We will group the matters according to their locations:
Frank Pais 2, cysts and biomass. Frank Pais 1, cysts and biomass.
The cyst harvest is the most priority work of the project.
We will study the actual states and try to improve them according to the local conditions. Some inexpensive points either in the lab or on the field can be taken care of rapidly.
The harvest is increased up to 5 Kgr per day, and the egg processing is improved to be done in one hour.
To know if a pond has a potentiality of producing cyst the first parameter to check is the presence of gravid female. Their presence will order us to do everything to enhance their living conditions.
No live shrimp nor cyst has been observed in the reddish 34 pond and before.
Gravid females, juvenile and lots of nauplii have been observed in the north east side of the No 35 pond with a nice deep orange color (typical of Artemia fed on Dunaliella salina). They look bloody red in the west part and in the next following ponds.
On the north east part of the pond 35, the water has a lower salinity. Along the east bank, the water flows southwards; this is a “return” current (due to the pumping).
In the south west part of the pond 35, shrimps are scarce but are continuously flushed away through the gate to the next pond. Those shrimps have the hemoglobin red color typical of the good cyst producers.
It looks that in the pond 35, the feed is brought in by the “red” water pumped out of pond 34. The gradient of salinity and food exists. Shrimps living in the lowest salinity areas are ovoviviparous, have maximum of food. In the highest salinity areas the algae is rare and the shrimp are spawning cysts.
By a thorough check of the edges of the ponds (35, 36, 37, 38) and their channels, we were able to record many spots where the eggs are concentrated or trapped naturally (south and west banks mainly).
In less than a week we were able to harvest more than 15 Kgr of cleaned cysts.
It is absolutely necessary to understand that in a salt flat conditions,
Cysts go with the wind but biomass goes with the current
(which can be created by a strong wind). Because the Artemia are producing the cysts, to follow the water path is one basic of the salt pond cyst harvest.
We do not control the flow of the water in the salt flats: it can be increased or slowed down by the salt plant at any moment for meteorological reasons, technical causes or purposes (evaporation ponds or ditch cleaning…). If the flow varies so does the salinity. On February the 3rd, we checked salinity around the ponds:
| PONDS No | SALINITY ‰ MINI-MAXI | temp.oC MINI-MAXI | NBER OF MESURES |
| 34 | 110 | 29 | 2 |
| 35 | 125–130 | 29–32 | 10 |
| 36 | 152–172 | 30–32 | 5 |
| 37 | 156–180 | 29–33 | 6 |
| Channel | 130 | 29 | 1 |
The numbers recorded in the pond 35 are much lower to the ones mentioned by B. Menu in August 1988 (around 150‰). The difference is more surprising, if we consider that February is a dry season month, and August a rainy one. One gives us as explanation that the pumping was speed up for evaporation ponds technical reason.
This is a perfect example that the water management conditions changed without any warning to the Artemia team.
The aim is to organize harvests based on the best cysts/environment relation.
The absence of available data is a strong drawback. It must be corrected.
Are important: wind direction, speed, cloudiness, they should be recorded twice a day, to be able to react immediately. In case of: strong wind, the foam created either by the pumps (see Picture # 5) or by the wind is blown on the edge of the ponds and get mixed with the eggs. Strong winds disperse the thick foams then the eggs are blown away and lost in the dirt.
even a little rain, the eggs trapped in shallow water could be re hydrated and may hatch.
and the precise places were the eggs accumulate depending of the wind direction. In the near future this will save much time for the team in charge of the harvest.
which should be the I.D. of the eggs and where all the data and observation should be jotted down. (See Annexes “Cyst Sheet”).
to catch the eggs. (See Drawing 1).
Because of the actual impossibility to control the flow of the water. (even a strong wind can push the water from pond to the other), it is, at this moment, impossible to keep the Artemia in the pond 35. Traps with nets can be easily installed at the gate of the ponds, they will be checked twice a day.
The water level is not constant at the gates. The traps will be set with floats in order to have their lower side just under the water level. They are build to retain most of the cysts after their entrance, even if the wind shifts.
Up now, we are sure that (in the conditions of our observations: flow, weather, locations, very short time of the mission) the pond 35 is producing biomass (adults, juveniles, and nauplii) in some areas. In the west part the females shift to the egg production. We do not know if the eggs seen in the ponds 36 and 37 are produced in those ponds or are brought in by the flow. If both cases happened what are their relative importance? We propose to control the water flow.
To raise the production of cysts we need to be able to control the flow of the ponds where the cysts are found: 35,36, 37… This will help to concentrate and keep the Artemia in the pond.
One of the best way to control the flow of the pond 35 is to shunt the pond allowing the salt company to keep producing with the minimum trouble. Having a parallel flow is possible through: (see Drawing 2)
dispatching ponds 35, 36, 37.
derivation of the pond 35 only.
In both cases the flow of the pond must be the most regular as possible. The pond intakes must be multiplicated, and exhausts must be open on the opposite side to allow a regular flow.
(See Pictures # 10 to 14)
The Artemia team of Frank Pais was processing the eggs in small Plexiglass jars without any bottom evacuation (see background Picture # 12), this method, if good enough for few hundred grams of cysts, is totally unadapted to the processing of the harvest we had the first week of February.
In order to save time and efforts, it has been necessary to optimize the different steps of the cyst cleaning to reach 5 Kgr./hour and so by one person only.
The main aspects are
to follow a standard procedure. (See Annexes: CYSTS PROCESSING
SHEET)
to rig the laboratory with proper devices to execute the procedure without constraints, i.e., on time brine and freshwater supplies in quality, quantity. (see Annexes: LAB IMPROVEMENT)
The first experimental pond is fed with the water coming directly out of the pipe line. The entrance salinity is about 80 to 100 gr. per 1. The water can flow to the next and the third pond through a gate. In order to increase the productions, fertilization (urea + dicalcic phosphate as prescribed by ARC) and evaporations have been done. Both were not really productive up to that time.
We recorded 136, 160, 220 gr. of salts per liter as an intensive reduction on the bottom of the 3 ponds.
One of the major constraint is that the waters have to be drained in the main stream of the brine of the salt flats, and the Frank Pais salinas managers were very concerned about the pollution of their production, by algae and fertilizer.
Because of the moderate surfaces of these ponds and their proximity of all the sources of water available from 80 to 170 gr./l., it will be better to study the possibility to transform them in biomass culture, using the batch method on algae epuration.
Levels of culture
with algæ mixed, no fertilization.
The control of the flow of feed is determinant (biomass has to be fed at the right level to epure the algae off).
Strong blooms are always needed, with a close watch of the rotifers.
Artemia is produced by batches.
It is managed as a shrimp farm, it needs care and skills.
All the sources of water from 80 to 170 gr./l. are near by.
Local artificial feed (Torula yeast) should be used to moderate the algae demand.
High density biomass, minimum surface needed, strong control permanent.
The salt flat 35 is near-at-hand, it can be easily re seeded if necessary.
The area of Frank Pais 1 is dedicated to the biomass and the cyst production, side by side. Feed and high salinity water are needed. We introduce the concept of algae ponds and to reserve the largest pond as a high salinity stock water.
The 11 ponds of Frank Pais 1 have been build to grow biomass, and to produce cysts on semi intensive way with algae blooms. They can have more than 60 cm of water depth. There are in connection with the pond no 11 for the water supply through a canal, the water can be transfered from one pond to the other through monks. The overflow of the water is wasted.
With fertilizers, semi intensive pond can produce biomass but they have to be checked and managed as shrimp ponds.
Those ponds are far away of the plant, electricity is not easily available.
The water has to move, in the ponds, and through the ponds. The ponds need water exchanges and circulations, if not the chances of a heavy reduction of the bottoms are major, the ponds must be treated as the one of a shrimp farm.
In good periods those ponds must reach nice levels of production.
Because the management has to be understood as for a farm, the people must be on site every day, for cleaning and maintenance, and harvest. An easy way to help the harvest is to use air lift automatic harvesters.
The harvest will have to be send to the freezers very fast. The distance of the ponds from Frank Pais laboratory and the absence of transportation for the technicians is an important drawback. The need of a bicycle with a trailer is a minimum.
Due to the time needed to set a bloom, it is better to prepare algae ponds aside of the biomass production, to seed them when necessary with the quantity and quality of algae needed.
The algæ ponds are the best place for rotifers to thrive, the protection is to keep the salinity high (above 90 ‰).
The salinity in the salt pond no 11 is too low (60‰). The pond No 1 is the largest. It can be used as evaporator for the farm to provide the quality and the quantity of water needed.
For the rainy season the monks will have to be set so the top rainy water is drained out of the ponds. Their size and depth are suitable for it.
Catwalks must be installed to be able to work further in than just the immediate edge of the ponds, air lifts, analysis…
Electricity for a little pump to move the blooms, and for aerators is needed, they will be sheltered in a small hut with the other farm tools, pails, nets…, eventually the technician in case of a heavy rain.
The papalote is thriving in the pond No 11 of low salinity (± 60 ‰).
The control of papalote can be done with
a good gate, equipped with the right mesh inferior to the size of the
eggs of the papalote. In operation it will have to be checked permanently.
all the inlet pond pipes must have their synthetic mesh installed
and cleaned as needed.
the Maguey can be cheaply used, for pilot tests in respect to the
pond sizes.
Here the production of cysts should be attained in the most controlled environment. The sizes of the ponds make the management feasible.
By the control of the salinity, and the feed amount, by the presence of the biomass ponds, some ponds, out of the 11, should be set for cyst production.
The need of high salinity is one of the key factor.
The food must be kept as the minimum.
To keep the salinity as high as possible. 120 -< 150 -< 200 gr./l.
Necessary to scoop the freshwater out from the top =< install exhaust pipes.
Due to the incredible amount of faeces excreted by the brine shrimp, aeration to avoid reduction, and bottom flushing must be a routine.
The level of water must be high, i.e., 60 – 80 cm, more if possible to avoid strong dilutions in case of rain.
The salt flat people in charge of CERRO GUAYABO area, asked the help of the MIP biologists. In the past 20 years they experienced losses of salt production due to algae blooms. They explained us the situation as is:
During heavy rainy years, macro algæ grow, die, and after their putrefaction, the contaminated brines are lost for salt production.
The sea water, for all the salt flats, is pumped from one edge at the very end of the Guantanamo bay. The rains wash down the field fertilizers. In the ponds the mineral salts are concentrated and this generates algae blooms.
A worsening factor is the rich organic matter wastes released in the bay by the sugar cane factories.
The salt in Cerro Guayabo is produced out of the water withdrawn from the Frank Pais 1 pond No 7.
Never in Frank Pais 1, does the problem occur so sharply as in Cerro Guayabo.
The addition of 3 ponds helped to speed up the water, if that solution lowered the problem it did not cure it.
One of the proposition is to seed Artemia in the ponds.
By removing biomass and cysts we remove organic matters out the salt production stream.
Here to the predator, the papalote is everywhere and its presence might not lead to a successful trial.
The solution here under advised should be applied.
