2. AQUACULTURE ISSUES IN THE BANGKOK DECLARATION

2.1 The declaration’s objectives
2.2 The declaration’s issues

2.1 The declaration’s objectives

It has been more than a year since the Bangkok Declaration evolved from the Conference on Aquaculture in the Third Millennium held in February 2000 in Bangkok. As a part of the commitments made by FAO, this report is prepared to present the multifarious aspects of aquaculture in the light of the recommendations embodied in the Bangkok Declaration with the hope that they will be implemented. The programme areas identified in this report are for the consideration of FAO in its continued effort to promote aquaculture at global and regional levels.

The importance given to aquaculture as the fastest-growing food-producing sector is justified in terms of its overall production and annual rate of increase. Closer examination of aquaculture activities reveals a high concentration of production in Asia, and in China in particular. Available statistics show that although China has low per-capita arable land and water, aquaculture production in this populous country has continued to rise at almost miraculous annual rates. A number of factors supporting the thriving aquaculture in certain parts of the world among particular cultural, social and political settings clearly lie beyond the purview of biological science and fishery statistics. Multi-disciplinary research may be resorted to shed light on “China’s aquaculture miracle”.

The growing competition for access to basic natural resources such as land and water is a direct consequence of rapid population growth. The per capita availability of these finite natural resources in many parts of the world has shrunk to the dire minimum. Overexploitation of the natural resource bases by man has an impact on climatic changes and on their amplitude. Given the way that the sectoral developmental approach turns planning into “business as usual”, the holistic view of the impact on land and water would be too blurred to continue to compete for the use of finite natural resources.

Simple projection of demographic trends in relation to arable land has evolved some worrisome scenarios. Table 1 shows countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan and Viet Nam as countries where the number of projected population to finite arable land is highest; to their agrarian economies, the shrinking share of arable land is indeed a serious threat to survival.

Availability of freshwater is an inevitable concern of aquaculture promoters throughout the world. Irrigation draws as much as 70 percent of global freshwater for agriculture, and to double its produce to meet global food requirement by 2025, the annual water use by agriculture would have to increase by about 30 percent. The industry sector, which draws 22 percent of freshwater at present, is expected to increase its demand in the future. The growing population would raise the essential human demand on freshwater, which comes before any other use. Several areas of Asia, e.g. in South Asia and China where population densities are high, survive with a very low 2 000 m³ of freshwater per capita. By 2025, China, with a projected population of 1.5 billion, will have only 1 500 m³ of freshwater available per capita, while India’s 1.4 billion people will have to make do with a mere 1 800 m³ of freshwater per person.

Table 12. Projected availability of arable land with population growth in selected countries

Country	2000 Population (million)	2025 Projected population (million)	% increase per year	Population/ha arable land (2025)
Bhutan	2.1	3.9	2.61	11.4
Bangladesh	129.2	178.8	1.36	8.7
Viet Nam	79.8	108.0	1.27	7.3
Singapore	3.6	4.2	0.64	7.0
Nepal	23.9	38.0	1.95	7.0
China	1 277.6	1 480.4	0.62	6.3
Sri Lanka	18.8	23.5	0.94	4.6
Lao PDR	5.4	9.7	2.47	4.5
DPR Korea	24.0	29.4	0.85	3.7
Pakistan	156.5	263.0	2.19	3.5
India	1 013.7	1 330.4	1.14	3.2
Myanmar	45.6	58.1	1.02	3.1
Philippines	76.0	108.3	1.49	3.1
Indonesia	212.1	273.4	1.07	3.0
Korea Rep	46.8	52.5	0.48	2.5
Cambodia	11.2	16.5	1.63	2.0
Thailand	61.4	72.7	0.71	1.5
Japan	126.7	121.2	-0.19	1.4
Iran	67.7	94.5	1.4	1.0
Malaysia	22.2	31.0	1.4	0.5
World total	6 055.00	7 823.70	1.08
Africa	784.4	198.3	2.12
Asia	3 682.60	4 723.10	1.04
Southeast Asia	518.5	683.5	1.16
South Central Asia	1 490.80	2 049.90	1.34

As a measure to implement Agenda 21, FAO in cooperation with other international organizations has initiated an International Action Programme on Water and Sustainable Agricultural Development to assist developing countries in planning, developing and managing water resources on an integrated basis. To conserve water-quality and water-quantity requirements for optimum agricultural production, and to prevent water pollution, the programme promotes the sustainable management of capture fishery and the development of an environmentally sound approach to intensive aquaculture.

Pollution presents a major threat to the use of the finite water resources. Untreated sewage, chemical discharges, spillage of toxic materials, leaching of harmful products, agriculture chemicals and atmospheric pollutants that come in rainwater all make the use of freshwater unsafe. The groundwater resource has also been extensively exploited by most Asian nations: Bangladesh 35 percent, India 32 percent, Pakistan 30 percent, and China 11 percent. The long-term consumption of water containing arsenic salts has become a serious public health problem in Bangladesh. Excessive groundwater withdrawal has contributed to land subsidence in Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila, and saltwater intrusion has rendered much of the groundwater unusable.

International water sharing has produced frequent conflicts as competition for available freshwater resources increases. Many countries share their freshwater use along international rivers and in groundwater basins and aquifers. The Ganges-Brahmaputra system is shared by Bangladesh and India under a treaty signed in 1997. More than 70 locations, mainly in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, continue to make the news because of conflicts over access to freshwater. Even within a nation, the nature of open access to public water bodies, on which most aquaculture operations depend, makes them highly vulnerable to resource-use conflicts. Where regulatory and social orders are somewhat inadequate to cope with the conflicts, overexploitation and degradation of the environment are likely to result. Various approaches have been devised to deal with the situation; however, experience shows that this task is too large and complicated for a sectoral effort.

Aquaculture is a term with a broad meaning, which has been revised from time to time to accommodate an evolving situation. It covers a wide range of users, systems, practices and species, from the backyard household pond for traditional livelihood to large-scale aquaculture systems that go on round the clock. The impressive increase in the world’s aquaculture output, particularly during the past three decades, has given new hopes to fishery planners in the light of the dwindling production of capture fishery to meet the need for food of the rapidly increasing world population. Aquaculture, particularly of the high-value species, represents a new prospect for many developing countries in Asia and South America to bring forth the foreign currency needed to shore up their economies from the recent economic crises.

The Bangkok Declaration did not fail to address the poverty issue. Poverty reduction has re-emerged recently as a sensational theme that has continued to dominate the debates at various global forums. The popular UNCED Agenda 21 elaborately addressed the issue of poverty, and a comprehensive set of guidelines has been prescribed under it. The year 1995 saw the World Summit in Copenhagen where heads of state committed themselves to poverty eradication. The year 1996 was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty and subsequently the 1997-2006 decade the International Decade for the Eradication of Poverty. Given that aquaculture can be practised in a wide variety of situations, it must have a role to play in the global efforts to eradicate poverty.

From the seventeen different points listed in the declaration, it is clear that the participants in the conference, though largely concerned with fishery and aquaculture development, did not press for an exclusive view on aquaculture, owing to the fact that aquaculture is one of many means to use finite natural resources for the purpose of producing food. In the first three topics, the declaration made it clear that human resources are most important and new knowledge must be acquired so that man can wisely manage natural resources for his purpose. The sharing of information was meant for all stakeholders, who should benefit from new knowledge and technology in food production. The next three items of the declaration address the deprived sector of human society, by aiming at using aquaculture as a means to ensure food security and alleviate poverty.

The declaration noted that some poorly planned and poorly managed aquaculture operations have had a negative impact on the environment. Conversely, aquaculture has also been negatively affected by other, unplanned activities. The note stressed that no activity should jeopardize the others and that the use of technology and observation of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishery were meant for the harmonious coexistence that underlies the principles of sustainable development. The objectives of aquaculture development, as stated in the declaration, are:

a) To continue to evolve to its full potential as a food-producing activity that makes a net contribution to global food availability, household food security, economic growth, trade and improved standards of living until it reaches its full potential;

b) As an integral component of the development, to contribute towards the sustainable livelihood of the poorer sectors of community, the promotion of human development and the enhancement of social wellbeing;

c) To promote practical and economically viable farming and management practices which are environmentally responsible and socially acceptable through sound aquaculture policies and regulations;

d) To assent to and apply the framework of relevant national policies, regional and international arrangements, treaties and conventions to further the national aquaculture development processes in a transparent manner;

e) To promote - in cooperation with state, private sector and other legitimate shareholders - responsible growth in aquaculture;

f) To increase the efficiency and effectiveness of aquaculture development efforts by strengthening regional and inter-regional cooperation; and

g) To advocate, wherever appropriate, the use of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishery by all parties that undertake to formulate improved policies and implement procedures for aquaculture development.

2.2 The declaration’s issues

2.2.1 Invest in people through education and training
2.2.2 Invest in research and development
2.2.3 Improving information and the flow of communication
2.2.4 Improving food security and alleviating poverty
2.2.5 Improving environmental sustainability
2.2.6 Integrating aquaculture into rural development
2.2.7 Investing in aquaculture development
2.2.8 Strengthening institutional support
2.2.9 Applying innovation in aquaculture
2.2.10 Improving culture-based fishery and enhancement
2.2.11 Managing aquatic animal health
2.2.12 Improving nutrition in aquaculture
2.2.13 Applying genetics to aquaculture
2.2.14 Applying biotechnology
2.2.15 Improving food quality and safety
2.2.16 Promoting market development and trade
2.2.17 Supporting strong regional and inter-regional co-operation

The seventeen aspects of aquaculture listed by the declaration to member states, the private sector and other concerned stakeholders are given as strategic guidelines for carrying out the above objectives.

2.2.1 Invest in people through education and training

The declaration recognizes the most important aspect of development - the human resource. As a practical branch of science, aquaculture provides much opportunity for learning, in terms of variety of species and the various aspects of farming operations. Knowledge of the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil and water and of the species of aquatic organisms is fundamental. A wide array of scientific observations can be made from ponds where aquaculture is practised. A body of water is a comprehensive ecosystem from which anyone with proper guidance can learn. A pond is indeed a marvellous classroom and a laboratory in itself. The life of fish and other aquatic organisms brings learning of an ecological realm distinctively different from that of terrestrial ones. Viewing aquaculture in this way, the cultivation of fish and other aquatic organisms does not only take knowledge and skills to generate essential food for human: aquaculture can also lend itself to learning and to science.

Fish farmers themselves have learnt a great deal from aquaculture through observation and practice. At the dialogue on “Knowledge for a sustainable food system” held at the UN Headquarters in April 2000, the Commission on Sustainable Development was informed of the central role of farmers in research and development that could be recognized by supporting training programmes of farmer organizations and by increasing research programmes collaborating with farmers from beginning to end. Although the products of the farmers’ learning may not be stored or expressed in scientific language, they can always be disseminated by simple or practical interchange. Traditional knowledge, as it is sometimes called, has gained greater recognition as to its value and usefulness, and increasing efforts in scientific research have begun to explore it in earnest. Fish farmers are practical and useful depositories of knowledge and their abilities could be used in the development of basic science curriculum for rural schools.

Educational systems have continued to evolve and so as schooling in manner and form. Classroom study used to set a classic paradigm which is now about to change in many countries. National educators now accept the fact that not all children can afford formal higher education, and the conventional primary and secondary schooling that prepares children exclusively for higher education should be changed. Shortage of modern educational equipment, particularly in teaching science, was thought of as a deprivation, and most rural schools are simply unable to teach children scientific lessons properly. Parents, who are depositories of knowledge relevant to agriculture and rural lifestyle in their own right, now take part in educating their children under an innovative educational model. It is within the purview of the declaration that such learning and teaching can and should take place.

With aquaculture at the core, its upstream and downstream industries link a vast number of institutions to the chain of food production activities. Using their relationship to chart their cooperation and networking, one can easily see the emerging mutual benefits. Information technology has made networking an easy tool for communication. Aquaculture and its related industries have plenty of materials to keep the network going to everyone’s benefit. Modern training, education and communication tools, e.g. the Internet and distance-learning, could be used to promote regional and inter-regional cooperation and networking in the development of curricula. Scientists may use their skills in exchanging abstract ideas with other scientists in different parts of the world, and subsequently convert them into practical learning material which they can share with fish farmers.

In the scientific spirit, one would not be wholly satisfied with current achievements: scientists always strive to improve situations or things. Current achievements need not be a problem on which scientists normally set to solve, they may one day become less useful, allowing superior replacements to be evolved through science. The multi-disciplinary nature of aquaculture makes it another branch of applied science that offers a greater opportunity of continuous learning.

The suggestions given by the declaration to maintain a balance between practical and theoretical approaches when training farmers and industrial staff are highly relevant. Theory and practice are like the two sides of the same coin. A theoretical approach needs not be impractical; it simply is an effective means for conveying a useful and practical idea. A practical approach needs not be so difficult that it is impossible to conceive theoretically. Once a scientific principle is understood, a theoretical explanation can always be given. All this should make investment in people highly productive. It is in fact the only means to elevate mankind to the next level. The declaration suggests that there must be human resource development for the promotion of aquaculture. In turn, aquaculture may facilitate the development of the human resource.

2.2.2 Invest in research and development

A young branch of science, aquaculture has much to do in terms of research to acquire the knowledge necessary to enable it to move forward. Increasing competition for the common natural resources, mainly land and water, makes it imperative for aquaculture research and technology to be developed rapidly if this food-producing activity is to be kept. Aquaculture is like the youngest child born to a family at a time when hardship is about to strike. It has to learn at a very young age the numerous aspects of life from a great many people.

As aquaculture continues to add new aquatic organisms to the already huge list of fish, shellfish, molluscs, crustaceans, invertebrates and aquatic plants already cultivated throughout the world, there are myriad technical and management aspects that need be learnt to master these organisms. As discussed at the APEC/BOBP/NACA Regional Workshop on sustainable sea-farming and grouper aquaculture held in Medan, Indonesia, in April 2000, bringing grouper under cultivation still requires learning about many aspects, which require to be researched and developed:

a) Domestication: genetics, meat quality, growth performance, feed conversion;

b) Full control over seed production: obtaining and handling brood stock from the wild, spawning, diseases, dealing with capture fishery, rearing brood stock in captivity, sexual reversion, induced spawning, larval rearing, feed, etc.

c) Feed: reliable supply and quality of trash fish, question of net protein supply, pellet feed development, food conversion, cost, ingredients, etc.

d) Cage development: location, materials for net, anchoring, safety, etc.

e) Diseases: types of diseases, prevention and cure;

f) Marketing: credibility, reliability, price, quality of product.

The human pillars of agriculture development (researchers, extension workers, and farmers) have worked successfully in the West where the social milieu is favourable. Highly educated people, e.g. scientists and researchers in many countries, often distance themselves from farmers and workers. Such a social predisposition may not be conducive to work in the field among farmers. The social distance between researchers and extension workers can be observed in many societies. Wherever professional and personal attributes are held to tenaciously, the work among the three pillars of agriculture development tends to suffer.

Agricultural services have recently undergone critical scrutiny in many European countries, where government extension services are viewed as inefficient and out of touch with the needs of the clients and of society in general. The trend is to reduce the role of the state and to promote private enterprise. A number of useful principles have been brought into play, such as the notion of public-private goods. Farmers nowadays are forced to compete on the world markets, and they must have high-quality extension services, not only to assist them in handling the constant flow of new and complicated trade regulations but also to sell their products at the maximum profit. Extension services provided by the public sector (from tax money) have been viewed as inefficient, either because employers are not demanding enough or because customers have no power to order service. If farmers’ organizations can control the extension personnel, either through direct contract with a private firm or through direct hiring, the services should meet the needs of customers and employers. “Nothing is given at no cost” appears to be the principle. However, extension reform can hardly be applicable across the board, as specific situations differ from one country to the next (Hoffman et al, 2000).

The declaration suggested regional and inter-regional cooperation in research and development. This should be viewed with prudence. As with extension services, the social and economic context differs from one country to another, making regional and inter-regional cooperation in research somewhat difficult. There are a number of areas, however, where less location-specific technical applications may suitably support such cooperation.

2.2.3 Improving information and the flow of communication

The declaration viewed the improvement of the information flow and of communication as a way to manage the sector efficiently, largely by avoiding the duplication of efforts and thus saving on cost. Sharing information is particularly useful in those cases where international boundaries fall within a larger natural ecosystem. The Great Mekong River basin, for example, covers the territories of several countries (China, Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam). Any action taken by any of the riparian countries in, for example, stocking a body of water within the basin with a particular species of fish would eventually affect others. Article 9.2 of the FAO code of conduct clearly prescribes the measures required for the responsible development of aquaculture, including the protection of trans-boundary aquatic ecosystems, support collaboration on sustainable aquaculture, choice of species, surveying distribution of introduced species, and site management.

Article 9.2.4 of the code specifies: “States should establish appropriate mechanisms, such as databases and information networks, to collect, share and disseminate data related to their aquaculture activities to facilitate cooperation on planning for aquaculture development at the national, sub-regional and global levels.” In collaboration with interested partners, states may develop appropriate means to monitor aquaculture activities and to facilitate policy formulation and development planning. Information and data relating to aquaculture practices and production, economic performance and their impact are indispensable tools for effective planning. In order to save cost, regional collaboration could facilitate the planning of the data collection system to ensure quality output without duplication of efforts.

Information sharing could also help maintain genetic diversity by avoiding inbreeding; maintaining stock integrity by avoiding the hybridization of different stocks, strains or species; minimizing the transfer of genetically different stocks; and assessing periodically their genetic diversity. In cases of disease outbreak, information can help tighten the inspection of trans-border shipments of live aquatic organisms to prevent the pathogen from spreading. Information is particularly useful for marketing purposes; market information services, such as the one INFOFISH provides, can help both aquaculture practitioners and fish consumers.

2.2.4 Improving food security and alleviating poverty

Viewing aquaculture as an underdeveloped sector despite its great potential, the declaration has placed it under the global theme of poverty alleviation, now actively advocated under the banner of the First United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006). To attack the scourge of poverty, the declaration rightly aims at resolving the problems of basic human needs, which have nutritious food at the core.

Inaccessibility to food, the direct cause of hunger, is the combined result of poverty and poor food distribution, not food availability. Food is traded and consumed where there is money and wealth. Of the total food export value of US$436.5 billion worldwide in 1999, Western Europe accounted for US$202.5 billion (46.4 percent), 75.7 percent of which was consumed within the trade region. Asia was the second-largest food exporter, accounting for 17.6 percent of the trade value and using as much as 59.2 percent for intra-regional consumption. North America and Latin America ranked third and fourth right after Asia in terms of value of their food exports. The smaller proportion of their intra-regional food trade was probably due to the smaller population in the two trade regions (Table 13).

Table 13. Global food trade by region

Trade region	Export value (US$ billion)	% in value of global food export	% in value of intra-regional
Western Europe	202.5	46.4	75.7
Asia	76.9	17.6	59.2
North America	69.0	15.8	26.7
Latin America	53.1	12.2	16.6

Source: WTO 1999 Annual Report

The first half of the first UN decade for the eradication of poverty was spent straining to gain a deeper understanding of poverty. At the top, a large team assembled by the Governance Department of the UK Department for International Development met in August 1999 to put together a synthesis for the World Development Report 2000/1 on the political responsiveness to poverty reduction. The team, led by Moore and Putzel, produced five strategic guidelines for donors:

a) Democracy has differential outcomes for the poor.
b) States create and shape the political opportunities for the poor.
c) There is no reason to expect that decentralisation will work in favour of the poor.
d) There is a wide range of possibilities for political alliances benefiting the poor.
e) Many of the policies needed to improve governance will benefit the poor.

a) Formulate or strengthen, as a matter of urgency and preferably by 1996, national policies and strategies for substantially reducing overall poverty in the shortest possible time, reducing inequalities and eradicating absolute poverty by a target date to be specified by each country.

b) Focus efforts and policies to address the root causes of poverty and provide for the basic needs of all. Such efforts should include the elimination of hunger and malnutrition; the provision of food security, education, employment and livelihood, primary health-care services, including reproductive health care, safe drinking water and sanitation, and adequate shelter; and participation in social and cultural life. Special attention would be given to the needs and rights of women and children, who often bear the greatest burden of poverty, as well as to the needs of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups and persons.

c) Ensure that people living in poverty have access to productive resources, including credit, land, education and training, technology, knowledge and information, and to public services, and that they participate in decision-making that would enable them to benefit from expanding employment and economic opportunities.

d) Develop and implement policies to ensure that all people have adequate economic and social protection during unemployment, ill health, maternity, child-rearing, widowhood, disability and old age.

e) Ensure that national budgets and policies are oriented, as necessary, towards meeting basic needs, reducing inequalities and targeting poverty as a strategic objective.

Promotion of low-value fish farming affordable by the poor may not sound like an effective development plan that can be taken readily out to the public. It does not make much sense - whether for the rich or for the poor - to do something so cheap and lowly. It is the investment, running cost and the risk that one may talk about: the promotion should focus on the proven technology that helps fish farmers to produce a sure crop of fish at a profit. A highly perishable commodity, fish is often farmed in remote areas where transportation and storage facilities are difficult to find. Harvesting a huge crop can turn into a big problem unless some efficient transportation or post-harvest technology can help prevent it. Another way to deal with the problem is to harvest continually - taking a smaller haul of the fish at a time, but doing so frequently. Researchers may devise efficient gear to crop the cultivated fish in such a way that non-targeted fish remain undisturbed, in order to ensure their uninterrupted growth. Good records could help fish farmers maintain their fish stocks and learn how to maximize the daily weight gain of their fish. This concept has long been learnt in the animal population dynamics, and it should work well for rural aquaculture.

It was with a noble intention that the Bangkok Declaration suggested that information on the nutritional advantages of fish be disseminated widely, so that pregnant and lactating women, their infants and pre-school children may benefit from eating fish - the high-quality protein food. This also applies to Section 2.2.3 above. Consumers have the right to know about the products on offer in the market. Improving the dissemination of seafood market information was one of three issues identified as important by former US State Secretary James Baker when he negotiated on global fish trade with China in April 1996. Creating a market locally is also a florid idea, given that fish is difficult and costly to keep fresh after the harvest. Not only do the local people have access to superior-quality food at relatively low cost, better-quality fish can also be supplied. After all, the poor need not be given only things one considers inferior when rural aquaculture can give them superior food at an affordable price!

The declaration under this subheading sounds very optimistic about the promotion of small-scale aquaculture. It suggests initial public sector support: technical advice, a subsidy or a low-interest loan. It all sounds like a philanthropic project. One may implement development projects with a kind heart, but handing out things without something in return should be taken out of the agenda.

Despite their economic status, small fish farmers or the poor are our equals as human: they must not be treated as if they were begging. In the course of their hard life, they have amassed a wealth of information on how life can be led under adverse conditions. Such information could help development workers to understand their job better, and development agencies would be better off paying for the information than spending their money on free handouts. Participatory research is one of the many ways possible to facilitate the exchange of farmers’ information for access to cheap credit.

A note of caution was made on the promotion of Viet Namese small farmers’ experience on community-based natural resources management. As long as small-farm activities fit well into the community’s plans that draw on basic natural resources (e.g. land and water), they may not deprive the community. Each small farm should be part of the larger community plan in terms of resource use and marketing of output. Freshwater drawn by aquaculture should not deprive other farms and irrigation. Similarly, wastewater from a fish farm must not be a threat to other crops or activities.

2.2.5 Improving environmental sustainability

Where sustainability is the key, any activity such as aquaculture should blend with other activities without causing disruption or incongruence. The first measure is to use basic natural resources efficiently. Efficient use often translates into synergy brought about by a combination of complementary activities, such as aquaculture, horticulture and livestock. Good practice is the second measure that anyone aiming at sustainability must apply. Given that aquaculture is still in its infancy, much more research and development is yet to be evolved. In the field of marine shrimp culture, the role played by the Global Aquaculture Alliance, conceived by 56 people in 12 countries in 1997, in promoting the good shrimp farming practices is appreciated. The third measure is to protect the environment from any negative impact that aquaculture may generate; as a precautionary measure, a multi-disciplinary assessment should be attempted.

In making efficient use of inputs, as suggested by the declaration, one should derive from it the economic meaning of “maximizing profit”. All too often, that efficiency translates into maximum yield, which naturally falls under the law of diminishing return when the inputs are increased. This means that only production at a level below maximum yield can contribute to the highest profit. This law is applicable to any input - water, land, seed, labour or feed. Unfortunately, this is not in the interest of the feed or therapeutic dealers, who seek increased volumes of trade. Poultry farms have become the victims of competition among themselves, and the risk in intensive farming is much greater. Here comes another opportunity for poultry drug suppliers: where the crops are on the brink of failure because of the greater likelihood of diseases, the volume of drug sale should soar. The heavy application of chemicals and therapeutic agents in shrimp farms appears to imitate the poultry business.

Polyculture of fish (stocking a pond with complementary species, e.g. the major Chinese or Indian carps) is known to have the fish make the best use of natural, live feed, since each species of fish consumes different kinds of organic materials available in the pond. Stocking with fish of different sizes is also known to have similar results. The success of China and India with these practices needs not be reiterated here. The steady increase of the annual production of the Chinese carps and Indian major carps attests to low risk and to rare loss of crops. With naturally available fish feed and small amounts of fertilizers, polyculture has demonstrated its capacity to produce large crops with hardly any negative impact on the environment.

Integrating aquaculture into overall farming is a smart idea since all farm activities can be linked to water use and nutrient recycling. In semi-arid locations, fish ponds help hold water as reservoirs while the fish are produced. Where the quality of the water must be kept, feeding the fish must be done with care to avoid polluting the culture medium. A farm pond, when dug in proper proportions to its watershed, can retain the water from intermittent rainfalls for subsequent use by livestock and for hand irrigation. It sometimes attracts small game that makes petty hunting a spare-time hobby on the farm. The practice of recycling water, however, may not work in some localities. A large group of rice farmers in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, protested vehemently to the irrigation authority in May 2001 over the deliberate heavy withdrawal of water from irrigation canals, which had left them with insufficient water for their paddy. This is a clear case of resource-use conflict, which can easily escalate into social hostility.

Contrary to popular belief, installing aquaculture facilities on a coastal estate should be avoided. Coastal land almost anywhere attracts all sorts of activities and people and has become too costly for farming of any kind. Most countries in Europe and North America can hardly site land-based aquaculture farms on a coastal landscape. Developing countries may still do so for a few years but the option is fast disappearing. For this reason, development of technology for water-based aquaculture should be given a higher priority.

2.2.6 Integrating aquaculture into rural development

Under this subheading, the Bangkok Declaration handles the same themes in a different way: aquaculture should be viewed within the larger context of rural development. The following five principles are again hammered home:

a) multi-sectoral approach;
b) incorporation of aquaculture into rural development as a means to improve resource utilization;
c) use of aquaculture as an option for improving people’s livelihood;
d) involvement of all stakeholders in planning rural development activities, including aquaculture; and
e) wide dissemination of development information.

The next two suggestions put the life of the people at the centre and aquaculture is one of many means that stakeholders could employ to suit their socio-economic settings. This approach is clearly not technology-driven, and fishery specialists may be less eager to provide such a service. Without mentioning the involvement of other sectors in rural development, the last suggestion of providing aquaculture technology should be through the dissemination of information to the widest possible audience.

2.2.7 Investing in aquaculture development

The suggestions made by the declaration deal with both public and private sector development of aquaculture. They recognize the role played by the public sector in infrastructure building, fundamental research and extension services. The public sector contribution is essential to long-term development, as it provides a convenient springboard for the private sector to make profitable interventions. However, public investment largely, if not solely, comes from tax money, which should benefit the public rather than a specific group of people. More direct contributions could come from farm-gate levies for the development of the sector. Here again a strong farm cooperative, or the like, must take the responsibility to manage the collection and spending of funds.

The factors that will bring aquaculture into the limelight are indeed multi-faceted. More financial input should be forthcoming as aquaculture can demonstrate its ability to give a comparatively higher return on investment. Not everyone can speak of success for every site, since aquaculture is strictly geo-climatically specific. Within the natural capabilities to produce, all cultured aquatic organisms can give aquaculture their best performance under ideal natural conditions. Not all locations can meet the requirements of the cultured organisms, and the limitations make site selection a necessity. As different sites come under review, one often finds the ideal ones to be most expensive, the less ideal ones to require extra investment, and there are still those not at all suitable for the organisms that one plans to cultivate.

It is often hard to carry on planning for a specific activity, be it aquaculture or anything else. It is important to make this observation now, since aquaculture development is not always meant to be the prime mover of all compatible farming activities. In most cases, aquaculture is not promoted in isolation; multi-disciplinary development is more likely to be chosen as the central theme.

One obvious concern of those who prepared the Bangkok Declaration is to be found in their suggestion of continued public investment in rural aquaculture and in applied research to help fish farmers in the long run. Those who view development as a dynamic process have no need for such a piece of advice: they already concur. In general, investment can be made in:

a) human resource development, ideally through participatory research;

b) compensatory payment for information that villagers could give to enrich researchers or academics with their traditional knowledge; and

c) some form of rural credit facility to allow villagers to try out their new knowledge about aquaculture or other farming activities.

2.2.8 Strengthening institutional support

This section of the declaration on strengthening institutional support consists of pragmatic regulatory frameworks that should be evolved through a participatory approach. Such frameworks are seen as tools of certain institutions, which also cater services in education and training, research and extension, to support legislation, policy and regulatory frameworks. As a spin-off, the institutions are supposed to address the needs of government ministries and all public sector agencies in dealing with administration, education, research and development. They would also address the needs of organizations and institutions representing the private sector, NGOs, consumers and other stakeholders. The agencies of all types that help other agencies to function the way they should eventually boil down to one - the government.

There are indeed several forms of government doing regulatory work and they depend on the prevailing political regime. Generally, there are central and local governments (although they may be known by other names) with some other forms of administration. The process of evolving a regulatory framework (legal and judiciary institutionalization) generally rests with a legislative body which prescribes the framework known as the Constitution. Such a supreme body of laws may be called by any other name at the whim of the prevailing political regime. A wide array of other laws would be enacted under the Constitution to address particular concerns. In some instances, there are “soft laws” as well - laws which have not been formally enacted but which are effectively enforced by society: cultural values and power relations. They have become the forms of social structure that we human beings use as social animals to coexist with one another.

The dynamism of a society is such that no law can remain effective and valid to the end of time. At a certain point in time, revisions become necessary to incorporate a new element or to abolish the old and outdated. It is the duty of the state to disseminate knowledge of the amended rule to all those it affects - the law enforcement authorities and the common citizen. This process is held valid not only for the law or other forms of regulations concerning civil or military orders; those pertaining to development would also follow. Aquaculture, a small but vital discipline of food production, is of course no exception.

2.2.9 Applying innovation in aquaculture

Still in its infancy, aquaculture should have plenty of room for innovation. The huge variety of aquatic organisms that can be brought under some form of aquaculture can add up to millions of possibilities. Considering the various forms of technology applicable to aquaculture, the probability of innovation could approach infinity. Within aquaculture itself, new methods for seed propagation, formulation of feed for larval rearing and grow-out operation, for water treatment and water-saving devices, and so on, can be initiated.

Innovation often occurs in the area of advanced technology, frequently from space programmes. New kinds of metal alloys can be used in certain structures that require extraordinary support, such as mooring fish pens at sea. Physical, chemical and biological methods of water treatment have been researched. Water-saving devices in the home and in agriculture can have a direct impact on aquaculture, largely in terms of water availability. Ways to make use of fish and shellfish waste, such as the production of chitosan, not only help solve pollution and waste problems but also increase the value of aquaculture commodities.

The suggestion of the Bangkok Declaration to assemble the known forms of aquaculture technology into an adaptable “toolbox” is an idea that could be implemented immediately by most governments. However, the toolbox should target aquaculture extension personnel, to help them select the appropriate technology for a specific group of farmers. Where the technology is most appropriate, an unplanned extension, although successful in terms of recruiting a large number of farmers to aquaculture practice, all too often suffers from glutting the market, which deprives fish farmers of their anticipated profit. The boom-and-bust pattern of aquaculture and other cash-crop production is well known.

Aquaculture is making critical inroads into many areas. Stock enhancement and ranching programmes are getting into coastal fisheries and ocean fisheries, where common property issues nurture frequent conflicts. The creation of artificial reefs at strategic locations as a means to enhance stock has so far been carried out by public agencies, due to the high cost involved. Although additional substrates where growing biota can sustain more fish stocks around artificial reefs, it remains to be studied, particularly in tropical waters, how multifarious fish species would interact with one another for the eventual benefit of man. Habitat alteration is in fact a form of manipulation that favours some aquatic species and discourages others.

Sea ranching takes aquaculture to much wider spatial limits to allow a known aquatic organism to graze and grow in the open seas before returning home at the time of harvest. Salmon fisheries have set an ideal example for others to emulate. Yet, sea ranching is not a problem-free undertaking: disputes see litigants trade accusations in court over the plundering of grazing fish at sea. As the enforced economic zone has been extended as far as 200 nautical miles when the Law of the Sea came into force, a majority of the grazing grounds along the continental shelves have been taken away from the traditional common-property areas. This legal tussle is expected to continue; in the meantime, aquaculture scientists are free to learn how to create and control fish that will graze the faraway seas.

Eutrophication and nitrification that occur in several tropical seas and freshwater lakes have caused undesirable algal blooms and lowered water quality, sometimes with dire consequences. One way of coping with eutrophication is by limiting land-based enrichment of the bodies of water; however, the cooperation of many types of industry and numerous coastal communities would have to be sought and heavy investment on a complicated and costly water treatment system would be required. Turning to the water itself, biotechnology could be devised to remove the nutrients inadvertently added by some species of aquatic plants and animals. Many kinds of mollusc are capable of filtering microscopic algae that bloom thanks to water enrichment. Many known species of edible seaweeds draw on the available nutrients while they are still in soluble form. Such operation, known as “nutrient stripping”, clearly saves the huge cost of preventing eutrophication on the one hand, and produces additional tonnage of nutritious seafood and raw materials for the food and cosmetic industries on the other hand.

Despite the extensive damage to coastal environment that marine shrimp farming has inflicted in many countries, the attractive return on investment has continued to motivate scientists to evolve new forms of technology to make such farming environmental friendly. The ability of marine shrimp to thrive in low salinity provides one option to take marine shrimp farming further inland, where it confronts other major land crops, including rice - a non-saline resistant. Although land-based shrimp farms along the coasts of many developing countries will still be able to compete with other types of land use for some years to come, prospects in most developed countries have dwindled to almost nothing. Eventually, aquaculture scientists will be forced to evolve a “closed system” that shields marine shrimp farming operations from other incongruent activities.

Offshore cage culture has been developed in many countries where the technology for high-value fish crops such as tuna is available. Artificial upwelling is created by huge air bubbles that bring with them to the surface the nutrient-rich water mass of the ocean floor, adding the needed nutrient for occasional algal blooms that attract large shoals of plankton eaters. Whatever aquaculture scientists will devise as their tools in the future will have social and economic implications that they will have to deal with as well.

2.2.10 Improving culture-based fishery and enhancement

Unlike traditional aquaculture, culture-based fishery increases production in natural environments by controlling a part of the life history of certain aquatic species by transplanting their seed or fry into the open waters. The hatchery-produced juvenile fish are allowed to grow on natural foods and propagate until they are ready for harvest. By the very nature of this practice, reliance on the natural environment does not make the rate of return predictable. Estimates vary from 1 to 15 percent of the number released, depending on species and locality. Notwithstanding the low and uncertain return of the released fish, culture-based fishery is practiced in many parts of the world. Its main types include:

a) sea or ocean ranching as practised in Japan with various marine finfish and the Kuruma prawn, and in the Pacific Ocean and Baltic Sea with salmon;

b) coastal lagoon farming, as in the Mediterranean;

c) stocking and restocking in freshwater lakes and reservoirs, such as in China; and

d) floodplain fishery management, such as in Cambodia.

Despite its hatchery production of salmon fry since 1877, Japan has considered its sea ranching successful only since 1961, when a new method of intermediate feeding and timely release of chum salmon fry was introduced. Among the salmon species raised in different countries, pink and chum salmon are found in countries of the former Soviet Union, chinook and coho are predominant in the Pacific Northwest. Canada has made rapid progress in salmon farming industry in the past two decades. Numerous other aquatic species have been used in sea ranching. Almost half a century ago, Japan initiated a national culture-based fishery project to release the hatchery-produced commercially valuable fish and shellfish juveniles into the Seto Inland Sea. These aquatic organisms included the Kuruma prawn, red sea bream, blue crab, sole, flounder and yellowtail. The success of the project has now convinced the fishermen to carry out the release of fry and manage the propagation work on a national scale to cover all of Japan.

Coastal lagoon farming is a traditional practice in many European and Mediterranean countries. Among the Mediterranean countries, Italy has the largest area of brackish water (called “valli”) for the purpose. “Valli culture” stocks commercially valuable species like Anguilla anguilla, Mugil cephalus, Liza aurata, L. saliens, L. ramada, Chelon labrosus, Dicentrarchus labrax and Sparus aurata. Restocking of the valli is carried out by means of anadromous, natural and annual migration of these species. Artificial restocking is also employed. “Brush-park fishery” is another form of aquatic habitat manipulation that man has used to produce food fish. This low-technology aquaculture has been practiced widely in coastal lagoons and brackish water in many parts of the world. A brush park comes in a variety of forms and sizes and basically consists of an inner core of densely packed tree branches surrounded by a more substantial wooden framework, which is fished periodically, usually by encirclement. Brush-park fisheries under various names are found in Benin, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Madagascar. In Sri Lanka, brush-park fishery is practised in the Negombo lagoon, from where the practice was exported to Mexico. On a similar idea, artificial reefs have been installed in a number of countries, notably Japan, for the purpose of stock enhancement, coastal protection and demarcation of specific fishing grounds.

Stocking of inland waters has been the most widely advocated practice for the management of freshwater fisheries. Various species of fish (herbivorous, carnivorous, or omnivorous) have been used. While a similar practice is for game or recreational fishery (commercial rod-and-line sport fishing) in countries like the United States, most developing countries practice it to produce food fish from the high yielding herbivores and plankton feeders. More than half of the approximately 2 000 000 hectares of reservoirs in China is stocked with common carp, and other Chinese carps in varying densities, through regular release of large quantities of fingerlings. In many instances, fish harvests from these reservoirs are composed of 90 percent or more of the fish that was stocked. Israel also stocks many reservoirs, built for the purpose of irrigation, with tilapia, mullet and carp. A similar practice is known in Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Thailand.

Several major river systems in the world feature extensive network of swamps, lagoons, lakes and ponds that remain underwater for some months in a year. These seasonal aquatic habitats offer an opportunity for food fish production in many tropical countries. Management of the floodplains for aquaculture takes proper timing to coincide with the seasonality of the fishery and the water level in the floodplain. The majority of tropical fish time their breeding to the annual flood, and their young are raised successfully in the floodplains before returning to the main river systems. Where the inundation lasts longer, the young fish have more time to feed on natural foods and they grow to a larger size. Depending on the topography of a floodplain, physical barriers may be created to direct water through certain channels at the end of the season where fish can be conveniently harvested. Floodplain fishery is widely practised in Africa where large river systems and their associated floodplains exist. Floodplain fishery dates back to the 1940s in Sudan, and some structures were built on the Ubangi River in Zaire as evidence of the practice. Floodplain fishery as practised in Cambodia is well known to most countries in Asia.

Although the economic value of floodplain fishery is not widely recognized, it is believed that substantial quantities of fish from these traditional grounds are underreported. FAO fishery statistics report annual production of 65 to 85 000 tonnes from 1987 to 1997, but the estimates given by a number of observers during an e-mail forum operated by the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific were in the range of 280 to 445 000 tonnes, four to five times more. This could reflect negligence from many quarters. The improvement of culture-based fishery as a form of aquaculture would involve area planning, which would bring many other non-aquaculture sectors into play. Stocking juvenile fish in a body of water could be taken as a means to shape and strengthen social togetherness. Holding the event regularly should nurture a sense of involvement, ownership or even control. As already pointed out, it took Japan almost a hundred years of continuous stocking of fish into natural bodies of waters until the wide acceptance spread out the practice to the whole country as of 1961.

2.2.11 Managing aquatic animal health

Diseases of fish and shellfish deter aquaculture growth, affect socio-economic development and deprive rural livelihoods. The absence of disease outbreaks in the past cannot be a reason for complacency. The natural process in a pristine environment, which is just the opposite of intensive fish farming conditions, constantly performs self-purification.

An open aquatic environment offers a greater chance for fish diseases to spread far and wide. Recently, Dr Sergio Paone of Clayoquot Sound, Canada, expressed his concern against open net-cage salmon farming. In his view, salmon farms act as disease amplifiers causing pathogens to reach high population levels, something rarely found in the wild. From such concentrated pools of pathogens, the disease can spread by contact between the cultured and wild fish, or by the transfer of effluent or salmon farm sewage. Importation of live fish or eggs for hatchery and farming purposes can cause fish diseases to transfer. According to Dr Paone, such disease transfers have brought wild salmon runs in many rivers in Norway to the point of extinction.

Pond sanitation is the key to fish health. Wherever good sanitation practices cannot be ensured, serious diseases may break out causing partial or total loss of the fish stocks, and with them go the investment, efforts and anticipated profit. Overcrowding of fish due to intensive fish-rearing practices, malnutrition and inferior water quality are known to favour occurrence of diseases among cultivated fish and shellfish. Fish kills can sometimes occur due to toxic algae (blue-green algae and dinoflagellates).

Diseases can be classified according to groups or species of cultivated fish and shellfish affected, organs affected, age of fish, seasons, causative agents and extent of incidence (isolated or epizootic). Parasites come in various forms: bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoans, worms, crustaceans and mussel larvae. Diseases can occur from unfavourable conditions created by environmental, nutritional and constitutional make-ups.

Coordination and arrangements for fish disease prevention exist with the International Office of Epizootics, EIFAC, FAO and other international and national organizations. The significance of preventive, regulatory and control measures of communicable diseases and the importance of health inspection and certifications should be borne in mind. Diagnosis of common diseases of selected fish and shellfish, including isolation, culture and identification of the more common bacterial and fungal pathogens, and treatment procedures for common diseases, should be put into practice.

In marine shrimp culture, disease is the most notorious hurdle. Once manifest, the disease leads to economic loss, although other indirect damages, such as reputation, trade, employment, transportation, chemical and drug use, and environmental costs cannot be easily enumerated. Subasinghe of FAO (2000) estimates the economic losses to shrimp diseases suffered by developing countries in Asia at no less than US$1 400 million in 1990 alone. The losses were larger subsequently. In coping with fish and shellfish diseases, aquaculture scientists must gain a true understanding of the relationship between host, pathogen and the environment that may trigger a pathogenic incidence. Given the limited success in the prevention or cure of aquatic diseases, Subasinghe described a new and broader approach for preventing farm-level environmental deterioration and a “systems management approach” to aquatic animal health. The approach involves both on-farm management and the management of the environment where farms are located. Broader area planning to ensure safe use of natural resources, particularly land and water, would be necessary to optimize the use of the resources and to minimize resource-use conflicts. Effective regulatory measures keep the environment cleaner than applying chemicals or therapeutic agents, and should be far safer in the long run.

Further research is necessary to address the problem at the core. Subasinghe suggests the following areas for further research:

a) quality control and more efficient and cost-effective use of inputs such as water, seed and feed;

b) the role of good nutrition in improving aquatic animal health;

c) harnessing the host’s specific and non-specific defence mechanisms in controlling aquatic animal diseases;

d) development of affordable yet efficient vaccines for economically important tropical fish;

e) use of immunostimulants and non-specific immunity enhancers to reduce susceptibility to disease; and

f) use of probiotics and bioaugmentation for the improvement of aquatic environmental quality.

2.2.12 Improving nutrition in aquaculture

Nutrition and feeding strategies play a central role in the sustainable development of aquaculture. Fish will not grow unless their energy intake is in surplus of what they need as daily energy requirements to facilitate movement, feeding and other activities. What is given to the fish in a pond may not be taken readily if their sensory organs are not functioning properly. Biologists too often assume the perfect functioning of the fish’s sensory organs despite the varying situations in the environment. Water turbidity often deters feeding of fish that gather food by sight. Floating pellets can hardly be taken by bottom feeders, which sense the presence of food by means of barbels or lateral lines, their tactile organs. Their food gathering faculties often limit the ability of fish to capture food, despite their desire to eat it. Most plankton feeders, such as the silver carp, will find it difficult to chew a hard lump of pellet.

Provided ingestion by fish is ensured, the feed must be nutritious to the extent that its properly formulated ingredients provide all essential amino acids, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals to the fish at different stages of life. High quality feed should be highly digestible, however, not easily disintegrated while in water before ingestion. Good feed should have a longer shelf life and higher conversion ratios.

High-input aquaculture has been blamed for not contributing to food production since it can be a net user of protein in the form of feed. To many experts, fishmeal is the only ingredient providing the essential amino acids needed by fish to grow. These experts argue for the retention of fishmeal as an essential ingredient of fish feed, while other ingredients that contain other amino acids could be used, as fishmeal substitutes, in feed for livestock.

There is a growing trend to avoid overuse of fishmeal due to increasing demand and dwindling supply. Better use of fishmeal is being sought, for many believe that fast-improving post-harvest technology should make use of the limited supplies of fishmeal at greater benefit to man. The widely publicized issue of genetically modified organisms that are used as ingredients of fish feed has been taken in many different and incongruent directions, due mainly to the lack of a deep understanding of the issue. In any event, genetically modified organisms will continue to be an issue that affects fish nutrition, since several feed ingredients, such as soybean meal, cottonseed meal and certain vegetable oils, will not find easy replacement in the near future.

2.2.13 Applying genetics to aquaculture

Genetically improved fish have been cultivated throughout the world for the past decade. A variety of genetic techniques are employed in commercial aquaculture. These include domestication, selection, intra-specific crossbreeding, inter-specific hybridization, sex reversal, and breeding and polyploidy. Genetically improved fish and shellfish from different phylogenetic families are used. Thanks to these genetic techniques, many traits of cultured fish are improved, e.g. growth rate, feed conversion efficiency, disease resistance, tolerance of low water quality, cold tolerance, body shape, dress-out percentage, carcass quality, fish quality, fertility and reproduction, and harvestability (Dunham, 1995).

Despite a late start, divergent strains of cultured species of fish and shellfish have been developed. The process of domestication helps produce strains of fish that grow faster and whose taste is more palatable than the wild strains after only a few generations. Genetic research and breeding of cultured fish have occurred mostly during the last two decades. Within a species, the availability of strains from different geographical locations and different breeding histories and characteristics makes it interesting to perform an evaluation. Domestication has helped the selection of desirable characteristics, e.g. body weight and texture, coloration or resistance to disease. Sex reversal and breeding and polypoidy have benefited aquaculture production since the late 1980s.

Genetic improvement for better growth and palatability may unintentionally deprive the fish of the immunity needed to defend themselves against infection and natural enemies. Small hatcheries may make negative selective breeding by using smaller brood stocks that are easier to breed. Unsystematic brood-stock management can also result in inbreeding that leads to an accumulation of undesirable genes.

Genetic applications are often understood as a transgenic process which involves insertion of foreign DNA material into that of other species. Genetic improvement has been known to increase productivity and sustainability through higher survival, increased turnover rate, better use of feed and other resources, reduced production cost, and environmental protection. Genetic improvement has been known since the domestication of animals, although advancement has made it possible to deal today with molecular genetics.

2.2.14 Applying biotechnology

Biotechnology, according to the definition given by the Convention on Biological Diversity, is “any technical application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for a specific use”. The key components of modern biotechnology are:

a) Genomics, the molecular characterization of all species;

b) Bioinformatics, the assembly of data from genomic analysis into accessible forms;

c) Transformation, the introduction of single genes conferring potentially useful traits into plant, livestock, fish and tree species;

d) Molecular breeding, the identification and evaluation of desirable traits in breeding programmes with the use of marker-assisted selection;

e) Diagnostics, the use of molecular characterization to provide a more accurate and quicker identification of pathogens; and

f) Vaccine technology, the use of modern immunology to develop recombinant DNA vaccines in order to improve the control of lethal diseases.

In its official statement, FAO gives its recognition of the potential that genetic engineering can help increase production and productivity in agriculture, forestry and fishery. Through genetic engineering, higher yields on marginal lands that cannot grow enough food to feed people in some countries would be made possible. This technology has already demonstrated several benefits to man, e.g. reduction of the transmission of human and animal diseases through new vaccines, or enhancement of pro-vitamin A and iron in rice that helps improve the health of the poor. Other biotechnological methods make organisms improve food quality and consistency; they also help clean up oil spills and heavy metals in fragile ecosystems. Tissue culture gives farmer healthier planting materials and higher yields. Faster and much more targeted development of improved genotypes for all living species can be made possible by marker-assisted selection and DNA fingerprinting. These techniques also provide new research methods which can assist in the conservation and characterization of biodiversity. The new techniques will enable scientists to recognize and target quantitative trait loci and thus increase the efficiency of breeding for some traditionally intractable agronomic problems such as drought resistance or improved root systems.

Notwithstanding the vast benefits, concern over the potential risks posed by certain aspects of biotechnology was also expressed by FAO. The risks in using genetic engineering fall into two basic categories: the effects on human and animal health and the environmental consequences. Scientists engaging in these advanced methods have been asked to exercise due caution in order to reduce the risks of transferring toxins from one life form to another, of creating new toxins or of transferring allergenic compounds from one species to another. The possibility of outcrossing could lead, for example, to the development of weeds or undesirable organisms that could upset the ecosystem balance. Biodiversity may also be lost, due to the massive displacement of traditional cultivars by a small number of genetically modified cultivars, for example.

There are numerous areas in aquaculture where biotechnology can be deployed: fish nutrition, genetics, health and environmental management. Certain aquaculture practices, e.g. in breeding, confinement and feeding, can influence the genetic traits of cultivated organisms. The convenient use by many breeders of slow-growing brood stocks or of inbreeding has already had a negative impact in aquaculture: slower growth and sometimes inferior quality of the cultivated organisms which were subjected to the maltreatment over a period of many years. Certain organisms have developed tolerance to low water quality, e.g. the giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii), which withstands the cultivating condition of low and fluctuating levels of dissolved oxygen. Accustomed to the feeding time, certain cultivated organisms have refused the natural feeds that are plentiful in the pond.

As for the culture medium in mariculture, due care should be exercised not to allow any potential contamination since its spreading may be much harder and costlier to contain. Conflicts over the GMO issue often surfaces in the media around the world, sometimes with emotionally charged accusations. This is partly due to the complexity of the issue, which even scientists of different disciplines cannot come to grips with.

2.2.15 Improving food quality and safety

The overriding objective of aquaculture is to increase the supply of food, particularly fish, shellfish and other aquatic organisms that possess high-quality protein and certain essential minerals. It is not expected that the food would come with something detrimental to health, as this would completely ruin the original intent. It is important that food be safe. Food safety should be more a human right than an economic consideration. To produce high-quality aquaculture products, improvement in diets, feeding regimes and harvesting strategy is what one must consider. The fish trade must follow the tradition of trade of all other foods; and promotion, application and adoption of international food safety standards, protocols and quality systems in line with international requirements, such as the Codex Alimentarius, should be made. There are, in fact, international protocols for monitoring residues of aquaculture and fishery products for traders to follow strictly. Although remaining a voluntary option in many countries, appropriate and informative labelling of aquaculture products should be initiated. National authorities may initiate and maintain collection, analysis and dissemination of relevant and scientifically sound information to producers and industry in order to allow them to make informed decisions in the safety of aquaculture products. As long as consumers have confidence in the aquaculture products developed by the industry, the development of this food-producing sector should be sustainable.

2.2.16 Promoting market development and trade

The measures used by some countries banning seafood exports from certain countries, based on the latter’s failure to observe certain conservative measures, or for other reasons, have made the WTO Dispute Panel and Dispute Settlement Body very busy. As aquaculture products are part of international trade, WTO regulations must be strictly observed and complied with. Given the trade regulations currently in force, producers, processors and manufacturers should be assisted to comply with them. Since access to pertinent information would help both producers and processors to deal appropriately with the market situation, assistance in providing information, or creating a market information system would be helpful. The market information provided by INFOFISH should be taken into consideration.

Information on changing consumption patterns has been maintained by the United Nations, which continue to monitor the progress of UNCED Agenda 21. Voluntary labelling of aquaculture products and providing consumers with pertinent information, such as nutritional values, and environmental friendly characteristics, may be initiated.

2.2.17 Supporting strong regional and inter-regional co-operation

At the regional level, many multi-lateral organizations are active in fishery and aquaculture development. These organizations have a wealth of expertise and information on which national institutions and member states may draw. Organizations like ICLARM, NACA, SEAFDEC and MRC have been promoting fishery and aquaculture in Southeast Asia for many years. The Asian Institute of Technology, located just north of Bangkok, has also been active in rural aquaculture development, and especially its outreach services for North-eastern Thailand, the Lao PDR, Cambodia and Viet Nam. The fish trade information services of INFOFISH have been highly valuable. The FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, located in Bangkok, is playing a pivotal role coordinating national and regional efforts geared to the promotion of sustainable fishery and aquaculture. The FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishery has been advocated not only by FAO RAP but also by SEAFDEC.

In a give-and-take tradition, assistance to these regional organizations can be in the form of providing relevant and correct information in order to enhance regional information in various aspects. Such contribution made professionally by all participating states should be reflected in the high quality of information upon which all member states depend. Through such information, international collaboration in terms of technical cooperation among developing countries and of information interchange could help promote and strengthen economic and social relationships.

Aquaculture, like many other development sectors, is evolving continuously, and regular monitoring of its progress would be necessary for all concerned. The policy and operational priorities of regional organizations must be adjusted to the changing situation, and the cooperation of member states is necessary.