In order to ensure effective implementation of development programmes and minimize administrative formalities, fisheries should be established as a separate branch in the Department of Agricultural Research and Extension, on the same footing as horticulture, animal husbandry, etc.
The Research Officer in charge of fisheries requires further training in fisheries. If he is to implement a major fish farm development project like the one proposed at Azraq, it is essential that he receive intensive training, not only in large-scale swamp reclamation and pond construction practices but also in modern techniques of composite fish culture.
In order to provide qualified technical assistants required by the Fisheries Branch, the Government should consider deputing abroad selected high school graduates for bachelors' courses in fisheries, or selected zoology or agricultural entomology graduates for post-graduate courses in fisheries. The number of such candidates will depend on the major projects taken up for development.
Training of personnel should receive high priority as success of development projects will depend on the technical expertise of the staff.
A pilot-scale fish farm should form the centre of activity of the fisheries branch. Azraq has been shown to be a suitable site for such a fish farm. A large fish farm of at least 50 ha water spread area should be established at Azraq to: i) tackle all problems connected with fish culture in the country; ii) produce appreciable quantities of marketable fish, and iii) serve as the country's major centre for fisheries training and extension.
A small but well equipped laboratory that can attend to problems in fishery biology and analyse water and soil samples from ponds and reservoirs and well designed fish hatchery for different species of cultivated fishes should form essential adjuncts at the farm.
As preproject activity for the fish farm project at Azraq, the experimental pond area should immediately be extended to 1.5 ha, by adding 2 ponds, each of 3 000 m2 area and one pond of 1 000 m2 and a series of 12 nurseries, each 50 m2 in area. One of the 3 000 m2 ponds should be deep enough to hold 1.5 m of water, for wintering requirements of brood stock.
Growth of fish in these ponds should largely depend on natural food, produced by regular manuring, on the basis of a predetermined annual dose, divided into 8–10 monthly instalments; and should be recorded every month by sampling.
Arrangements should be made to take up intensive seed production activity at Azraq during the 1973 season, by immediately transferring brood stock from Sukhneh and the two-year-old stock from Wadi Yabis and putting them on a regime of aquatic manuring and limited artificial feeding. Sexes should be segregated to prevent wild spawning.
A field observation post should be constructed at Azraq at the experimental pond site.
In order to achieve optimum production from natural ponds, compatible combinations of fish species are to be developed. To this end and also to develop fisheries of irrigation reservoirs, introduction of selected, fast-growing species of fish such as Catla catla, Labeo rohita and Hypophthalmichthys mclitrix should be considered to supplement indigenous species.
Development of artificial feeds from indigenous raw materials, suitable for different species of fishes and for different stages of development, is of fundamental importance for development of fish culture in running waters as well as stagnant water. Machinery required for grinding and mixing feed ingredients and for pelleting feeds should be provided at the farm, as also essential facilities for biochemical assey of feeds and ingredients.
The feasibility of intensive cultivation of carp and tilapia, either directly in existing irrigation distributaries, from major channels like the Ghor canal, or in a series of cement tanks (size, depth, etc. depending on volume of flow, siltation rate, etc.) specially constructed for this purpose in the course of these distributaries, should be investigated. Both possibilities should be initially tested on a pilot scale. If production tests prove encouraging, fish fingerlings and cheap artificial feed could be made available to farmers to take up fish cultivation in the course of the irrigation water supply to their plots. Similar tanks could be constructed along the course of natural springs also, to develop intensive fish cultivation in running water.
Development of fisheries in irrigation reservoirs should form a major activity of the Fisheries Branch. A detailed survey of the existing conditions - physicochemical and biological contours of submerged areas, indigenous fish stock, etc.- should be made and programmes for optimizing fish production adopted.
The irrigation or water resources authority should consult the Fisheries Branch while constructing artificial impoundments and include in project expenditures fisheries development facilities such as cement tanks for: i) rearing seed intended for stocking the impoundment, and ii) maintaining breeder stocks required for producing seed needed for stocking.
In the absence of technically qualified personnel in the country at present, it is considered necessary for the Government to seek United Nations support, or other suitable sources of external assistance, for satisfactory and early implementation of the fish farm project at Azraq, including organization of intensive fish culture in running water on a commercial scale and development of reservoir fisheries.
