GCP/INT/436/SWE.7

FORMULATION OF PILOT ACTIVITIES ON INTERMITTENT HARVESTING

	REPORT PREPARED FOR THE AQUACULTURE FOR LOCAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
	TABLE OF CONTENTS

by

Sevaly Sen,
Socio-economist Consultant

and

Johannes Janssen,
Aquaculturist Consultant

Lusaka, Zambia, February 1989

This report was prepared during the course of the project identified on the title page. The conclusions and recommendations given in the report are those considered appropriate at the time of its preparation. They may be modified in the light of further knowledge gained at subsequent stages of the project.

The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the United Nations or the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal or constitutional status of any country, territory or sea area or concerning the delimitation of frontiers.

PREFACE

The Aquaculture for Local Community Development Programme (ALCOM) is an inter-regional programme executed by FAO and funded by Sweden (SIDA). Although inter-regional in scope, the Programme's activities initially focus on the SADCC member countries of Southern Africa.

The main objective is to develop, test, and demonstrate methods and techniques by which rural people can improve their standards of living through aquaculture. The mode of work is to deal with problems encountered by rural communities in pilot activities, the results of which are intended to be applied in national development projects and programmes. Training is provided for counterpart staff and other key personnel categories and assistance given to Governments in formulating development projects and programmes.

This report presents the results from a consultancy for the formulation of pilot activities on intermittent harvesting strategies, carried out upon request by and in cooperation with, the Department of Fisheries (Zambia), the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management (Zimbabwe) and the Department of Agricultural, Technical and Extension Services (Zimbabwe).

Hyperlinks to non-FAO Internet sites do not imply any official endorsement of or responsibility for the opinions, ideas, data or products presented at these locations, or guarantee the validity of the information provided. The sole purpose of links to non-FAO sites is to indicate further information available on related topics.

This electronic document has been scanned using optical character recognition (OCR) software. FAO declines all responsibility for any discrepancies that may exist between the present document and its original printed version.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

Abbreviations/Acronyms

Summary

1.   Introduction

1.1   Background
1.2   Terms of Reference
1.3   Areas visited

2.   The Concept of Intermittent Harvesting

2.1   Definitions
2.2   Socio-economic Aspects

2.2.1   Advantages and disadvantages of intermittent harvesting
2.2.2   Factors likely to determine intermittent harvesting strategies

2.3   Bio-technical Aspects

2.3.1   General
2.3.2   Small-scale tilapia culture

2.4   Conclusions

3.   The Pilot Project

3.1   Pilot project objectives
3.2   Activities
3.3   Methods
3.4   Area and site selection
3.5   Workplan

3.5.1   Surveys/in-depth studies on occurrence and reasons for intermittent harvesting
3.5.2   Monitoring of different harvesting strategies
3.5.3   Simulation model
3.5.4   Bio-technical investigations on intermittent harvesting strategies
3.5.5   Technical consultation on intermittent harvesting
3.5.6   Introduction, testing and monitoring of improved production and harvesting strategies with small-scale fish farmers

3.6   Monitoring and evaluation

References

Appendices

Appendix: 1.   Itinerary

2.   Persons met

3.   Terms of Reference

4.   Socio-economic and aquaculture profiles of Northern Province, Zambia

5.   Socio-economic and aquaculture profiles of Luapula Province, Zambia

6.   Socio-economic and aquaculture profiles of Murewa District, Zimbabwe

7.   Time schedule of Pilot Project activities

Figures

Figure: 1.   Schematic representation of the expected relationships between optimal single-harvest and multiple-harvest biomasses

2.   Map of areas visited

ABBREVIATIONS/ACRONYMS USED

SUMMARY

Intermittent harvesting, whereby fish are cropped regularly from ponds is a harvesting strategy practised by small-scale fish farmers in rural areas of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

At its second meeting in October, 1988, ALCOM's Advisory Committee endorsed a proposal to initiate pilot activities on intermittent harvesting in two or three areas in order to document the occurrence and the socio-economic and bio-technical advantages and disadvantages of this strategy; develop and demonstrate methods to improve the practice; and evaluate the long term impact on the viability of fish farming systems employing such strategies.

A workplan of the pilot activities to be initiated is described in this report.

To investigate the socio-economic aspects of intermittent harvesting, information is required on the socio-economic profile of households which adopt different harvesting strategies as well as the external factors which influence their decision (e.g. access to markets, access to extension services). In order to investigate the bio-technical aspects of intermittent harvesting, applied research is required on the biotic and a-biotic factors which control breeding and the harvesting techniques used.

Luapula Province, Zambia, and Murewa District, Zimbabwe, were selected as sites suitable for the initiation of these investigations.

A pilot project was designed, comprising six main activities:

1. Socio-economic surveys and in-depth studies on the occurrence and reasons for intermittent harvesting.

2. Monitoring of on-farm yields, income and protein availability under different harvesting strategies.

3. Development of a bio-technical simulation model.

4. On-station applied research in order to improve production.

5. Technical consultation on intermittent harvesting.

6. Introduction, testing and monitoring impacts of improved production and harvesting strategies