PROGRESS REPORT ON THE 1988 REGIONAL TRAINING/DEMONSTRATION COURSES ORGANIZED UNDER THE REGIONAL SEAFARMING DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION PROJECT (RAS/86/024)

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PROGRESS REPORT ON THE 1988 REGIONAL TRAINING/DEMONSTRATION COURSES ORGANIZED UNDER THE REGIONAL SEAFARMING DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION PROJECT (RAS/86/024)

Under the Regional Seafarming project (RAS/86/024) five training courses have been organized to date (Fig. 1 and Table 1).

1. Seaweed Culture in the Philippines. This training and demonstration course was held from 2-21 May 1988 in Manila, Philippines, organized by the Seafarming Project (RAS/86/024) and the Regional Small-Scale Coastal Fisheries Development Project (RAS/84/016). The course was conducted by the University of the Philippines (UP) and the Department of Agriculture.

   Eighteen trainees from 7 countries attended the course. The participating countries were China (3 participants), India (1), Indonesia (2), Republic of Korea (2), Philippines (5), Thailand (2) and Malaysia (3). Of the 18 participants, 12 were technical officers and 6 were farmers. Appendix 1 lists the names of the participants, including work title and provenance.

2. Culture of the Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas) in the Republic of Korea. This course was held from 11 June to 7 July 1988 in Pusan, Republic of Korea, organized by the Seafarming Project (RAS/86/024). It was conducted by the Department of Aquaculture of the Fisheries Research and Development Agency (FRDA) in Pusan.

   Sixteen trainees from 5 countries attended the course. The participating countries were China (3 participants), Indonesia (3), Philippines (3), Thailand (3) and Malaysia (3). Of the 16 participants, 5 were technical officers and 11 were farmers. Appendix 2 lists the names of the participants, including work title and provenance.

3. Culture of the Seabass (Lates calcarifer) in Thailand. This regional course was held from 1–21 August 1988 in Satul, Thailand, organized by the Seafarming Project (RAS/86/024). The course was conducted by the Department of Fisheries at the Brackishwater Fisheries Station of Satul.

   Twenty-two trainees from seven countries attended the course. The participating countries were China (6 participants), Indonesia (3), Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea (3), Republic of Korea (3), Singapore (3), Thailand (2) and Malaysia (2). Of the 22 participants, 11 were technical officers and 11 were farmers. Appendix 3 lists the names of the participants, including work title and provenance.

   

   Figure 1. Training/demonstration courses organized under the Seafarming Project (RAS/86/024); training dates and number of participants.

4. Marine Finfish Netcage Culture in Singapore. The course was held from 4–24 September 1988 in Singapore, organized by the Seafarming Project (RAS/86/024). It was conducted by the Marine Aquaculture Section of the Primary Production Department (PPD).

   Twenty-five trainees from 8 countries attended the course. The participating countries were China (3 participants), Indonesia (4), Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea (3), Republic of Korea (2),Thailand (4) and Philippines (3), Singapore (4), Thailand (4) and Malaysia (2). Of the 25 participants trained 8 were technical officers and 17 were farmers. Appendix 4 lists the names of the participants, including work title and provenance.

   Table 1. NUMBER OF SEAFARMING TRAINEES BY COURSE AND COUNTRY

   TRAINING COURSE	COUNTRIES												TOTAL SCORES
   	CHI	BANGL*	BURMA*	IND	INS	DPRK	ROK	PAKIS*	PHI	SIN	THA	MAL*
   Eucheuma	1+2**	0+0	0+0	1+0	1+1	0+0	2+0	0+0	4+1	0+0	2+0	1+2	12+6
   Oyster	1+2	0+0	0+0	0+0	1+3	0+0	0+0	0+0	1+2	0+0	1+2	1+2	5+11
   Seabass	4+2	0+0	0+0	0+0	2+1	1+2	1+2	0+0	0+0	1+2	0+2	2+0	11+11
   Netcage Fish	1+2	0+0	0+0	0+0	1+3	1+2	1+1	0+0	1+2	1+3	1+3	1+1	8+17
   GIS	1+0	1+0	1+0	1+0	2+0	0+0	1+0	1+0	1+0	0+0	4+0	2+0	15+0
   TOTAL	8+8	1+0	1+0	2+0	7+8	2+4	5+3	1+0	7+5	2+5	8+7	7+5	51+45

   * = Not Seafarming Project RAS/86/024 member countries.
   ** = 1 technician + 2 farmers.

5. Geographical Information System, Application in Aquaculture. The training course was held from 4–24 September 1988 in Bangkok, Thailand, organized by the Seafarming Project (RAS/86/024) and the Inland Water Resources and Aquaculture Service (FIRI) of FAO, Italy. The course was conducted at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT).

   Fifteen trainees from 10 countries attended the course. The participating countries were China (1 participants), Bangladesh (1), Burma (1), India (1), Indonesia (2), Republic of Korea (1), Pakistan (1), Philippines (1), Thailand (4) and Malaysia (2). all of the 15 participants trained were technical officers. Appendix 5 lists the names of the participants, including work title and provenance.

Co-sponsoring projects/others

The five regional training courses were organized by the Seafarming Project (RAS/86/024) in collaboration with other FAO Projects and FAO Fisheries Department (Fig. 2 and Table 2). The Regional Small-Scale Coastal Fisheries Development Project (RAS/86/024) co-sponsored the seaweed culture course in the Philippines and sponsored a number of participants to the oyster, seabass and netcage culture training courses. The Indonesian Seafarming Project (INS/81/008) sponsored overall 4 participants one each to all the courses except the seaweed training course. The Bay of Bengal Project (GCP/RAS/040/SWE) supported 2 participants (oyster course), the Yellow Sea Marine Fisheries Project (CPR/81/014) also supported 2 participants (seabass course). A number of trainees were also supported by the training host country (seabass course) while some from the private sector (netcage course) attended at their own expense. The Inland Water Resources and Aquaculture Service (FIRI), FAO Fisheries Department, sponsored 4 participants to the GIS workshop/training course.

Participants by classification

The training courses on marine species culture were aimed at training extension personnel and key farmers on the practical aspects of such seafarming culture systems. Overall, the training programme is aimed at transferring seafarming technologies among countries. All participating governments were invited to nominate one technical/government officer and two farmers. The technical staff in most cases served as interpreter for the farmers. The above kind of selection was however flexible depending on whether the country receiving training had on-going activities on the specific culture system. Countries with little or no on-going activities often nominated only technical officers to the training course. Figure 3 summarizes the number of technical officers and farmers which attended each of the seafarming courses. In case of the oyster and netcage training course more farmers (28) were trained compared to technical officers (13) indicating that these culture systems are practised throughout the region. With regard to the seaweed course more technical staff were nominated, possibly indicating a lack of technical knowledge among several countries in the region. With regard to the Geographical Information System course only technical officers were selected. Overall 51 technical and 45 farmers have received training to date (Table 1).
Figure 4 summarizes the number of male and female participants which attended each of the Seafarming training courses. Of the 96 trained, 11 were women. No female farmer attended any of the course.

Figure 2. Number of participants trained by funding source.

Table 2. NUMBER OF SEAFARMING TRAINEES BY FUNDING SOURCE AND COURSE

* = Not Seafarming Project RAS/86/024 member countries.
(a) = Bay of Bengal Project.
(b) = Development of marine fish culture Project CPR/81/014.
(c) = Host country.
(d) = Private.
(e) = FIRI, Italy.
(f) = Seafarming Project and FIRI, Italy.
(g) = Seafarming Development Project INS/81/008.

Training courses/workshop contents

1. Seaweed Culture in the Philippines. The course reviewed the general biology and ecology of a number of commercially important algae, culture practices, postharvest handling and processing of seaweeds in the Philippines. Practical sessions and field trips were organized during the latter two weeks of the course aimed at familiarizing the participants with the day to day practical activities of this seafarming culture system.
   Also during the first week of the course a paper on the status of seaweed culture in each of the participating country was presented. The seminar session reviewed culture practices, postharvest handling, management and economics of seaweed culture, developmental constraints and future research needs. Lecture, practical and demonstration topics and field visits please refer to appendix 6.

2. Culture of the Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas) in the Republic of Korea. The course reviewed the general biology and ecology of oysters, culture practices, postharvest handling and processing of oyster in Korea. Practical sessions and field trips were organized during the final two weeks of the course aimed at familiarizing the participants with the day to day practical activities of this seafarming culture system. During the first week of the course a paper on the status of oyster culture in each of the participating country was presented. The seminar session reviewed culture practices, postharvest handling, management and economics of oyster culture, developmental constraints and future research needs.
   Lecture, practical and demonstration topics and field visits please refer to appendix 7.

3. Culture of the Seabass (Lates calcarifer) in Thailand. The main objective of this course was to teach the participants techniques for successful breeding and nursery of seabass. The lecture topics and laboratories were on the biology and ecology of seabass, larval development, hatchery site selection, broodstock conditioning and induced spawning, water quality analysis, fish nutrition, treatment and prevention of diseases. Practical training was carried out on induced spawning, larval and fingerling rearing and netcage preparation aimed at familiarizing the participants with the day to day practical activities of this seafarming culture system.
   During the first week of the course a paper on the status of finfish culture in each of the participating country was presented. The seminar session reviewed culture practices, postharvest handling, management and economics of finfish culture, developmental constraints and future research needs.
   Lecture, practical and demonstration topics and field visits please refer to appendix 8.

   

   Figure 3. Number of technical officers and farmers trained in each Seafarming course.

4. Marine Finfish Netcage Culture in Singapore. The main objective of this course was to teach the participants techniques for successful netcage construction and culture of marine finfish species. The lecture topics and laboratories were on the principles and practice of construction of netcages, operation and maintenance of netcages, principles of site selection, species selection, seed production and supply, fish nutrition, feeds, fish diseases and sanitation. Practical training was carried out on netcage construction and installation, netcage maintenance, site identification, broodstock selection, feed preparation, disease prevention and treatment, packing of fingerlings and market size fish. The content aimed at familiarizing the participants with the day to day practical activities of this seafarming culture system. During the first week of the course a paper on the status of marine finfish netcage culture in each of the participating country was presented. The seminar session reviewed culture practices, postharvest handling, management and economics of netcage culture, developmental constraints and future research needs. Lecture, practical and demonstration topics and field visits please refer to appendix 9.

   

   Figure 4. Number of male and female participants which attended the Seafarming training courses.

5. Geographical Information System, Application in Aquaculture.
   Lecture, practical and demonstration topics and field visits please refer to appendix 10.

Training manuals and status reports

Four training manuals and status reports and three audio-visual slide sets have been prepared under the Seafarming Project in collaboration with the country nodal centres and the participants. These are:

Training manuals.

1. Culture of the Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas) in the Republic of Korea. 66 p.

2. Culture of the seabass (Lates calcarifer) in Thailand. 90 p.

3. Manual on seaweed farming: Eucheuma spp. 25 p.

4. Manual on marine finfish netcage culture in Singapore. 291 p.

Status reports.

1. Seminar report on the status of oyster culture in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. 55 p.

2. Seminar report on the status of seaweed culture in China, India, Indonesia, ROK, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. 79 p.

3. Seminar report on the status of finfish culture in China, DPRK, Indonesia, ROK, Malaysia and Singapore. 53 p.

4. Seminar report on the status of finfish netcage culture in China, DPRK, Indonesia, ROK, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. 56 p.

Audio-visual slide sets.

1. Culture of the Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas) in the Republic of Korea.

2. Culture of the seabass (Lates calcarifer) in Thailand.

3. Marine finfish netcage culture in Singapore.

Training courses expenditure

Refer to appendix 11.

Training feedback

A feedback of trainees has been initiated, the aims of which are: (1) to find out to what extent the trainees have, so far, implemented what they have been trained on; and (2) to determine the needed follow-up support activities to the trainees. The initial effort was to write to the NCs for the trainees back-to-office reports.

Problems and recommendations

While it was generally assessed that the courses were successful and are an effective means to transferring seafarming culture technologies among countries, some major problems were encountered. Foremost was the language problem particularly in relation with the participation of farmers in these regional courses. The technicians, apart from attending to their own learning tasks, were also expected to provide translation and elaboration of the lessons to the farmers. For this reason, the Second National Coordinators Meeting (Singapore, 20–23 September 1988) suggested that farmers could be more effectively trained at the national level. The technician trained at the regional level would help to conduct the national level training and demonstration courses with possible assistance from the nodal centre that conducted the technician training.

APPENDIX 1

List of participants per country which attended the seaweed culture course in the philippines.

APPENDIX 2

List of participants per country which attended the oyster culture course in ROK.

APPENDIX 3

List of participants per country which attended the seabass culture course in Thailand.

APPENDIX 4

List of participants per country which attended the marine finfish netcage culture course in Singapore.

APPENDIX 5

List of participants per country which attended the Geographical Information System course in Thailand.

APPENDIX 6

List of lecture, practical and demonstration topics and field visits during the seaweed culture course in the Philippines.

Lecture topics

1. Coastal resources of Asia-Pacific: Environmental aspects.
2. Status of the seaweed production and utilization in Asia and Western Pacific Region.
3. Influence of environmental factors on the structure and distribution of seaweed communities.
4. Introduction to seaweeds: Their characteristics and economic importance.
5. How to identify seaweeds.
6. Inventory and assessment of economically important seaweed stocks.
7. The taxonomy of commercially important seaweeds in tropical Asia/Western Pacific.
8. Production of economically important seaweeds through culture and harvesting of natural stocks.
9. Post harvest practices/processing and utilization of seaweed products.
10. Seaweed diseases and other problems in seaweed culture.
11. Potential for polyculture of seaweed with milkfish and crustaceans.
12. Eucheuma (seaweed) industry.
13. Field and laboratory techniques in the collection and preservation of marine benthic algae for herbarium and for identification.

Practical and demonstration topics

1. Introduction to the representatives of the four divisions of seaweeds
2. Identification of seaweeds.
3. Field and laboratory techniques in the collection and preservation of seaweeds.
4. Demonstration on field culture of Eucheuma.
5. Demonstration on pond culture of Caulerpa.
6. Demonstration on field culture of Gracilaria.
7. Assessment on natural stocks of seaweeds

Field visits and trips

1. Visit to processing plants in Cebu/Mandaue.
2. Field visits to Eucheuma farms in Calatagan, Batangas and Gracilaria/fish farms in Bacoor, Cavite.

APPENDIX 7

List of lecture, practical and demonstration topics and field visits during the oyster culture course in ROK.

Lecture topics

1. Classification of oysters.
2. Ecology of oysters.
3. Collection of oyster spats.
4. Oyster culture.
5. Harvesting of oysters.
6. Sanitation and processing of oysters.
7. Diseases and their prevention.
8. Red tide and environmental pollution.
9. Environmental aspects of hardening sites.
10. Facilities and management of hardening sites.

Practical and demonstration topics

1. Practicum on spatfall forecasting.
2. Practicum on oyster collection.
3. Operation on long-line culture method.
4. Operation of raft culture method.
5. Practicum on environmental parameters data collection.
6. Analysis of survey data.
7. Demonstration on fouling organisms.
8. Practicum on extermination of fouling organisms.

Field visits and trips

1. Visit to Pusan fish market.
2. Visit to National Fisheries University of Pusan.
3. Visit to Oyster Fisheries Cooperative.
4. Visit to Chungmu Research Laboratory.
5. Visit to Tongyong Fisheries College.
6. Visit to Chinhae Inland Fisheries Research Laboratory.
7. Visit to private commercial hatcheries.
8. Visit to Yeosu Research Laboratory.
9. Visit to Yongil hatchery.
10. Visit to Pohang Integrated Iron and Steel Manufacturing Company.

APPENDIX 8

List of lecture, practical and demonstration topics and field visits during the seabass culture course in Thailand.

Lecture topics

1. Biology of the seabass.
2. Larval morphology and development.
3. Hatchery site selection.
4. Broodstock rearing and spawning
5. Water quality and analysis.
6. Fish nutrition.
7. Seabass cage culture.
8. Live food organisms.
9. Diseases treatment and prevention.
10. Marketing of seabass.
11. Cage design and construction.

Practical and demonstration topics

1. Biology, morphology and development of seabass larvae.
2. Induce spawning.
3. Larval and fingerling rearing.
4. Culture of live food organisms.
5. Cage preparation and construction.

Field visits and trips

1. Visits to private seabass hatcheries.
2. Visits to cage culture sites in Trang Province.
3. Trip to the National Institute of Coastal Aquaculture (NICA), Songkhla.

APPENDIX 9

List of lecture, practical and demonstration topics and field visits during the marine finfish netcage culture course in Singapore.

Lecture topics

1. The floating netcage system.
2. Site selection for fish farming.
3. Construction of netcages for fish farming.
4. Netcage operation and maintenance.
5. Husbandry of fish in floating netcages.
6. Nutrition of marine fish.
7. Floating hatchery operation.
8. Common diseases in marine fish and their control.
9. Economics of floating netcage fish farming.

Practical and demonstration topics

1. Construction of wooden raft: preparation of wooden beams and floatation system.
2. Preparation of concrete anchors.
3. Site identification: collection of biological, chemical and physical data.
4. Netcage construction.
5. Netcage operation.
6. Assembly of raft and anchoring.
7. Packing of seabass fry.
8. Packing of marketable seabass.
9. Feeds and storage.
10. Maintenance of floatation system.
11. Fouling organisms on netcages.
12. Setting up of floating hatcheries.
13. Fish sanitation and treatment.

Field visits and trips

1. Floating fish farming area off Pulau Ubin.
2. Floating fish farming area off Lim Chu Kang.

APPENDIX 10

List of lecture practical and demonstration topics and field visits during the Geographical Information System course in Thailand.

Lecture topics

1. Overview of coastal and inland aquaculture development in Asia.
2. GIS applications in aquaculture.
3. Planning and policy for aquaculture development.
4. Constraints on aquaculture development.
5. Information needs for aquaculture development.
6. Aquaculture site selection: General principles and environmental aspects.
7. Site selection for mollusc culture.
8. Economic and social aspects of site selection.
9. Status, needs and trends of GIS in Asia and worldwide.
10. Fundamentals of remote sensing.
11. Image processing.
12. Base and thematic maps and error analysis.
13. GIS and data base structures.
14. ERDAS GIS design: principles and operation.
15. ERDAS GIS data entry techniques.
16. ERDAS GIS data manipulation techniques I.
17. ERDAS GIS data manipulation techniques II.
18. ERDAS GIS data manipulation techniques III.
19. ERDAS data analysis techniques I.
20. ERDAS data analysis techniques II.
21. ERDAS data analysis advanced techniques.
22. GIS and image processing on other systems.
23. FAO-wide GIS activities: support to member countries.
24. GIS project formulation for aquaculture and fisheries.

Practical and demonstration topics

1. AIT/microcomputer orientation.
2. ERDAS GIS orientation
3. Manual GIS: Overlay technique demonstration.
4. Visual image interpretation.
5. Satellite image processing using ERDAS.
6. GIST - Tutorial GIS principles and operation.
7. Manual GIS: GIST site selection exercise.
8. Map digitizing exercise.
9. ERDAS data manipulation exercise.
10. ERDAS data manipulation exercise III.
11. ERDAS aquaculture site selection exercise I.
12. ERDAS aquaculture site selection exercise II.

Field visits and trips

1. Trip to fish farms.

APPENDIX 11

RAS/86/024 expenditures of 1988 training courses/workshop/NCs metting (in US$).

* = Approximately.
NS = Non staff travel (BTA 72644, 72644/A).
S = Staff travel (BTA 72643).