japanese outbreak aswell as increasing KHV reports frommany countries, concerted actions fromvarious stakeholders are now takingplace.

In October 2002, FAO respondedimmediately and positively byproviding an emergency assistancethrough a Technical CooperationProject (TCP) “Health management infreshwater aquaculture’ to furtherassist Indonesia in finding resolutionto this emergency situation.

The First Meeting of NACA’sRegional Advisory Group on AquaticAnimal Health held in November 2002

recommended the inclusion of ‘Koimass mortality’ under the category‘Unknown diseases of serious nature’of the Quarterly Aquatic AnimalDisease report (QAAD) of NACA/FAOand OIE20. Several countries (e.g. HongKong SAR, Japan and Thailand) nowhave an on-going surveillance for KHVusing Levels II, I and III diagnostics4,respectively20. The disease is notcurrently listed under OIE’s ‘NotifiableDiseases’, however, an emergencynotification was provided to OIE by theIndonesian Government in June 2002 assuggested by NACA. This massmortality of koi and common carp iscurrently being reported by at least 21countries in Asia-Pacific under theAsia-Pacific QAAD.

Japan’s largest koi-grading showscheduled to be held in January 2004has been cancelled by the All JapanNishikigoi Promotion Association(http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=139).

Later during 2004, FAO is proposingto hold a regional workshop on“Emergency Preparedness andResponse to Aquatic Animal Diseasesin Asia” (R.P Subasinghe, FAO, pers.comm.). The Workshop will review theregional experiences in responding todisease emergencies, including thework accomplished through an FAOTCP project in Indonesia aimed atproviding technical assistance toimprove national capacity to respondto the ongoing carp disease epizootic.

The Workshop envisages to improvethe national and regionalunderstanding and knowledge on theimportance of preparedness andresponse to diseases emergencies,discuss approaches for reducing suchrisks to cultured and wild aquaticfauna, and to establish an action planto provide guidance and assistance tothe countries in the region to moveforward on this important issue.

The experience on emergencyresponse in dealing with this recentepizootic provided some valuableinsights21: (a) the importance ofregional and international cooperation;(b) the need to increase awareness onemerging diseases in other parts of theglobe and the risks of it’s spreading tothe Asian region; (c) the need toimprove diagnostic capabilities at bothnational and regional levels; (d) pro-active reporting of serious diseaseoutbreaks as a mechanism for earlywarning; (e) the need to havecontingency plans both at national andregional levels; (f) the need to improvecompliance and implementation ofpolicies reached at regional andinternational levels; (g) emergencypreparedness as a core function ofgovernment services; and (h) financialplanning towards immediate provisionof funds for emergency diseasesituations be seriously considered bothat national and regional levels. It isessential that appropriate healthmanagement and biosecurity measures

Farmers administer antibiotic treatment(tetracycline) with poor success.

Members of the Emergency Disease Control Task Force (Drs. SomkiatKanchanakhan, MB Reantaso and Angus Cameron, second, fourth and fifth from left)during a courtesy call to Indonesian officials, Director Dr. Fatuchri Sukadi, DirectorGeneral of Aquaculture, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (third from left) andDr. Ahmed Rukyani (sixth from left).

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Aquatic animal health

are continuously put in place andeffectively implemented. Otherwise, therisks of major disease incursions andnewly emerging diseases will continueto threaten the sector. Sometimes Iwonder whether doing something ordoing nothing at all can make adifference. Glenn Hurry, of AFFA(Australia) when I reported to himabout these seemingly incessantdisease incursions, commented ‘notbad, especially when governments aretold what to and what not to do!’.There are many lessons from the pastand hopefully our memories will not betoo short to forget the events causedby various trans-boundary aquaticanimal disease epizootics (e.g.epizootic ulcerative syndrome of freshand brackishwater fishes, viral nervousnecrosis of marine fish, viral diseasesof shrimps, haplosporidiosis in oysters,akoya pearl oyster mortalities, etc.).These lessons can assist us towardspreparing better and improvingresponses to similar events when theyoccur in the future.

References

1. Baldock, C. (2002). Health management issues in therural livestock sector: useful lessons forconsideration when formulating programmes onhealth management in rural, small-scale aquaculturefor livelihood. pp. 7-19. In: J.R. Arthur, M.J. Phillips,R.P. Subasinghe, M.B. Reantaso and I.H. MacRae.(eds.). Primary Aquatic Animal Health Care in Rural,Small-Scale, Aquaculture Development. FAO Fish.Tech. Pap. No. 406. Rome, FAO. 2002. 382 p.

2. FAO/NACA. (2000). Asia Regional TechnicalGuidelines on Health Management for theResponsible Movement of Live Aquatic Animals andthe Beijing Consensus and Implementation Strategy.FAO Fish. Tech. Pap. No. 402. Rome, FAO. 2000. 53p.

3. FAO/NACA. (2001). Manual of Procedures for theImplementation of the Asia Regional Technicaluidelines on Health Management for theResponsible Movement of Live Aquatic Animals.FAO Fish. Tech. Pap. No. 402. Suppl. 1. Rome. FAO.2001. 106 p.

4. Bondad-Reantaso, M.G., McGladdery, S.E., East, I.and Subasinghe, R.P. (eds). (2001). Asia DiagnosticGuide to Aquatic Animal Diseases. FAO Fish. Tech.Pap. No. 402, Supplement 2. Rome. FAO, 236 p.

5. APEC/AAHRI/FHS-AFS/NACA. (2001). Reportand proceeding of APEC FWG 02/2000“Development of a Regional Research Programmeon Grouper Virus Transmission and VaccineDevelopment”. In: Bondad-Reantaso, MG, J.Humphrey, S. Kanchanakhan and S. Chinabut (eds).Report of a Workshop held in Bangkok, Thailand,18-20 May October 2000. Asia Pacific EconomicCooperation (APEC), Fish Health Section of theAsian Fisheries Society (FHS-AFS), Aquatic AnimalHealth Research Institute (AAHRI) and Network ofAquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA).Bangkok, Thailand. 146 p. (http://www.enaca.org/G r o u p e r / P u b l i c a t i o n s /ResearchProgramOnGrouperVirus.pdf; 1.49 MB)

6. APEC/FAO/NACA/SEMARNAP. (2001). Trans-boundary aquatic animal transfer and thedevelopment of harmonised standards on aquaticanimal health management. Report of the Joint APEC/

FAO/NACA/SEMARNAP Workshop, PuertoVallarta, Jallisco, Mexico, 24-28 July 2000. Networkof Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific, Bangkok,Thailand. (http://www.enaca.org/Shrimp/Publications/Other1.pdf, 1.07 MB)

7. Inui, Y and E.R. Cruz-Lacierda (eds.). (2002). DiseaseControl in Fish and Shrimp Aquaculture in SoutheastAsia – Diagnosis and Husbandry Techniques

8. OIE. (2003). International Aquatic Animal HealthCode. 6th edn. Office International des Épizooties,Paris. (http://www.oie.int/eng/normes/fcode/a_summry.htm)

9. NACA/FAO. (1999). Quarterly aquatic animaldisease report (Asia-Pacific Region), 98/3. October-December 1998. FAO Project TCP/RAS/6714,Bangkok, Thailand. 42 pp.

10. OIE. (2000). Quarterly aquatic animal disease report(Asia-Pacific Region), April – June 2000 (2000/2).Tokyo, OIE Regional Representation for Asia andthe Pacific, 41 p.

11. Subasinghe, R.P., Bondad-Reantaso, M.B. and S.E.McGladdery. (2001). Aquaculture development,health and wealth, pp. 167-191. In: R.P. Subasinghe,P. Bueno, M.J. Phillips, C. Hough, S.E. McGladderyand J.R. Arthur (Eds.) Aquaculture in the ThirdMillenium. Technical Proceedings of the Conferenceon Aquaculture in the Third Millenium, Bangkok,Thailand, 20-25 February 2000. 471 p.

12. Bondad-Reantaso, M.G. 2004. Development ofnational strategy on aquatic animal healthmanagement in Asia. In J.R. Arthur and M.G. Bondad-Reantaso. (eds.). 2004. Capacity and AwarenessBuilding on Import Risk Analysis for AquaticAnimals. Proceedings of the Workshops held 1-6April 2002 in Bangkok, Thailand and 12-17 August2002 in Mazatlan, Mexico. APEC FWG 01/2002,NACA, Bangkok In press).

13. Hedrick, R.P., Gilad, O., Yun, S., Spandenberg, J.V.,Marty, G.D., Nordhausen, R.W., Kebus, M.J.,Bercovier, H., Eldar, A. (2002). A HerpesvirusAssociated with Mass Mortality of Juvenile andAdult Koi, a Strain of Common Carp. J. Aquat. Anim.Health 12, 44-57.

14. Ariav, R., Tinman, S., Paperna, I. and Bejerano, I.(1999). First Report of Newly Emerging ViralDisease of Cyprinus carpio Species in Israel. 9thInternational Conference on Diseases of Fish andShellfish. European Association of FishPathologists, 19-24, September 1999, Rhodes,Greece.

15. Gilad, O., Y. Sun, M.A. Adkison, K. Way, N.H.Willits, H. Bercovier and R.P. Hedrick. (2003).Molecular comparison of isolates of an emerging fishpathogen, koi herpesvirus, and the effect of watertemperature on mortality of experimentally infectedkoi. J. Gen. Virol. 84:2661-2668.

16. Gilad, O., S. Yun, K. B. Andree, M.A. Adkison, A.Zlotkin, H. Bercovier, A. Eldar and R.P. (2002). Initialcharacteristics of koi herpes virus and thedevelopment of a polymerase chain reaction assay todetect the virus in koi, Cyprinus carpio koi. Dis.Aquat. Org. 48: 101-108.

17. Gray, M., S. LaPatra, Groff and A. Goodwin. (2002).Detection of Koi Herpes virus DNA in tissues ofinfected fish. J. Fish Dis. 25: 171-178.

18. OATA. (2001). Koi Herpes Virus (KHV). OrnamentalAquatic Trade Association (OATA). UnitedKingdom. 33 pp.

19. Ariel, E. (2002). Ornamental disease vectors. In: Bookof Abstracts, Fifth Symposium on Diseases in AsianAquaculture, P 102, 25-28 November 2002,Brisbane, Australia. Fish Health Section, AsianFisheries Society, Manila, Philippines.

20. NACA/FAO. (2003). Quarterly Aquatic AnimalDisease Report (Asia and Pacific Region), 2003/1,January to March 2003. NACA, Bangkok, Thailand.53 pp.

21. Bondad-Reantaso, M.G. and R.P. Subasinghe. (2004).Minimizing the risks of aquatic animal diseaseincursions: current strategies in Asia-Pacific.Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium on Diseases inAsian Aquaculture (DAA V) held in Queensland,Australia in November 2002. (in preparation).

5. Varghese, M.A. 1976. Windowpane oyster(Placenta placenta L.) of the Gulf of Kutch, SeafoodExp. Jour., 8(5): 25-28.

6. Pota, K.A. and Patel, M.I. 1988. Fishery and biologyof the windowpane oyster Placenta placenta L. onPoshitra, Gulf of Kutch. Natl. Semi. Shellfish Resour.&Farming, CMFRI, Bulletin, 42(1): 163-!66.

7. Achuthankutty, C.T., Sreekumaran Nair, S.R andMadhupratab, M. 1979. Pearls of the windowpaneoyster Placuna placenta. Mahasagar-Bulletin ofthe National Institute of Oceanography, 12 (3):187-189.

8. Dharmaraj, S., Chellam, A., Shanmugasundaram, K.and Suja, C.P. (MS). On a small scale fishery ofwindowpane oyster Placuna placenta (Linnaeus)in the Tuticorin Bay, Gulf of Mannar. J. Mar. Biol.Asso. India.

9. Dharmaraj, S and Sreenivasagam M.K. 2002.Exploitation of windowpane oyster Placunaplacenta Linnaeus at Vellapatti area near Tuticorin.Mar. Fish. Infor. Serv., T&E Ser., No. 174, pp. 9.

10. Young, A.L. 1980. Larval and post larvaldevelopment of the windowpane shell, Placunaplacenta Linnaeus (Bivalvia: Placunidae) with adiscussion on its natural settlement. Veliger23(2):141-148.

11. Madrones-Ladja, J.A. 1997. Notes on the inducedspawning, embryonic and larval development of thewindowpane shell, Placuna placenta(Linnaeus,1758), in the laboratory.Aquaculture,157:137-146.

12. Madrones-Ladja, J.A. 2002. Salinity effect on theembryonic development, larval growth and survivalat metamorphosis of Placuna placentaLinnaeus,1758, Aquaculture, 214: 411-418.

13. Madrones-Ladja, J.A., de la Pena, M.R. and ParamiM.R. 2002. The effect microalgal diet and rearingcondition on gonad maturity , fecundity andembryonic development of the windowpane shell,Placuna placenta Linnaeus, Aquaculture 206 (3-4): 313-321.

14. Madrones-Ladja, J.A. and de la Pena, M.R. 2000.Hatchery management for the windowpane shell,Placuna placenta Linnaeus, 1758. Phuket. Mar.Biol. Cent., Spec. Publ. 21(1): 189-194.

15. Walne, P.R. 1970. Studies on the food value ofnineteen genera of algae to juvenile bivalves of thegenera Ostrea, Crassostrea, Mercenaria andMytilus. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries andFood: Fishery Investigations, Series II, 26(5) HerMajesty’s Stationery Office, London, 61pp.

16. Loosanoff, V.L., and Davis,H.C.1963. Rearing ofbivalve molluscs. In: Advances in Marine Biology,Vol.1. Academic Press, London.1-136.

17. Muthiah, P., Narasimham, K.A., Gopinathanan, C.P.,Sundararajan, D. 1992. Larval rearing, spatproduction and juvenile growth of the blood clamAnadona granosa. J. Mar. Biol. Ass. India, 34 C(1& 2): 138-143.

18. Narasimham, K.A., Muthiah, P., Gopinathan, C.P. andGandhi, A.D. 1988. Larval rearing and spatproduction of the great clam, Meretrix meretrix(Linnaeus). Indian J. Fish., 35(2):107-112.

19. Alagarswami, K. (Ed.). 1987. Pearl culture. Bull. No.39. pp. 1-136. CMFRI, Cochin.

20. Gwyther, J and Munro, J.L. 1981. Spawninginduction and rearing of larvae of tridacnid clams(Bivalvia: Tridacnidae), Aquaculture, 24: 197-217.

21. Rosell, N.C. 1979. A study on the biology andecology of Placuna placenta L. Natl. Appl. Sci. Bull.31 (3-4): 203-251.

22. Enright, C.T., Newkirk, G.F., Craigie, J.S and Castell,J.D. 1986. Evaluation of phytoplankton as diets forjuvenile Ostrea edulis L. J. Exp. Mar. Biol., 96:1-13.

23. Whyte, J.N.C. 1987. Biochemical composition andenergy content of six species of phytoplankton usedin mariculture of bivalves. Aquaculture, 60:231-241.

Continued from page 23

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The authors conducted a trainingworkshop on the application of HACCPin shrimp farming in Chennai, India onthe request of MPEDA and NACA.This article is based on their resourcepaper.

The Thai shrimp aquacultureindustry has had an excellent record inthe production of safe products ofconsistent quality. However, asaquaculture production expands, theindustry and regulatory agenciesbecome more concerned with hazardsthat impact on people’s health andsafety. Specific problems which may beencountered in shrimp aquacultureproducts include:• Contamination by microbial

pathogens e.g. Salmonella, Vibriocholerae.

• Presence of veterinary drugs (andother substances) that may havehazardous effects on consumers,handlers, and the environment.

• Residues of aquaculture chemicalsor other environmentalcontaminants.

A surveillance program for culturedshrimp can include HACCP at alloperations, including the productionand handling of raw materials,processing operations, the processingenvironment, handling and storagepractices, and distribution activities.This approach reduces reliance onanalytical tests and the need forcomprehensive inspection of finishedaquaculture products by dealing with ahazard before it impacts on processorsand consumers. Hazards in shrimpaquaculture include microbiologicaland chemical hazards associated withthe inappropriate use of drugs andchemicals in aquaculture.

Background

Production from shrimp aquaculture inThailand has increased from 1.2 millionkg in 1986 to 3.3 million kg in 2003(Fisheries Information Center, 2004).The industry involves 80% small-scalefarmers and 20% intensive scale

HACCP in shrimp farmingSiri Tookwinas and Suwimon Keerativiriyaporn

Department of Fisheries, Thailand

Processing cocktail shrimp. Taken inside the Union Frozen Food Products PublicCompany in Samut Sakhorn Thailand. The company sources out raw materials fromshrimp farms observing good aquaculture practices or CoC in shrimp aquacultureassisted by the Department of Fisheries

aquaculture. Shrimp has become amajor port commodity and itsproduction, processing and marketing amajor source of income of people in theindustry.

Environmental impacts of shrimphave been an increasing concern ofgovernment and the public. Theimpacts include mangrove removal,salinity intrusion on ground waters,impacts on coastal environment andresources, and effects of residues ofchemical and drugs on health and theenvironment. In order to maintain truston safety, quality and environmentalconcerns, preventive measures aretaken to reduce the above hazard toenvironment and maintain the survivalof aquaculture species. Thesemeasures include ICZM, farm designand management techniques, seawaterirrigation systems, establishment offarmer associations, treatment ofshrimp pond effluent, supportivegovernment policies and regulation.

The Thai shrimp aquacultureindustry has had an excellent record forthe production of safe products ofconsistent quality. Techniques such assurveillance and inspection of finalproducts do little to assure the foodsafety. The hazard analysis criticalcontrol point system (HACCP) enables

aquaculturists and processors toexercise more control over food safety.HACCP is essentially a techniquebased upon anticipation andprevention of food safety hazards andit may be applied throughout the foodchain from producer through to finalconsumer, leading to enhanced foodsafety and better use of resources.

The Department of Fisheriestogether with the aquaculture industryand processing industry has jointlydeveloped preventive approaches toassure control over raw materials, themanufacturing process, the productionenvironment, and personnel. It is basedon the identification of potentialhazards, application of controlmeasures at critical control points(CCP), and monitoring and verifying ofCCPs thereby enabling the assuranceof food safety during culture andprocessing.

Application in shrimp farming

Black tiger shrimp (Peneaus monodon)is cultured for four to five months inearthern ponds and fed with formulatedpellet feed. Water can be eitherchanged continually throughoutculture period or not at all i.e zero waterdischarge system. Permitted antibiotics

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Business

or chemicals may be used to treatshrimp at larval stages or when shrimpare found infected. Shrimp is harvestedmanually. Harvested shrimp is put inice within 15 minutes after catch, it isthen sorted and packed in ice andshipped to the processing factory. Theprocess is depicted by Figure 1.

Haszard analysis

Specific hazards that may beencountered in shrimp aquaculture areshown in Table 1:

Applying HACCP

The potential hazards in aquacultureshould be identified, and all activitiesassociated with production, harvesting,processing, storage, distribution, andmarketing evaluated. This includes areview of:• The use of antibiotics, and other

veterinary chemicals.• Potential sources and specific points

of bacterial contamination duringproduction and processing.

• The potential for microorganisms tosurvive or multiply in aquacultureproducts.

• The risks and the severity of allhazards identified.

It is necessary to establish whether:• Pathogenic microorganism/toxins

may be present in raw materials.• Pathogens may contaminate

aquaculture products after harvest.In Thailand it is recognized thatspecific hazards that may beencountered in shrimp aquacultureproducts include: Contamination bybacterial and viral parthogens e.g.Salmonella, Vibrio cholerae, andpresence of antibiotics (and othersubstances) which may have

Table 1: Hazards associated with cultured shrimp

Category Examples of hazards Biological hazards Pathogenic bacteria Salmonella, Shigella, E.coli, Vibrio cholerae,

V.parahaemolyticus, V.vulnificus, Listeria monocytogenes, etc

Chemical hazards Veterinary residues Hormones, growth regulators, antibiotics such as

chloramphenical, nitrofuran and its metabolites and permitted antibiotics which residue is not over MRL.

Pesticide residues Herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, etc Physical hazards Glass, wood, metal, etc

potentially hazardous effects onconsumers, handlers, and theenvironment.

It is largely accepted that themicrobiological quality of theproduction environment impacts on themicrobiological quality of the fish andultimately the processed product. Theyrepresent a threat to human healthwhen they are consumed raw, hencethere is needed for control over

production, harvesting, processing,and distribution.

Claims on the potential hazards fromSalmonella and Vibrio species in thecontext of shrimp are conflicting.Salmonella and Vibrio cholerae areknown to be part of the naturalmicroflora of brackish water culturedshrimp, and pose a major concern forprocessors and exporters (Reilly andKaferstein, 1997). In contrast,Salmonella has not been recovered

Note : Fry, feed, and other materials input such as lime, bacteria, premix,chemicals and permitted antibiotics are assessed as control points

Figure 1: Generic aquaculture process flow chart and critical control points.

SITE SELECTION

WATER SUPPLY

CULTURE ENVIRONMENT

PRODUCTION

HARVESTING

RECEIVAL

PROCESSING

TRANSPORT

PRESERVATION

FARM MANAGEMENT

FRIES FEED AND OTHER

INPUTS

ANTIBIOTIC OR

CHEMICAL

POND PREPARATION

WATER MANAGEMENT

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April-June 2004 (Vol. IX No. 2) 31

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Table 2

Clearly, cultured crustaceans maypresent a threat to public health if theyare not grown and harvested underhygienic conditions. Once harvested,aquaculture species are at risk fromcontamination in the processing plantwith a wide range of pathogenic bacteriaderived from the processingenvironment, water used in processing,equipment, and food handlers. There isneed for more research to identify andassess potential hazards and toquantify the risks.

Antibiotic residues became ofconcern in 1992, when Japan’s healthauthority rejected some shipments ofshrimp products from Thailand andother Southeast Asian countries thatwere contaminated with oxytetracyclineand oxoloinic acid. In 2002, Nitrofuranand chloramphenicol came under thespotlight of the European market. TheUS Food and Drug Authority expressed

concerns over residues in shrimp. Theseprompted studies and a surveillanceprogram to prevent these hazardsinitiated by the Department of Fisheries.

Preventive measures

Preventive measures, using HACCPconcept, can be developed specificallyto prevent drug residue and chemicalcontamination in aquaculture productsand to prevent microbiologicalcontamination at the farm andprocessing plants. Those measures areoutlined as follows:

Controls at farm level

Measures taken:

1. Register farms2. Control the uses of feed/antibiotics3. Monitor residue in products from

farm4. Mobile unit control of diseases, use

of antibiotic and feed5. Monitoring the quality of water

(both inlet and outlet of farms)6. Inspect farm hygiene and post-

harvest handling practices.7. Train farmers on good aquaculture

practices (GAP), safe use ofchemotherapeutic agents and goodhandling practices

Farm registration

All shrimp farms must be registered andobtain permits to operate. Generalrequirements include: Establishment ofwater treatment ponds; lay outapproval by DOF; quality of wateroutlet does not exceed a biologicaloxygen demand of 20 mg/l; drainage ofmud and brackish water to public waterways is not allowed; application ofgood farming practices; and farmhygiene and handling practices shouldbe at a satisfactory level (based onCodex Guidelines on hygienic practicesfor the product of aquaculture).

Farm inspection

Farm inspection ensures that the farmobserves required sanitation andoperational standards. A farmsanitation checklist was developedbased on Codex Guidelines and used ininspection. The criteria for inspectionare:

Large scale farms of more than 8 hamust institute a farm managementprogram which is approved by DOF.Farms are inspected by DOF two tofour times a year to verify farm records.

Small farms (less than 8 ha.) arevisited by a mobile unit inspectionservice. DOF operates 22 mobile unitsin major aquaculture areas, the unitsinspect approximately 8 farms a weekand rotate their visits until all areas arecovered, which often means not lessthan 5 inspections per farm over a year.

This is the company’s newly acquired 18million baht equipment for LC-MS-MSnitrofuran and metabolites analysis. Thecompany’s staff have been training withthe fisheries department

Potential Critical Control Points Preventive Controls Responsible Division Farm management farm registration Coastal Aquaculture and Fisheries

Research and Development Bureau Feed production feed control Feed Research and Control Institue Farming practices control uses of antibiotics Coastal Aquaculture Health Research

Institute Farming practices mobile unit control

(monitor quality of water, antibiotic residue, shrimp) monitoring residue in raw material

Coastal Aquaculture and Fisheries Research and Development Bureau

Processing plants inspection of processing

establishment pre shipment inspection of finished products

Fish Inspection and Quality Control Division

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Table 3 Feed quality control

In order to prevent the use –inadvertent or intentional - of feedcontaining antibiotics, the followingcontrol measures are enforced:Registration of feed formulas; samplingfeed/analysis for antibiotic residue(from plants and farms); and inspectionof feed mills.

Farm monitoring

Twenty-two mobile units operated bythem Coastal Aquaculture andFisheries Research and DevelopmentCenters conduct surveillance andprovide technical advice on: Farmsanitation monitoring; disease control;water quality monitoring at inlet andoutlet; soil quality inspection anddetermination; quality of surroundingwater; antibiotic residue in shrimp frompond; and use of feed and antibiotics.A farm sanitation rating report hasbeen developed following the CodexCode of Hygienic Practices for theproduct of aquaculture.

Raw materials control

The effectiveness of the surveillanceprogram at farm level is verified bydetermining the level of drug residue inshrimp raw materials from farms. The 17units equipped with HPLC were set upin major aquaculture areas to inspectthe quality of shrimp prior toharvesting. The activities include:Establish record of farm; samplingshrimp from farm (> 3 months) prior toharvesting to determine level of drugand chemical residue usingmicrobioassay. A certificate ofantibiotic-free raw materials will begiven for shrimp that are drug free. Oneunit equipped with LC-MS-MS was setup to inspect nitrofuran in shrimpbefore harvesting.

Processing plant monitoring

To prevent microbiological hazardssuch as Salmonella, monitoring ofprocessing plants are conducted. Inaddition to microbiological hazards,chemical hazards such as antibioticsand chemical residues, which are ofconcern to a verification program areprevented through monitoring ofsanitation, hygiene and processing (p48)

Country Name Maximum level (ppb)

EU Nitrofuran (Metabolites) (ppb) shrimp, prawn, fish SEM = 1.00 AHD = 1.00 AOZ = 0.30 AMOZ = 0.30 References except Germany SEM

0.50 ppb

Chloramphenicol (ppb) shrimp, prawn, fish 0.30 References except Germany 0.20 ppb Oxolinic acid (ppm) fin Fish (only forzen fish) 0.30 3-MCPD (ppm) Fish sance, Oyster sance 0.02 Japan Oxytetracycline (ppm) shrimp, prawn, fish 0.20 Oxolinic acid (ppm) shrimp, prawn, fish Not detected Switzerland Nitrofuran (Metabolites) (ppb) shrimp, prawn, fish SEM = 1.00 AHD = 1.00 AOZ = 0.30 AMOZ = 0.30 Chloramphenicol (ppb) shrimp, prawn, fish 0.30 China Nitrofuran (Metabolites) (ppb) Culture shrimp, surimi SEM = 1.00 AHD = 1.00 AOZ = 0.30 AMOZ = 0.30 Chloramphenicol (ppb) Culture shrimp, surimi 0.30 USA Chloramphenicol (ppb) Culture shrimp 0.30 Oxytetracycline (ppm) Salmon, Catfish and Lobster 2.00 Canada Nitrofuran (Metabolites) (ppb) shrimp, prawn, fish SEM = 1.00 AHD = 1.00 AOZ = 0.30 AMOZ = 0.30 Chloramphenicol (ppb) shrimp, prawn, fish 0.30 Oxytetracycline (ppm)

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April-June 2004 (Vol. IX No. 2) 33

Contents

• Regional Developments &Update

• A Guide to Small-ScaleMarine Finfish HatcheryTechnology

• Thailand Success inCulture of Coral Trout

• Indonesia Gearing up forCommercial-Scale GrouperFarming

• Indonesia is Set for Yellow-fin Tuna Breeding

• Gemma Micro – LeavingArtemia Behind

• Report of the Komodo Fishculture Project

• Capture and Culture of Pre-settlement Fish for theMarine Aquarium Trade inSolomon Islands

• Seed Production of SandBass

• ACIAR marine finfishproject - 2nd phase

• Workshop on Seafarmingand Seafood Markets

First Breeding Success of Napoleon Wrasseand Coral Trout

Sih Yang Sim (editor)

Network Sponsors:

Handling male Cheilinus undulatus broodstock.

The Research Institute for Mariculture– Gondol, Bali, Indonesia - hassuccessfully bred Napoleon wrasse, apremium species in the live reef fishmarket, commanding prices as high asUS$100 per kg. Captive breeding ofNapoleon wrasse has long been one ofthe “holy grails” of marine fish cultureand NACA and the APMFANcongratulates the Gondol researchersin achieving this breakthrough. Manyothers have tried, but this is the firstreported success.

The spawning took place aroundDecember 2003, via combined hormonetreatment and environmental control.Larviculture isstill at a very earlystage andsurvival rate ofthe larvae iscurrently low. Thelarvae have asmall mouth sofirst feeding isstill the mainissue to betackled. SS-rotiferseems to be asuitable first feedfor Napoleonwrasse.

So far (April17, 2004) around100 small

juveniles have survived at around 2-3inches. The growth rate for this speciesis very slow; at 5 months old the fishonly reach a maximum of 3 inches.However, slow growth is a commonissue when a new species is bred forthe first time, and will likely improve asthe nutritional needs of this species arebetter understood.

Researchers at Gondol have alsohad some success in breeding coraltrout (Plectropomus leopardus). Thespawning took place in January 2004and by April 2004 around 100

More photographs overleaf...

Asia-Pacific Marine Finfish Aquaculture Network

Magazine

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fingerlings of 2 inches are kept in theresearch facility. Similar to Napoleonwrasse, coral trout also have smallmouths and require very small firstfeed, such as SS-rotifers.

Marine Finfish AquacultureMagazine

An electronic magazine of theAsia-Pacific Marine Finfish

Aquaculture Network

ContactAsia-Pacific Marine Finfish

Aquaculture NetworkPO Box 1040, Kasetsart Post

OfficeBangkok 10903, Thailand

Tel +66-2 561 1728 (ext 120)Fax +66-2 561 1727

Email [email protected] http://www.enaca.org/

marinefish

EditorsSih Yang Sim

Asia-Pacific MarineFinfish Aquaculture Network,

c/o [email protected]

Dr Michael J. PhillipsEnvironmental Specialist &

Manager of R&D, [email protected]

Simon WilkinsonCommunications Manager,

[email protected]

Dr Mike RimmerPrincipal Fisheries Biologist

(Mariculture & StockEnhancement)

DPIF, Northern Fisheries CentrePO Box 5396, Cairns QLD 4870

[email protected]

Canulating female C. undulatus broodstock

Above / below: Coral trout broodstock (Plectropomus leopardus) from the GondolResearch Institute for Mariculture. Coral trout can change colour in just a few seconds.In the wild they usually adopt a smooth, even tone while swimming (which may be light ordark, depending on their surroundings). They swiftly shift to a disruptive pattern withspots and saddles when threatened, or when settling on the bottom to ambush their prey.

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April-June 2004 (Vol. IX No. 2) 35

Welcome to the magazineIssue 1, 2004 (April-June)

Welcome to the new quarterly Asia-Pacific Marine Finfish Aquaculture Magazine. This is a new publication of the Asia-Pacific Marine Finfish Aquaculture Network (APMFAN), coordinated by NACA, in cooperation with ACIAR, APEC,Queensland DPI&F, and SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department.

This magazine builds on the successful electronic newsletters of the marine fish network. The regular marine fish“eNews” will continue, complemented with this new “e-magazine”. The magazine provides the opportunity for researchers,development projects, and industry, to share experiences and report progress in research and development of marine fishaquaculture in the Asia-Pacific region. The editors welcome articles on breakthroughs in marine fish culture research, casestudies of successful development initiatives, examples of better farming and marketing practices, and other interesting newdevelopments.

In each edition the magazine emphasizes different themes in marine finfish aquaculture. This edition provides an updateon recent progress in marine fish hatchery and nursery development. Future editions are planned on marketing, trade andeconomics, nutrition and feeding, and environment and health themes.

The next issue of the magazine will be focused on markets and trade in marine fish, and the economics of marine finfishfarming in Asia. If you would like to contribute to the magazine, please send your article – short or long – to the editors atthe address in the side panel. Contributions are very much appreciated.

The Editors

Above: And here they are...the world’s first hatchery-rearedCheilinus undulatus fingerlings. Below: Hatchery-reared juvenilecoral trout.

Above and below: Live reef fish holding facilities for the exporttrade

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Plectropomus maculatus at the Trad Research Station, DOF, Thailand. Photo by Hassanai Kongkeo.

Regional Developments & UpdateSih Yang Sim

NACA, PO Box 1040, Kasetsart Post Office, Bangkok 10903, Thailand, Tel: (66-2) 5611728 (ext 120),Fax: (66-2) 5611727, E-mail: [email protected]

With recent progress in grouperhatchery and nursing technologies andtechniques, hatchery reared groupersare increasingly contributing to theaquarium trade or grow-out industries.Training in grouper hatchery andnursing technologies has been one ofthe activities of the Asia-Pacific MarineFinfish Aquaculture Network throughthe coordination of the Network ofAquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific(NACA) in cooperation with NorthernFisheries Center, Queensland, Australia(QDPI) and Research Institute forMariculture-Gondol (RIM-Gondol).Two regional grouper hatchery trainingcourses were conducted in 2002 and2003. The support for this trainingcame from the Ministry of MarineAffairs and Fisheries, Indonesia, theNetwork of Aquaculture Centres inAsia-Pacific (NACA), the AustraliaCentre for International AgriculturalResearch (ACIAR), the Asia-PacificEconomic Cooperation (APEC) and theJapan International CooperationAgency (JICA). The training courseshave successfully trained 28 peoplefrom 10 countries, with some trainedparticipants already reporting successin grouper fingerling production andimprovedhatcherytechniques, fromAustralia, India,Malaysia,Thailand andVietnam.

Indonesia hasbeen leading inthe production ofmouse and tigergrouperfingerlings, withmost of thesefingerlings nowsupplyingdomestic grow-out. Thisdevelopment isdue to theincreasing focus

on marine finfish aquaculturedevelopment in Indonesia by thegovernment. However, increasingconcern also been raised for the qualityof seed produced from some of thehatcheries in Indonesia. There are some50 and 3 grouper hatcheries in Bali andLampung respectively. Although someother species of groupers such as E.coioides and E. polyphekadion arealso reported to be produced, thecommercial interests are not strong. E.coioides fetches a lower price and wildfingerlings are abundant, so hatcheryoperators are not expressing stronginterest. While for E. polyphekadion,although it commands a relativelyhigher wholesale price in Hong Kong(US$25) and Southern China (US$27)markets, the fact is that it grows veryslowly for grow-out stage, andeconomic returns become a problem forsmall-scale farmers who do not havestrong cash flow.

Recently, preliminary success inPlectropomus spp. breeding is alsoopening up a new potential for thesespecies to be produced in hatcheries.Although at an early stage of researchand development, promising resultshave been archived in Indonesia andThailand. Plectropomus maculatus has

been reported to be produced inLampung, Indonesia (Ref: MarineFinfish Aquaculture Newsletter No. 6,July-September, 2003) whilePlectropomus leopardus was beenproduced in Trad, Thailand (Ref: articlebelow). Both places are governmentresearch facilities and the number offingerlings produced is still relativelylow, about 100 and 49, respectively.Many research institutes in the regionalso targeting Plectropomus spp. aspart of their grouper breedingprograms.

Increasing research interest isfocusing on the CITES listed species ofNapoleon wrasse (Cheilinusundulatus). Several countries, such asIndonesia, Malaysia and Thailand arecollecting broodstock and aiming atbreeding this species in captivity.

Other high value species, such astuna are also moving toward hatcherytechnology development. A large tunahatchery facility in Indonesia wascompleted in 2003 and collection ofyellowfin tuna broodstock has beenachieved. Breeding trials are expectedto begin in 2004.

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April-June 2004 (Vol. IX No. 2) 37

A Guide to Small-Scale Marine FinfishHatchery Technology

The guide provides an outline of the requirements toestablish a small-scale marine finfish hatchery, givingattention to both technical and economic aspects. It isintended to provide sufficient information for potentialinvestors to decide whether investment in such ventures isappropriate for them. The guide provides some basictechnical information to help indicate the level of technicalexpertise necessary to operate a small-scale marine finfishhatchery. It is not intended as a detailed technical guide tothe operation of small-scale hatcheries but additionalinformation sources on technology, including trainingcourses are provided.

This guide has been written by a team of experts inmarine finfish aquaculture who have been involved in amultinational collaborative research project since 1999. Thisresearch project Improved hatchery and grow-outtechnology for grouper aquaculture in the Asia-Pacificregion, funded by the Australian Centre for InternationalAgricultural Research (ACIAR), has made an importantcontribution to improving the sustainability of marine finfishaquaculture by improving hatchery production of high-valuespecies, particularly groupers.

The second phase of the ACIAR project will commence inJuly 2004 and information and progress on this project willbe available from the project web site: http://www.enaca.org/grouper/

Thailand Success in Culture of Coral Trout(Plectropomus leopardus)

(Based on a translation of an article in the agriculture & scientificcolumn, Thairath Newspaper, 9th March 2004 by Mr. HassanaiKongkeo)

Blue-spotted grouper is the Thai local common name of coraltrout. There are many species and families of grouper withdifferent sizes varying from 5 cm up to 200-300 kg. Groupersin Thailand are usually named after their appearance such asred-banded, duskytail, yellow, greasy, green eye, humpback,etc. Due to their high value in both domestic and exportmarkets, scientists have been attracted to conduct researchon artificial breeding and culture. There has been successwith some species such as E. coioides.

It is locally believed that eating leopard coral grouper willhave aphrodisiac effects, creating high demand for this fishin local markets with prices of up to Baht 800-1,000/kg. Thisin turn has led to overfishing and fishermen have reporteddifficulty in catching this fish over the past 1-2 years.

Mr. Thawat Sriveerachai, Chief of Trad CoastalAquaculture Station of the Department of Fisheries reportedthat research carried out in Trad has provided informationon the life history and behaviour of coral trout. This speciesis easily frightened, lives in very clean water, and the larvaefeed on very tiny aquatic organisms. He collected wild fishwith assistance from offshore fishermen and now there are20 broodstock available in the Trad station.

An artificial breeding programme commenced at Tradstation in 2002. The first spawning occurred in July 2003 but

the newly hatched larvae only survived three days. Asecond batch was spawned in August 2003, and this timelarvae only survived six days. Another 17 trials had beenconducted up to October 2003.

The first successful batch yielded 49 survivingfingerlings at 100 days with average of 6 cm body length and3.5 g body weight. It is accepted that 100 day fingerlingshave passed the critical juvenile period. This is the firstsuccess in Thailand for breeding of this grouper.

Indonesia Pushing for Commercial-scaleGrouper Farming

Indonesia has been leading the region in production ofgrouper fingerlings, particularly for mouse and tiger grouper.This success has in part been due to support from grouperprojects by organizations such as ACIAR & JICA to theResearch Institute for Mariculture – Gondol since 1999.Mass production of hatchery techniques for these twogrouper species are now relatively well developed and havebeen adopted by small-scale hatcheries, however largerscale operations are also increasingly emerging.

Indonesia is expecting to see grouper aquacultureaccelerate over the next few years. The government researchcenters, located at Gondol, Lampung and Surabaya, areplaying key roles in providing technical support to theindustry as well as supplying eggs, fry and fingerlings to theindustry. There has been a lot of development in LampungBay, South Sumatra for grouper grow-out, particularly cageculture operations.

However, development of the industry is not withoutproblems and constraints. Diseases such as VNN andiridovirus have been causing mass mortality at hatchery andgrow-out stages. In addition, parasitic diseases (benedenidmonogeneans and Cryptocaryon sp.) are also major issues.There is increasing concern about the possibility ofspreading these diseases to wild grouper populations.

Coral trout broodstock at Lampung station. (Photo: S.Y. Sim)

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However, protocols are being developed to reduce the riskof these diseases and their economic impacts.

Continued research on formulated feed for grouper grow-out is been carried out in RIM-Gondol. The second phase ofthe ACIAR Project “Improved Hatchery and Grow-outTechnology for Grouper Aquaculture in the Asia-PacificRegion” will commence in the second half of 2004 and this3.5 year project will continue to support the development ofthe formulated feed for grouper aquaculture.

Some research activities have been prioritized by theIndonesian government including focus on the developmentof reliable methods and techniques for improving nutrition(live feeds; feeding of larvae, fingerlings, juveniles andbroodstock) and disease control. Genetic improvements anddisease resistance are also come under consideration.

A further proposal from the Australian Institute of MarineScience and Indonesia’s Directorate of Aquaculture on GIS/Database computer models to identify best sites foraquaculture and mariculture along the Bali coastline iscurrently also under consideration for funding by ACIAR.

Submitted on 8 February 2004 by Seamus McElroy,contact: Dr Seamus McElroy, AMSAT Ltd, Wisma BNI 46Level 43, Jl. Jendral Sudirman, Kav 1, Jakarta 10220,Email: [email protected]

Indonesia Gearing up for Yellowfin TunaBreeding

The Research Institute for Mariculture–Gondol (RIM-Gondol), Bali, Indonesia began constructing a yellowfin tunahatchery facility in 2001, which was completed in 2003. Atthe NACA TAC 7 meeting, July 2003, a field trip wasarranged to visit RIM-Gondol facilities which had alreadystarted to collect yellowfin tuna broodstock for theirbreeding program.

In early 2004, at a press conference Dr Adi Hanafi(Director of RIM-Gondol) stated that RIM-Gondol currentlyhas 43 yellowfin tuna broodstock in the holding tanks, andthey are expecting to conduct the first spawning trial in June2004.

This yellowfin tuna project is partly funded by OverseasEconomic Cooperation Fund (OECF) of Japan in a four yearproject with the objective to successfully spawn, fertilizeand hatch yellowfin tuna in captivity. If breeding issuccessful, this may bring farming of yellowfin tuna tocommercial farmers in Indonesia.

Submitted on 8 February 2004 by Seamus McElroy,contact: Dr Seamus McElroy, AMSAT Ltd, Wisma BNI 46Level 43, Jl. Jendral Sudirman Kav 1, Jakarta 10220,Email: [email protected]

Gemma Micro – Leaving Artemia Behind

Trine Karlsrud

SKRETTING - Australia, 26 Maxwells Rd.,Cambridge, Tasmania, 7170, Australia,

Tel: +61 3 6216 1211, Fax: +61 3 6216 1234,E-mail: [email protected]

A novel technology is employed for making Gemma Microand this article outlines some of the concepts and resultsbehind that product.

Production of marine fish juveniles in commercialhatcheries still depends on the supply of live feed. Untilnow, dry feed substitution for live feed (weaning) is onlyperformed after some weeks of life in marine fish hatcheries.Weaning is crucial for lowering production costs and tomeet the demand for high and constant quality juveniles.

As cultivated live feed is similar to natural plankton, thiscan have some advantages for example; live feeds stimulatefeeding behaviour by chemical and tactile cues. Cultivatedlive feed is not optimal, as it needs to be enriched to meetthe nutritional requirements of larvae. Moreover, quality oflive feed is variable, and use carries microbial risks. From apractical point of view, live feed requires separate biologicalproduction systems to that of larval rearing. This increasesthe complexity and uncertainty of juvenile production and

Above: The tuna hatchery situated on the bay. Below: One of thehuge tuna broodstock tanks (Photo: S.Y. Sim)

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April-June 2004 (Vol. IX No. 2) 39

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Days post hatch

Leng

th (m

m)

Gemma MicroControl

from an economic point of view, live feed supply andpurchase price both vary widely.

One of Skretting’s products launched in 2003 for marinefish is Gemma Micro, a feed developed to replace Artemia inmost marine fish larvae (barramundi, yellowtail, grouper,etc.). Developed by INRA/IFREMER Skretting in Francestarted the exclusive manufacture of Gemma Micro on acommercial scale from summer 2001. Both laboratory andcommercial tests have given very good results (growth,survival and improved development) for several marine fishspecies.

Gemma Micro has some revolutionary thinking behind it:it corresponds to the specific requirements of marine fishduring very early development. The INRA/IFREMERNutrition team studied digestive enzymatic activity onsetduring larval development. These studies defined optimalprotein, dietary fat and phospholipid levels both from thequantitative and qualitative points of view.

202,000 barramundi (Lates calcarifer) weanedlarvae were produced using Gemma Micro withminimum use of Artemia at Darwin Aquaculture

Centre in Australia

This means that only 2.2 kg of Artemia was used per millionlarvae weaned over the larval rearing period (20-30 kgArtemia per million larvae is considered to be excellent insimilar systems using the standard weaning protocol).

On the basis of results obtained in this trial, JeromeBosmans is now confident that they can completelyeliminate the use of Artemia in their intensive larval rearingsystem.

28,000 barramundi juveniles (Lates calcarifer)were produced without any Artemia in Indonesia

At Fega Marikultura located in Jukung Island, Pulauseribu, Indonesia, barramundi larvae were reared using onlyGemma Micro - no Artemia.

One 10 m3 tank was stocked with about 100,000 2-day oldbarramundi larvae. The experimental tank was fed rotifersand Gemma Micro until day 9 (larvae length about 4 - 4.5mm), while the control tank was fed only rotifers. The larvaein the experimental tank showed normal feeding behaviourand microscopic analyses showed that larvae had feed intheir digestive system. The results showed that larvae fedrotifers and Gemma Micro grew better than larvae in thecontrol tank.

On day 9 the experimental tank was split into two(experimental and control) 10 m3 tanks by siphoning. Theexperimental tank was fed Gemma Micro followed by routineweaning diet, while the control tank was fed Artemiafollowed by routine diet until day 25. It was observed thatlarvae in the experimental tank became brown (a sign ofmetamorphosis) at 8 mm length compared to 11 mm length inthe control tank. This is clear proof of the superiornutritional value of Gemma Micro compared to Artemia. Atthe end of the experimental period (day 25), they counted28,000 high quality barramundi juveniles. The survival ratewas the same in both the experimental and control tanks.

Figure 1 - Relationship between average length (mm) and days post hatch forlarvae fed Gemma Micro and the control tank

were stocked in two square 5-tonintensive recirculated tanks (waterexchange of 15-30 %/hour, watertemperature of 29.5-300C) at a densityof 80 larvae per liter.

Photoperiod was 12 hours/day. Boththe experimental and control tanks werefed rotifers only from 36 hours post-hatching until day 5. Then theexperimental tank (Gemma Micro) wasfed Gemma Micro and rotifers until day12 when a small amount of Artemia wasintroduced with Gemma Micro. Thecontrol tank (Control) was fedemploying the standard weaningprotocol using rotifers, Artemia and acommercial weaning diet. At day 25larvae fed Gemma Micro were onaverage 35 % bigger than larvae inthe control tank (Figure 1).

In the experimental tank only onecan (0.44 kg) of Artemia was used towean 202,000 fish using Gemma Micro.

40 days old sea bream larvae fed Gemma Micro

Jerome Bosmans and his team at Darwin AquacultureCentre, Northern Territory Fisheries, in Australia, haverecently tested Gemma Micro in barramundi larvae. Larvae

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Conclusion

Gemma Micro has really proved itself as an effective Artemiareplacement diet for barramundi and a number of othermarine species. This will prove a valuable tool for the marinehatchery wishing to reduce costs, improve quality and toput juvenile production onto a more convenient and cost-effective footing. Gemma Micro will give marine fry a ‘flyingstart’ and provide a valuable foundation for the next feed inSkretting’s product range: Gemma.

For more details please contact the author TrineKarlsrud at Skretting in [email protected].

Editors note: We do not endorse any commercialproduct, the article is merely the view of the author.

Reference

Skretting Outlook Magazine, Number 19, Spring 2003 pp. 7 - 10.

Report of the Komodo fish culture project

Trevor Meyer MSc & Peter J. Mous PhD

TNC Southeast Asia Center for Marine Protected Areas, JlPengembak 2, Sanur, Bali, Indonesia, Tel: +62-(0)361-

287272, Fax: +62-(0)361-270737, E-mails:[email protected]; [email protected]

A pilot project to establish a multi-species reef fishhatchery in Loh Mbongi and village-based grow-out farmsin communities surrounding Komodo National Park, WestFlores, Indonesia. Report from The Nature Conservancy,Southeast Asia Center for Marine Protected Areas incollaboration with the Komodo National Park authority.

The main objective of the fish culture project is to providesustainable fish culture as an alternative livelihood to non-sustainable fishing practices in and around KomodoNational Park. A secondary objective relates to the HongKong based trade in live reef fish. Currently, the live reef fishtrade is rapidly depleting the Indo-Pacific stocks ofNapoleon wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) and groupers(Serranidae). It is hoped that the Komodo fish culture projectcan demonstrate how fish culture of groupers can be done ina sustainable and environmentally sound manner, therebycontributing to the market transformation of the live reef fishtrade from unsustainable, capture-based to sustainable,culture-based.

The Komodo fish culture project aims to involve localcommunities in the grow-out of estuary grouperEpinephelus coioides, mouse grouper Cromileptes altivelis,tiger grouper Epinephelus fuscoguttatus, sea bass Latescalcarifer and mangrove jack Lutjanus argentimaculatus,which can be marketed as live product to the Hong Kong -based live reef fish trade.

Fingerlings are produced from captive broodstock in ahatchery situated in Loh Mbongi (ca. 6 km North of LabuanBajo). The pilot project aims to produce 25 tons of live fishyearly, to be realized over 3-4 harvests per year per grow-outunit. A grow-out unit consists of a complex of 16 floatingcages, varying in size between nine and 25 m2 surface area.In the pilot phase, four grow-out units will be deployed nearthe villages that are participating. The produced volume willconsist of a mix of the five species for which broodstock ispresently secured. This multi-species approach reducesrisks related to species-specific vulnerability to disease andto fluctuation in consumer preference and price. The speciescomposition of initial batches of fingerlings will depend onhatchery practicalities, as this batch will be used for trainingin grow-out in village-based fish farms rather than for thegeneration of revenue.

In the pilot phase (i.e. production capacity of 25 tonsannually) the project will involve ca. 20 villagers on a full-time basis, but many more will be trained in grow-outtechniques. Once economic viability and environmentalsustainability have been demonstrated, a carrying capacityanalysis will be carried out to determine the optimalproduction capacity, after which a private business partnerwill be invited to upscale and develop the project into a

6 day old barramundi larvae (photo: Sagiv Kolkovski)

a skill enhancement programme for shrimp farmers in SriLanka (Drengstig et al. 2004). This project focuses oncommunicating Codes of Practices and Best ManagementPractices, and to facilitate a practical implementation of suchvoluntary standards among farmers in Sri Lanka. It isbeyond all doubts that more efficient technology incombination with an improved understanding of thesecomplex systems will contribute to a more viable shrimpfarming industry.

Moreover, NIVA, RF and HOBAS is also cooperating in amajor R&D project in India together with the NationalInstitute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa were the HOBAStechnology is being tested under commercial conditions.Finally, the HOBAS technology is being tested in Spain undercommercial terms for production of the carp tench (Tinkatinka) in earthen ponds. The technology seems highlysuitable for pond farming either in brackish or freshwatersystems producing fish or shrimp.Note: Cited references are available from the correspondingauthor.

Hobas...continued from page 19

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April-June 2004 (Vol. IX No. 2) 41

triple bottom-line business – economically viable, sociallyresponsible and environmentally sound.

As culturing of grouper still poses some technicalchallenges, the fish culture project created partnerships withinstitutes that can provide the necessary know-how. Themain partners in the Komodo fish culture project are theResearch Institute for Mariculture in Gondol (Bali,Indonesia), the Department of Primary Industries &Fisheries, Queensland (Australia) and the Network ofAquaculture Centers in Asia-Pacific (NACA).

By March 2003 construction was completed, and thehatchery at Loh Mbongi was officially inaugurated in July2003 by the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Affairs ofIndonesia. This event was attended by senior localgovernment officials and key stakeholders.

Full operational capability of the hatchery was reachedby March 2003. The first batch of eggs that were transferredfrom the broodstock facility to the hatchery were of estuarygrouper, collected during March 2003. Larval survivalreached 3.7%, an encouraging result for the first production.This batch had been successfully stocked into grow-outcages by June 2003 and had reached an average weight of350g by February 2004. Since hatchery productioncommenced, all of the five species of fish maintained at theKomodo Fish Culture Project have been successfully rearedto the grow-out phase.

Hatchery production, however, has not been without itschallenges, and survival rates have varied considerably. Todate, the best survival rate achieved has been 7.6%, for abatch of mouse grouper produced in July 2003. During July2003, a batch of 20,000 mouse grouper were reared in thenursery, representing the first production of a commercial-sized batch by Loh Mbongi.

An assessment of suitable sites for the installation ofcage fish farms around the Komodo area was completed bythe end of October 2002, with the most suitable sites beingfound close to the villages of Boleng, Medang, Sape andMenjaga. Subsequently, other suitable sites have beenidentified at Warloka and close to Pulau Misa. At present, noaquaculture development is envisaged within the nationalpark boundaries.

The first of the four planned community grow-out unitswas installed and stocked with fish during December 2003, inthe village of Warloka. This site was chosen due to theconsiderable interest shown by the community in

involvement in the Fish Culture Project, and by its suitabilityfor cage culture.

Community members of all targeted villages have visitedthe facility at Loh Mbongi and discussed the aims of theFish Culture Project. To date, most have shown considerableinterest in the project, and efforts are now underway toinstall the second community-based grow-out unit.

The Komodo Fish Culture Project is now entering itsmost critical phase, that of its transfer to a private businesspartner, to allow for its upscaling to a commercially viablebusiness. The pilot project has demonstrated the viability ofcommunity-based grouper culture in the Komodo region,and a massive demand for hatchery-reared juvenile grouperand snapper exists in eastern Indonesia at the present time.Existing Indonesian commercial hatcheries are unable tomeet this demand.

The Komodo Fish Culture Project is currently seeking abusiness partner to assist in the transformation of this pilotproject to a financially sustainable enterprise, whilstconforming to the primary project aims of socialresponsibility and environmental soundness. All interestedparties are invited to contact Dr. Peter J. Mous (Scienceand Training Manager) or Mr. Trevor Meyer (MaricultureManager).

Conclusion of Research on Capture andCulture of Pre-settlement Fish for the

Marine Aquarium Trade in Solomon Islands

Cathy Hair, Warwick Nash, Peter Doherty

Ms Cathy Hair: Senior Fisheries Biologist, Agency forFood and Fibre Sciences, Department of Primary Industries

& Fisheries, Northern Fisheries Centre, PO Box 5396,Cairns QLD 4870, AUSTRALIA, Tel: 617 4035 0150,

Fax: 617 4035 6703, E-mail [email protected]

Between February 1999 and December 2003 the WorldFishCenter, Solomon Islands, carried out research on a newartisanal fishery based on the capture and rearing of pre-settlement coral reef fish (Hair et al. 2002). This work wasfunded by the Australian Centre for InternationalAgricultural Research (ACIAR). Environmentally friendlymethods (light traps and crest nets) were used to capturepostlarval fish as they settled from the plankton. Simpleaquaculture techniques were used to grow these fish tomarketable size. The key factor is that fish are plentiful atthis stage of their life cycle, but high mortality accompaniesthe transition from a planktonic to benthic lifestyle (i.e.settlement) (Doherty et al. 2004, Phillips et al. 2003). Byharvesting fish immediately prior to or at settlement,adequate numbers of pre-settlers can be taken foraquaculture without affecting natural replenishment to thereefs since the large majority of those harvested would nothave survived to adulthood anyway. The new fishery cantherefore assist in addressing concerns of over-fishing formarine ornamentals (Sadovy and Vincent 2002, Wabnitz et al.2003) and has potential to provide a vital source of cashincome for coastal communities in the Pacific and Asianregions.Cromileptes altivelis fingerlings produced at Loh Mbongi

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In the first phase of the research light traps and crest netssampled postlarval supply for a week before and a week afterthe new moon every month from October 1999 to September2001. Light traps were deployed in shallow water nearsubmerged reefs and predominantly sampled competent,positively phototactic pre-settlers (Doherty 1987). Crest netswere set behind the surf zone on a shallow reef to capturefish passing between oceanic and lagoonal habitats (Dufour1993). Very few species of value to the live reef food fishtrade were recorded but ornamental species comprised 15%and 5% of the light trap and crest net catches, respectively.Only one species, lobster (Panulirus sp.) showed anyseasonal trend in settlement rate, being more common fromJune to September in both years. Grow-out to market sizewas initially done in land-based concrete raceways, but laterin sea-cages as this is a more appropriate technique for avillage situation. Growth and survival of all teleosts (i.e. fin-fish) improved when rearing was transferred to floating sea-cages, although survival of crustaceans was higher instationary, benthic cages. Fish and crustaceans were fedsmall amounts of minced fish, fish roe, crustacean andmollusc meat – items readily available in a coastal village.

In the first phase of the study a suite of species suitablefor capture, rearing and sale to the marine aquarium tradewere identified. Surprisingly, although the study originallyproposed to catch and rear teleosts, banded cleaner shrimp(Stenopus spp.) and lobster (Panulirus sp.) were the mostvaluable component of the catch in Solomon Islands. Crestnets were chosen as the method with most potential for anartisanal fishery as they caught significant numbers of high-value crustaceans, yet were relatively cheap and simple tobuild and operate. Unfortunately, mortality in the nets wasvery high because animals caught in the soft cod-end eitherdried out at low tide or were crushed against the meshduring strong current flow. The second research phase wascarried out in 2003 with the principle aims of (i) developing acheap and simple “fish-friendly” harvest method for villageuse (based on the crest net); and (ii) developing ways toenhance survival and growth rates of fish in sea-cages.

Several modifications of the crest net were tested in aneffort to improve survival at capture. The cheapest and mostversatile of these comprised a cod-end constructed from aplastic bin or wooden box with mesh sides and roof. Thesolid cod-end retained water at low tides and providedshelter for fish during strong currents. Fish were guided intothe cod-end via a hand-sewn, knotless 3 mm mesh netattached to the front of the box (Fig. 1). The effectiveness ofthe new “fish friendly” cod-end was well demonstrated bythe improved survival rates: teleosts increased from 5 to64%, shrimp from 10 to 97% and lobster from 85 to 97%.

A novel technique used to boost catches of lobsterpueruli in 2003 was coconut logs drilled with holes (Fig. 2)and deployed in approximately 2 m depth on the reef flatbehind the crest nets. The logs were a modified form of afishing method used in Vietnam (K. Williams, pers. comm.).This was the first time the method had been used in thePacific and it was very successful. The log collectors weremostly occupied by clear pueruli, although occasionally apigmented puerulus was recorded. Logs were checked everymorning during the new moon sampling periods of July,August and September 2003. During August, the peak

recruitment month for lobster, abundance in the crest trapsand logs was the same (mean = 1.8±0.3 se per device pernight). The highest overnight log catch was 31 pueruli (mean= 6.0±1.7 per log). Floating artificial seaweed pueruluscollectors were also deployed during the lobster recruitmentseason but were unsuccessful, possibly due to insufficientconditioning or strong currents.

Efforts to enhance the survival and growth of valuablespecies through improved grow-out techniques had mixedresults. Banded cleaner shrimp were the most abundant andvaluable species collected. With careful handling they wereeasily kept in good condition between collection at the reefcrest and transfer to their grow-out habitat. Rearing cleanershrimp was problematic due to fierce intra-specificaggression. All attempts to grow them en masse resulted inpoor survival (12-60% in three weeks); the best survival wasachieved through growing them individually in jars (80-100%in four weeks). The highest survival and growth wereobtained in jars that were painted black to reduce exposureto sunlight that caused algal growth on the exoskeleton. Thejar-rearing technique, however, was only suitable forStenopus hispidus (banded cleaner shrimp). Two of the lessabundant but higher-value species of banded cleanershrimp, S. zanzibaricus and S. tenuirostris, survived but didnot grow well in jars. Future work will investigate whether acombination of jar culture to nurse them through the firstweek, followed by rearing on an artificial reef is moreappropriate for these species. Lobster were generally easy torear and were successfully grown en masse in cages on theseafloor as long as sufficient food was provided (averagesurvival was greater than 70% over three weeks). Problemswith teleost grow-out were experienced due to the locationof the sea-cage in deeper, exposed water. Small fish in thefloating cages were subjected to strong currents movingthrough the nets and further disturbance in rough seas,forcing them to swim vigorously for extended periods tomaintain their position in the water column. During roughsea conditions, mortalities in sea-cages were higher than in

Figure 1: Larvae trap

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calm weather. A fixed sea-cage in shallow, sheltered waternear-shore is proposed as a more acceptable alternative.

A draft manual explaining how to catch and rear thesespecies has been produced and the methodology will beproposed for Marine Aquarium Council approval under theMariculture Standards that are to be drafted soon (P.Holthus, pers. comm.). A computer model of the fisheryusing estimated start-up costs, production (calculated fromthree years of fish collection) and local farmgate pricesindicated that a fishery for marine ornamental species basedon pre-settlers is economically viable. Furthermore, similarfisheries are operating commercially in other areas of thePacific (Dufour 2002, X. Neyrat pers. comm.). The SolomonIslands artisanal model is based on fishing with two cresttraps that would sample a total of three metres of reef.However, these methods are yet to be tested in a villagesituation and at a profitable scale (i.e. production of 200-300high-value animals per month). A new project to supportaquaculture development in the Pacific is commencing inearly 2004. The project, funded by ACIAR and run jointly byQueensland Department of Primary Industry NorthernFisheries Centre, Secretariat of the Pacific Community andthe WorldFish Center, will oversee transfer of the postlarvalfish capture and culture technology to a demonstration farmin a Solomon Islands’ village. This exciting stage of the workwill be the ultimate proof of the feasibility of the new fishery.The draft manual will be rewritten to reflect the lessonslearned during this process and be made available to assistin adoption of the techniques by other Pacific Island andAsian countries.

References

Doherty, P.J. (1987) Light traps: Selective but useful devices for quantifying thedistributions & abundances of larval fishes. Bulletin of Marine Science 41:423-431.

Doherty, P.J., Dufour, V., Galzin, R., Hixon, M.A. and Planes, S. (2004) High mortalityduring settlement bottlenecks the abundance of a coral reef fish. Ecology (in press)

Dufour, V. and Galzin, R. (1993) Colonization patterns of reef fish larvae to the lagoonat Moorea Island, French Polynesia. Marine Ecology Progress Series 102:143-152.

Dufour, V. (2002) Reef fish post-larvae collection and rearing programme for the aquariummarket, report on the first year of operations at the AquaFish Technology farm inFrench Polynesia. SPC Live Reef Fish Information Bulletin 10:31-32.

Hair, C.A., Bell J.D. and Doherty, P.J. (2002) The use of wild-caught juveniles in coastalaquaculture and its application to coral reef fishes. Pages 327-353 in R.R. Stickneyand J.P. McVey (Eds) Responsible Marine Aquaculture. CAB International.

Phillips, B.F., Melville-Smith, R. & Cheng, Y.W. (2003) Estimating the effects ofremoving Panulirus cygnus pueruli on the fishery stock. Fisheries Research 65:89-101

Sadovy, Y.J. and Vincent, A.C.J. (2002) Ecological issues and the trades in live reeffishes. Pages 391-420 in Coral Reef Fishes: Dynamics and Diversity in a ComplexEcosystem (edited by P.F. Sale). Academic Press, San Diego.

Wabnitz, C., Taylor, M., Green, E. and Razak, T. (2003) From Ocean to Aquarium. UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge, UK.

Seed Production of Sand Bass(Psamoperca weigensis)

Le Dinh Buu

Support to Marine and Brackishwater Aquaculture -SUMA, 78 Thong Nhat St, Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa, Vietnam,

Tel : +84 058 822941, Fax: +84 058 822921,E-mail: [email protected]

The Fisheries University of Nha Trang, Vietnam, withfunding support from the “Support to Brackish and MarineAquaculture Component (SUMA)” component of theDANIDA/Ministry of Fisheries Sector Program Support hassuccessfully produced the seed of sand bass (Psamopercaweigensis, Cuvier & Valennciennes). The local names forthis fish in Vietnam are “ca chem mom nhon” (pointed snoutfish) or “ca thay boi” (fortune teller fish). The speciesbelongs to the Centropomidae family and is found inIndopacific region. In the wild, it lives in schools near coralreefs, in bays or associated with seaweed or sea grass inlagoons. This fish has a good taste with a price in Vietnam ofaround USD 5-6 / kg.

The experiment involved a total of 34 broodstockcollected from the wild. Two females and two males werereared in a 12m3 tank with the following water quality -salinity 22-34 ppt, temperature 22-320C, pH 7-8.9, with tank isaeration.

Broodstock were injected with the hormone LRHa. Thefertilized eggs are around 0.8 mm in diameter. They wereincubated in a tank with water temperature between 28-290C,salinity 33-35 ppt and pH 7.6-7.8. The eggs hatched after 14hours and the hatching rate was 86%.

The larvae were reared in tanks ranging from 200 litres, 2m3, and 12 m3. Nanochloropsis occulata was mass producedin 1 m3 volume containers for rotifers that were enriched withsquid oil before being used to feed larvae.

The density of rotifer used for various stage of larvaeculture was as follows:• 3 rotifers/ml for larvae of 1.5 days age• 3-5 rotifers/ml for larvae of 2.5–9 days ageThe fish larvae were fed with Artemia nauplii and rotifersfrom 10 to 50 days old. Artificial feed was used from 51 dayonwards. The growth rate of fish is slow, around 0.04-0.06cm/day and the survival rate to 50 days around 5.8 %.

Fingerlings of 50-51 day old were nursed both in earthenponds and floating cages. Fish reared in cages were foundto do better than in ponds. The conditions in rearing pondswere as follows:• Salinity – 27-30 ppt• Temperature – 30-38°C

Figure 2: Lobster pueruli trap

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• pH 8-8.5• Fish stocking density - 40/m2

• Feeding - trash fish (4 times/day, 20-40% of fish weight)• Survival rate from stocking - 50% (4 months)The conditions in floating cages were as follows:• Salinity - 35-36 ppt• Temperature - 27-29°C• PH - 7.9-8.5• Density - 30/m3

• Feed - trash fish and artificial feed• Survival rate - 70% (4 months)The success of seed production of sand bass will enablefarmers in Khanh Hoa coastal area and other places inVietnam to have the opportunity to culture another valuablemarine fish for seafood markets.

ACIAR Project “Improved hatchery and grow-outtechnology for marine finfish in the Asia-Pacific

region”

The second phase of the ACIAR marine fish project hasbeen approved and is due to commence in July 2004. Theproject will continue to support the Asia-Pacific MarineFinfish Aquaculture Network and its activities. This is a 3.5year project and the activities will covers Australia,Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

The overall objective of the project is to enhance thesustainability of marine finfish aquaculture in the Asia-Pacific region by improving hatchery production technologyand facilitating the uptake of compounded feeds for grow-out. Progress and development of the project will bereported and made available to wider audience through thenetwork website and newsletter. A brief project summary isgiven below.

Marine finfish aquaculture is an important contributor tothe economies of coastal communities throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Although production of hatchery-rearedfingerlings is increasing, much of the seedstock supply forthis sector continues to be dependent on capture of wild fryand fingerlings, which limits fingerling availability andcontributes to over-harvesting. Grow-out operations use‘trash’ fish, which results in localised pollution andcompetes with other needs for fishery products. Theprevious project Improved hatchery and grow-outtechnology for marine finfish aquaculture in the Asia-Pacific region made substantial improvements to thesustainability of marine finfish aquaculture in the Asia-Pacific region. This follow-on project will continue lines ofresearch that demonstrated maximum benefits in the earlierproject, and will continue to support the synergies that weredeveloped between partner agencies in the earlier projectthrough collaborative research activities.

The follow-on project will focus on improving survival ofhatchery-reared high-value marine finfish larvae, andincreasing the reliability of hatchery production. Larvalrearing technologies will be expanded to other high-valuespecies such as coral trout (Plectropomus spp.). The grow-out diet development component of the project will focus onpromoting uptake of compounded pellet diets at the expenseof ‘trash’ fish use. Research activities will focus on

identifying ingredients likely to lower diet cost and reduceenvironmental impacts (nutrient outputs).

A third component of the project will evaluate the socio-economic constraints to uptake of the technologies(hatchery production, artificial diets) and develop strategiesto overcome these constraints. The communication andcoordination strategies developed under FIS/97/73 will becontinued and the Asia-Pacific Marine Finfish AquacultureNetwork will be strengthened and expanded through aprocess of formalisation of participating agencies andindividuals. Enhanced industry involvement in the networkwill be encouraged, and long-term network sustainability willbe enhanced, by accessing corporate sponsorship ofnetwork activities.

These outputs will contribute to the development ofsustainable marine finfish aquaculture in the Asia-Pacificregion by increasing the supply of hatchery-rearedfingerlings to support increasing demand for high-valuemarine finfish species for aquaculture. The use ofcompounded grow-out diets will reduce ‘trash’ fishutilisation and reduce pollution associated with the use of‘trash’ fish as a feed source. The project will link closely withtwo other ACIAR projects: Environmental impacts of cageaquaculture in Indonesia and Australia (FIS/2003/027) andFeasibility study of economic impacts of developments inthe live reef fish food trade in the Asia-Pacific region (ADP/2003/022).

NACA/DOF/TDH* Workshop on Seafarming andSeafood Markets

A one day workshop was held in NACA Secretariat Office atBangkok, Thailand on March 25, 2004. The purpose of thisworkshop was to conduct a review of seafarmingexperiences and start to identify opportunities for futuredevelopment in Thailand. The workshop was attended bysome 50 participants.

The workshop aimed to assist the Department ofFisheries to prioritise future research and developmentactivities in seafarming in Thailand, and provideopportunities for further cooperation with NACA, TDH andother stakeholders to strengthen research and developmentfor seafarming in Thailand.

The workshop covered the following themes:• Regional overview of mariculture• Markets and demand trends for mariculture products• Marine fish farming in Thailand• Mollusc farming in Thailand• Seaweed farming in Thailand• Other seafarming speciesThe report of this workshop is available on the NACAwebsite.*TDH - Terre des Hommes Foundation-Italy. NACA hasstarted cooperation with TDH project in Phanga Nga Bay,Southern Thailand entitled “Children of the Sea –Requalification of Small-scale Fisheries Micro-enterprisesand Ecosystem-based Innovation of Aquatic ProductionSystems for the Sustainable Development of Thai CoastalCommunities”. The cooperation involves simultaneousstudies of seafarming technology and markets in southernThailand, Bangkok live fish markets and trading networks,

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regional markets and a status reviewof regional seafarming productiontechnologies. Further information onthe project will be made availablethrough a new web site and a reportexpected to be available in July 2004.In the meantime, further informationcan be obtained from Paolo Montaldior Sandro Montaldi [email protected].

Malaysia

Marine fish culture in coastal areas -Mr Ali bin Awang,[email protected] quality - Mr Ismail Ishak & MrHamdan Jaafar,[email protected] /[email protected]

Low food chain species - Mr Hussinbin Mat [email protected]

Philippines

Ms Prescilla B. Regaspi,[email protected]

Ms Marygrace C. Quintero,[email protected]

Collaborators

The following organizations and contacts have been designated as focal pointsfor communication in the marine fish network.

Free aquaculture publications ?

www.enaca.org

Check it out.

Hong Kong

Dr Jim Chu,[email protected]

Dr Mohan Joseph Modayil,[email protected]

Indonesia

Dr Ketut Sugama, [email protected]

Dr Muhammad Murdjani,[email protected]

Iran

Dr Shapour Kakoolaki,[email protected]

Collaborating organisations

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For more events listings the NACA Events & Training page at

http://www.enaca.org/modules/extcal/

Aquaculture Europe 2004 conferenceon “Biotechnologies for Quality”, 20-23 October 2004, Barcelona, Spain

This European and internationalmeeting will bring together participantsfrom as many as 40 countries to addressthe key issues and discuss some of themost advanced scientific results andtechnological tools. Aquaculture Europe2004 will be organized through plenarythematic sessions, parallel sessions,poster sessions and a workshop.Although emphasis will be giventhrough the plenary sessions to“Biotechnologies for Quality”, otherchallenges for aquaculture developmentwill also be approached during parallelsessions. On the first day ofAquaculture Europe 2004 (October 20),the EAS and the Spanish AquacultureSociety (SEA) will jointly organize theworkshop “Challenges forMediterranean Aquaculture Products”.The workshop is designed to facilitateexchange of information betweenproducers, researchers and othersassociated with the industry in aninformal setting. The event is based atthe first-class facilities of the UniversitatPolitècnica de Catalunya in thewonderful city of Barcelona. Moredetails on the programme together withthe “Call for Contributions Form” andother information can be found at theAquaculture Europe website http://www.easonline.org/agenda/en/AquaEuro2004/default.asp. A paperversion of the brochure can berequested [email protected].

Workshop on environmental issues ofmarine fish farming in theMediterranean, 20 October 2004,Barcelona, Spain

There will be a 1-day workshop inconnection with the AquacultureEurope 2004 At the University ofBarcelona, Spain, on 20th October, 2004presenting results from on-going EUmarine environmental research projects.The workshop will focus on newdirections in monitoring, managementtools and bioremediation techniques,including coverage of the followingtopics: Use of bio-assays to monitorrelease of nutrients in theMediterranean; effects ofMediterranean fish farming on theseagrass Posidonia oceanica;monitoring of seagrasses aroundMediterranean fish farms; predictingimpacts on seagrass meadows throughmodeling Sensitive tools to detectorganic enrichment of fish farmsediments (use of meio- andmacrofauna); comparison ofaquaculture monitoring methodologies;modelling cage aquaculture impacts;measurable aquaculture impacts; cageaquaculture and wild fish interactions;MERAMED recommended monitoringmethods; the succession dynamics ofnaturally settled mixed heterotrophicand autotrophic communities and theirpotential for nutrient capture indiffering environments; the economicsof biofiltration; and the potential for asecondary harvest using co-culture indiffering environments. The workshopis free of charge. If you would like toregister to attend the workshop, Pleaseinform either Marianne Holmer,[email protected] or PatrickWhite, [email protected]

Training Course on Mangrove-Friendly Shrimp Aquaculture, 23October – 11 November 2004,Philippines

The goal of the course is to provideparticipants with a basic understandingof the mangrove ecosystem, andtechnical knowledge and skills onshrimp culture so that they can growshrimp in a sustainable and mangrove-friendly manner. At the end of thetraining course, the participants shouldbe able to demonstrate the basicconcepts of the mangrove ecosystem;explain the interrelationships betweenmangroves and shrimp culture; applysustainable culture methods andmanagement techniques; and prepare afeasibility study of a mangrove-friendlyshrimp aquaculture project.Participants must be nominated by theirrespective governments; presentlyengaged in aquaculture extension orresearch work; with at least 2-3 yearsexperience in aquaculture; under 45years old; good command of Englishlanguage; and with good physical andmental condition. For more informationand a detailed propsectus visit theSEAFDEC AQD website.

Global Shrimp Outlook 2004, 9-12November, Bangkok, Thailand

GAA presents the Global ShrimpOutlook series to help internationalshrimp marketers gain vitalperspectives on the future of theshrimp industry. During this year’sfocused morning meeting sessions,industry experts and executives willreport on current shrimp productionand demand, and project shrimp pricesfor 2005 and beyond. Afternoons willremain free for business interaction andrelaxing social activities. The GSOL

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schedule also includes paneldiscussions that will allow participantsto actively address such issues asantidumping, antibiotic residues,product traceability and facilitycertification. Given the timing of thepreliminary antidumping duties onimported shrimp recently establishedby the U.S. Department of Commerce,this Global Shrimp Outlook meeting willlikely be even more strategicallyimportant than usual. Global ShrimpOutlook: 2004 is a by-invitationmeeting for major international shrimpbuyers, producers and relatedsuppliers. Due to the proprietary natureof the conference content, registrationis not available to members of themedia. If you have not received aninvitation to GSOL, please visit http://www.gaalliance.org/gsol.html online orcontact the GAA office to requestfurther information. To reach GAA,telephone +1-314-293-5500, fax +1-314-293-5525 or [email protected].

Women in Fisheries and Aquaculture,10-13 November 2004, Spain

The international conference AKTEA“Women in Fisheries and Aquaculture:Lessons from the past, current actionsand dreams for the future” will takeplace in Santiago de Compostela(Galicia, Spain). Women in fisheries andaquaculture and researchers working onwomen issues from all parts of the worldare all invited to visit our website: http://conference.fishwomen.org

International Conference onAquaculture Production andMarketing of Shrimp and Finfish andBangladesh Seafood Expo 2004, 28-29November, Dhaka, Bangladesh

The conference will focus on the latestdevelopments in aquacultureproduction and marketing of warmwater shrimp and finfish species withspecial reference to freshwater prawnsMacrobrachium rosenbergii, tigershrimp Penaeus monodon, whiteshrimp P. vannamei, tilapia and marinefinfish. The conference will also focuson environment friendly productiontechniques including organicproduction systems, emerging productquality/safety assurance approachesincluding traceability and labeling with

emphasis on product presentation aswell as marketing in the major markets,EU, US and Japan. For moreinformation and registration [email protected] [email protected], or visitwww.infofish.org. The organizers mayalso be contacted at INFOFISH, PO Box10899, 50728 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

7th Asian Fisheries Forum 2004, 30November – 4 December 2004,Malaysia

The Asian Fisheries Society endeavorsto make the 7th Fisheries Forum thelargest fisheries event in Asia, in termsof the number of participants andimpact. Working on the theme “NewDimensions and Challenges in AsianFisheries in the 21st Century”, thestatus of Asian fisheries will be elevatedto a new level, providing ideas andsolutions to overcome the inherent andunique challenges in Asian fisheries andgenerating technical advancement intandem with global development. Theprogramme will include: How to Make aDifference: Research for Impact onFisheries and Aquaculture; recentAdvances in Biotechnology;Globalization and its Impact on AsianFisheries: Implications for FisheriesManagement; Restoration andManagement of Small-Scale Fisheries:Meeting the Challenge. A number ofspecial symposia will also be heldconcurrently including on Gender inFisheries; Advances in ShrimpBiotechnology; Restocking the StockEnhancement of Coastal Fisheries:Potential Problems and Progress;Technology Needs and Prospects forAsian Aquaculture: Participation of thePoor; Biotechnology for Growth andReproduction in Fish; and AquaticEcosystem Health. For furtherinformation, please contact: TheSecretariat, 7th Asian Fisheries Society,School of Biological Sciences, UniversitiSains Malaysia,11800 Minden, Penang,Malaysia, Tel: +604-6533888 ext. 3961/2932/ 4005/ 4009, Fax: +604-6565125,Email: [email protected], Website: http://www.usm.my/7AFF2004.

Practical Application of Food & FeedExtrusion Technology, 1-3 December2004, Bangkok, Thailand

The three day program with be held inBangkok, Thailand, and is aimed atproviding participants with a practicalknowledge of current industrialextrusion technology. The course takesparticipants from the basics ofextrusion through to an understandingof rheology and flow in the extruderbarrel. The role of different ingredients,extruder configurations, and dieeffects, are also covered. The contentof the course covers both single andtwin screw extrusion technology. Thecourse is relevant to a range of humanand pet foods, as well as to theproduction of aquafeeds. Offered byFood Engineering Pty Ltd inconjunction with the Food Researchand Product Development Institute atKasetsart University in Bangkok.Further information is available fromthe web at www.fie.com.au/extrusionasia/, or contact GordonYoung, email [email protected].

International Workshop on Culture,Fisheries and Stock Enhancement ofPortunid Crabs, 20-22 January 2005,Iloilo, Philippines

The workshop will include sessions onbroodstock nutrition; larval culture andnutrition; nursery grow-out; fisheriesand stock enhancement; genetics andtaxonomy. The proceedings will bepublished in special edition of a peer-reviewed journal. Registration fee:$150. For more information pleasecontact [email protected].

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practices of the plant and verificationof end product quality. Monitored are:• Sanitation, hygiene, good

manufacturing practice as a basicquality control program.

• Processors must demonstrate aQuality Control program based onHACCP.

• Quality system verified by DOF.• Processing plants are inspected 2-4

times/plant/year, for sanitation,hygiene practices, quality controlsystem, laboratories and record atCritical Control Points and sanitationrecord. Those that pass the gradeare included in the List of ApprovedFish Processing Plants and issuedan Approval Number.

• Sanitary Certificate and Certificate ofAnalysis of the shipment are issued,on request, to processingestablishment and shipment thatmeet standard requirements.

Product monitoring

As required still, by import authorities,shipment of fishery products must beaccompanied with a certificate statingthe quality or laboratory results. Thisrequires sampling and analysis of endproducts for safety, quality and

Continued from page 32 wholesomeness.For drug residue, shipments are

examined by:• Sampling for antibiotic residues of

the group of tetracycline, penicillinand others using micro-bioassay

• Sampling for oxolinic acid usingHPLC

• Sampling for chloramphenicol usingHPLC

• Sampling for nitrofuran and itsmetabolites using LC-MS-MS

For microbiological hazards, shipmentsare determined for pathogenic bacteriaand other microorganisms based on therequirements of the market. Themaximum level for antibiotics and othercontaminants imposed by a number ofimporting countries or blocks are as pertable 3.

Conclusion

Preventing hazards to people’s safetyand health to human from culturedproducts can be made more effectiveby the application of HACCP at thefarm, in other words, before the rawmaterial even goes into the processingplant. Lima dos Santos (2002) said thatHACCP can be applied through thefood chain from primary production tofinal consumption but stressed that its

Australian AquaculturePortal

The Australian Aquaculture Portal hasbeen developed in an attempt tocentralise the growing body ofinformation, research and businessopportunities in the AustralianAquaculture Industry. An initiative ofthe Australian Aquaculture Councilwith funding from the Department ofAgriculture, Fisheries & Forestry, thisPortal is an essential reference tool forall those working in the AquacultureIndustry. It contains an overview of themajor Australian industry sectors,contact details for industryassociations and a comprehensivecollection of links to relevantAustralian and overseas sites for thosewishing to ‘dig a little deeper’ into thecomplexities and opportunities thisindustry offers.

The member’s section containsvaluable information, research, contactsand dynamic information relating towhat is currently happening aroundAustralia. A comprehensive ‘conferenceportal’ is also included to keep membersand others ‘updated’ with current andupcoming conferences. Here portalusers can access information andregister online as well as refer to whitepapers prepared by past and currentconference speakers. As information inthe public, members and conferenceparts of this site is updated weekly.

Commercial aquaculture farm ownersand workers, students, vets, teachers,government bodies and advisors shouldall find this portal a valuable resourcecontaining information that is ‘databasedriven’, therefore updated in a timelyand systematic manner. http://www.australian-aquacultureportal.com/

What’s New on the WebWhat’s New on the WebWhat’s New on the WebWhat’s New on the WebWhat’s New on the Web Asian Fisheries Society

The new AFS website highlightsfisheries events and publications, andabstracts of papers from the AFS journalAsian Fisheries Science are provided.

AFS is a scientific society organizedin 1984 for fishery professionals in Asiato communicate, share information andcooperate with each other. Since itsestablishment, the Society has grownfrom the 14 charter members who signedthe constitution to over 2,800 membersfrom 75 countries and territories. Asiahas been the leading world producer offish. Its long history of fishing and fishfarming has attracted several thousandscientists, researchers and students tothe field of tropical fisheries andaquaculture. As their numbers grew, theneed to improve interaction andcooperation among fisheries scientistsand institutions became more apparent.Thus, the seeds for the Asian FisheriesSociety were sown. http://www.asianfisheriessociety.org/

implementation should be guided byscientific evidence of risks to humanhealth.

A combination of measures areobserved to prevent or control diseaseoutbreaks. HACCP would be aneffective complement to healthmanagement practices. HACCPapplication, along with observance ofGood Aquaculture Practice (GAP) orCode of Conduct for sustainableaquaculture (CoC), enhance the overalleffort at promoting sustainable andprofitable aquaculture.

References

Tookwinas, S. and S. Suwanrangsi 1996 Hazard Controlin Aquaculture. Page 338-391 in R.E. Martin, R.L.Collette and J.W. Slavin, editors. Fish Inspection,Quality Control and HACCP ; A Global Focus,Proceeding of the Conference Held in May 19-24,1996 Arlington, Virginia, Techinnomic Pub. Co.,INC. USA.

Fish Inspection and Quality Control Division. 2004.The Maximum Level for Antibiotic andContamination Sustance in Fisheries Products,Department of Fisheries, Bangkok.

Fisheries Information Center. 2004. Fisheries Statisticof Thailand, Department of Fisheries, Bangkok(contact information).

Lima dos Santos, C.A. 2002. Hazard Analysis CriticalControl Point and Aquaculture. Page103-119 inM.L. Jahneke, E.S. Garrett, A. Reilly, R.E. Martin andE. Cole, editors. Public Animal and EnvironmentalAquaculture Health Issues, Wiley-Interscience, Inc.

Reilly, A. and F. Kaferstein. 1997. Food Safety Hazardsand the Application of the Principles of the HazardAnalysis and Critical Control in AquacultureProduction. Aquaculture Res. 1997(28): 735-752.

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A well-balanced diet is essential for our health. Hence the saying "you are what you

eat". However accurate this phrase may be, it does not cover the whole story. Because

an important part of our daily diet is produced by animals. A diet for which fish and

shrimp are of increasing importance. And, as you well know, their health also depends

strongly on their diet.

In other words: the better the feed, the better the food. Therefore, we promote the

production of prime quality fish and shrimp through improving the nutritional value and

guaranteeing the safety of our feeds and concentrates. As our studies have revealed

that this leads to less stress and diseases, in animals as well as in human beings. A

result we always strive for. Because we care.

Research has shown that you are what they eat.

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