The giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, is captured from natural waters in many areas in Asia and the Pacific region. However, due to intensive fishing activities and use of improved gears and effects of man-made environmental changes, the catch from the natural sources has been declining rapidly in recent years. In fact it has disappeared completely in some areas.
The technology for mass production of prawn juveniles and rearing in growout ponds have been studied in some countries and improvement on the technology has been progressing rapidly. Great interest in this development is of particular significance in the Southeast-Asian region where the prawn is a very desired food and sold at a lucrative price.
In order to maintain the supply for the market demand and make up for the fishery being lost from natural areas, technology on culture for this species is required. But the technology although quite developed is only known in a few countries in the region. Therefore, in order to develop the potential in most of the countries in the region, holding of training course in this field is deemed highly useful. For this reason the course has been carried out to train the participants from the region in the practical methods of prawn farming.
The training course was organized by FAO with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (project RAS/79/041) and implemented through the FAO/UNDP South China Sea Fisheries Development and Coordinating Programme (SCSP), which sponsored 15 participants. In addition, USAID Indonesia and the Government of Indonesia supported 2 and 1 participant, respectively.
In the implementation, the Indonesian Government hosted the training, using the Brackishwater Aquaculture Development Centre staff and facilities.
The training was conducted in the Brackishwater Aquaculture Development Centre, Jepara, Central Java, Indonesia. The duration of the training was six weeks, from 5 October to 15 November 1980.
Eighteen participants sponsored by SCSP were expected to participate in the training. For some reasons, two participants from India were unable to arrive and Malaysia sent only one. One participant from Indonesia, Mr. Effendi Muis, due to ailment was replaced by Mr. Yusrie Arfant. Accordingly, only 15 participants sponsored by SCSP attended the course.
With other participants sponsored by USAID and the Government of Indonesia, there were in total 18 participants from eight countries in Asia and the Pacific region, who took the course.
The names and addresses of the participants by sponsors are listed in ANNEX A.
The main programme of training consists of lectures, practical works, hatchery operations, field trips and open discussions.
The detailed schedule of the training course is summarized in ANNEX B, and the list of lectures, demonstrations and practicum and the details of field trips are shown in ANNEXES C and D, respectively.
The training was implemented by the Steering Committee which consists of:
| Director | : Mr. Sukotjo Adisukresno |
| Co-Director | : Mr. Gregorio L. Escritor |
| Assistant Director | : Mr. Kisto Mintardjo |
| Secretary | : Mrs. Hartati Suprayitno |
| : Mr. Budiono Martosudarmo | |
| Treasurer | : Mr. Isnadi Isnandar |
| Accommodation | : Mr. Barono |
| : Mr. Soetejo |
The opening ceremony was held in the Brackishwater Aquaculture Development Centre (BADC), Jepara on 7 October 1980 and was attended by the Representative of SCSP, Mr. V. Scesanto, the Director-General of Fisheries, Admiral Iman Sardjono, the Chief of Fisheries Service of Central Java province, Mr. Adwinirwan Kamaluddin, the Director of BADC, Mr. Sukotjo Adisukresno, the Project Manager of FAO/UNDP INS/72/003 project, Mr. Gregorio L. Escritor, local officials of the Jepara District and staff of BADC, Jepara. The training was officially opened by the Director-General of Fisheries.
To get better acquainted with the giant freshwater prawn as an object of farming, lecture and practical work on the biology and life history of Macrobrachium species were given to the participants (Lecture Nos. 1 and 2, see ANNEX C).
The main subject of the training course is prawn hatchery. Therefore, in order to gain more knowledge on this subject, lectures on site selection, design and operation of prawn hatchery were given and field trip to places related to the subject were made (Lecture Nos. 4, 5 and 6 in ANNEX C).
In addition to the main subject, cultivation of the giant freshwater prawn in grow-out pond, site selection, layout, construction, and management of grow-out farm up to the marketing of the product were considered necessary to be given in the lectures. Lecture Nos. 7, 8, 9, 14 and 15 in ANNEX C are dealing with those subjects. Visit to several freshwater prawn farms in Central Java were also made to give the participants an opportunity to see the development of prawn farming in Indonesia.
Other lectures and practical work given as supporting materials are culture of food organisms, artificial feed for larvae and juveniles including preparation and the control of parasites and diseases of prawns. In the practical work, hatchery operations were emphasized to provide more skill and experience for the participants in the production of post larvae, from egg hatching, rearing the larvae to post larvae (PL).
A well-known expert on freshwater prawn, Mr. Takuji Fujimura was invited to come to BADC Jepara as FAO consultant, who gave general lecture on the prawn farming and in solving common problems encountered. He stayed in Jepara for ten days and he was always available for discussions with the participants apart from the lectures he conducted.
During the training course, in addition to lectures and practical work undertaken by the participants, country experience reports were also prepared by participants and discussed in the sessions. The account of the reports are submitted in PART III of this report.
A total of six days field trip to farmers-owned giant freshwater farms and government prawn hatcheries in Central Java were undertaken in two trips. The first trip was conducted for three days from 18–20 October 1980 visiting places as follows:
Macrobrachium demonstration pond at Ngrajeg, which has three pond compartments of 2 000 m2 each. Demonstration on the identification of Macrobrachium rosenbergii was practised in this dempond and harvesting of prawn from one of the ponds by complete draining system was demonstrated. The water source of the dempond which originated from the spring located 1 km away from the ponds was also visited by the participants.
Freshwater Fish Hatchery which is located adjacent to the dempond.
Freshwater Fish Hatchery and Macrobrachium demonstration pond at Cangkringan, Jogyakarta.
Macrobrachium backyard ponds at Wonocatur, Yogyakarta. The ponds were owned by farmers who were using waste products of leather processing as feed.
Government Freshwater Fish Hatchery and farmer community Macrobrachium farms at Gesikan, Jogyakarta. The farms have four pond compartments of 500 m2 each.
Enroute visit to places of interest such as the Borobudur temple at Magelang and Batik Shop at Jogyakarta
The second trip was carried out for three days from 1–3 November 1980. The participants had a chance to visit places as follows:
Giant freshwater ponds owned by farmers at Bobosan, Purwokerto where the fry were obtained from the Jepara Brackishwater Aquaculture Development Centre
Freshwater Fish Culture Training Centre at Singosari, Purwokerto. Participants were given lectures on the function and management of the Centre. In this Centre, Macrobrachium was also included in their programme to be developed.
Government Macrobrachium Hatchery in Adiraja, Cilacap. The layout and design of this hatchery was explained to the participants, including site selection and maintenance of the hatchery
Enroute visit to places of interest including the Batujajar Care at Kebumen
Discussions were made among participants after each visit to locations of field trips under the guidance of the lecturers. The topics of discussion include:
(a) Suitability of grow-out ponds
Accessibility to source of inputs
(b) Suitability of hatchery
Equipment and facilities.
In the discussions, each participant gave freely his point of view on the site visited regarding the above requirements and explained their judgement according to their experience, with enthusiasm in pursuance of their studies.
The training course was terminated on 15 November 1980, as scheduled, and officially closed by Mr. Soewito, Director of Resources Management, Directorate General of Fisheries, on behalf of the Director-General.
