3.1 Extension services in the region
3.2 Training of extension agents
3.3 Seed production facilities in the region
3.4 Manufacturers of feed and fertilizers in the region
3.5 Manufacturers of equipment for the industry
3.6 Other services for the industry
3.7 Local credit programmes
3.8 Trade publications for producers
3.9 Technical assistance projects in the sub-sector
Within the eighteen countries of the region as described the importance and use of extension services varies with the level of public involvement in aquaculture development, and with the centralized organization of assistance to the sector. In general, extension services are not considered by the three main aquaculture producing countries in the region as vital, full-time activities which require nation-wide organization. Neither France, Italy, nor Spain, have any public institution in charge of aquaculture extension services at national level. In part this is due to the fact that different aspects of the aquaculture sector fall under the responsibility of different ministries, each organized in a different way, but it is also due to the fact that at this time capabilities in extension are far from being centralized and therefore possible to make the responsibility of one governmental body.
In most of these countries, technical skills are spread throughout various public agencies dealing with research and development, many universities, and in the private sector. These groups are continuously building up new aquaculture knowledge which they disseminate themselves to farmers. For example, in France more or less professionally organized extension services can be obtained by aquaculturists from six sources: (i) from the Applied Research and Extension Service of the Ministry of Agriculture (CEMAGREF) from its bases in Bordeaux and Montpellier, and from the Technical Institute for Husbandry of Small Animals, which is also under the Ministry of Agriculture, relevant to aquaculture in freshwater and brackishwater; (ii) from the Marine Research and Development Institute under the Ministries of the Sea, of Research and of Industry (IFREMER) from its research centres and field stations in Brittany, Pays de Loire, and Languedoc, and in all French overseas departments and territories, relevant to aquaculture in marine and brackishwater; (iii) from the National Agronomic Research Institute, under the Ministries of Agriculture and Research (INRA) from its research laboratories and stations in Brittany and Pays Basque; (iv) from various university laboratories and field stations all around the country; (v) from a number of regional bodies, non-profit regional associations, regional development syndicates, and semi-public service firms, usually working in close association with local laboratories and field facilities of universities and research and development institutions mentioned above (such as CEPRALMAR in Languedoc Roussillon); and (vi) from manufacturers, most specifically feed manufacturers, who are particularly active in disseminating information related to improvements in feeding practices and sanitary management.
Each of these bodies operates some form of extension service with farmers associations and local authorities, producing extension material (leaflets, booklets, slide shows, films, technical sheets), organizing regular technical meetings and sessions for producers, and providing organized on-site services to farmers, with regular visits or visits on request. Such services may be provided free of charge, at a nominal cost, or at full cost.
Therefore extension 'agents' in France are usually, at the same time, researchers, planners, technicians, salesmen, or technical consultants. There are probably no more than a hundred full-time extension service agents in the country (who are known as regional aquaculture advisors). Most of them have a university degree, or an engineering degree in agronomy, and have been hired straight from university or after a few years of professional experience. They have highly diversified administrative status, resources and career advancement. In 1986 a group of them created a National Association of Aquaculture Advisors.
The situation in Italy and Spain is similar to that in France, with the same extreme diversity of agencies, institutions, and associations having some involvement in extension services for aquaculture. There are similarities in the organization and objectives of institutions, such as those of CEPRALMAR in Languedoc Roussillon with those of Plan de Explotación Marisqueros (PEMARES) in Andalucia in Spain. Both are regional, both channel public funds to the applied research sector to provide technical support to aquaculture development and arrange regional planning studies and surveys, and both have, with time, recognized the need to extend their involvement to small-scale aquaculturists in the region.
A different situation is found in countries like Greece and Egypt, which have highly centralized aquaculture extension services.
In Greece almost all the extension activity is in the hands of civil servants from the Ministry of Agriculture. A recent report notes that the recruitment of extension officers tends to over-emphasize graduate qualification in biology, and that excessive administrative burden hampers their practical fieldwork. However, in some areas (Louros/Ioaninna, Kavala), extension officers involved in services to relatively traditional aspects of Greek aquaculture (freshwater fish farming, lagoon management, and bivalve production) have a good working relationship with producers and a positive long-term programme for action.
In Egypt all extension services are now provided by the Department of Extension and Training of the General Authority for Fisheries Resources Development (GAFRD) within the Ministry of Agriculture. As the quality of extension services in a previous organizational structure was recognized to be poor, a training programme for extension workers was established at the new El Abassa National Aquaculture Centre in 1980-84. A total of 340 selected individuals underwent technical training on national aquaculture activities, and 90 received further specialized education abroad in various important aspects of aquaculture. Also 9 extension pamphlets were printed in Arabic, and 50 000 brochures were distributed to farmers. However, the service remains ineffective as yet, mainly due to a socio-cultural gap between the extension workers and farmers.
A similar central organization exists in Israel. The Fish Farming Extension Service is part of the Ministry of Agriculture's national Extension Service, and is responsible for economics, marketing, training, and advice.
There is little information on the existence of any specific national courses or training sessions for extension agents of countries in the region, except in the case of Egypt, as mentioned in Section 3.1.
A number of individuals who have become extension agents had opportunities before they were hired to attend one or more of the lectures or the few training courses in aquaculture at the regional level (see 4.1), and some extension agents had opportunities to attend such courses when needed. For example, MEDRAP organized and offered a six-month training course on Mediterranean aquaculture practices at its training centre at Ittica Valdagri, a large commercial farm at Policoro in Southern Italy. Between 1984 and 1987, 67 individuals were trained from twelve countries, Albania (2), Algeria (10), Cyprus (4), Egypt (9), Greece (8), Malta (2), Morocco (6), Portugal (2), Syria (1), Tunisia (11), Turkey (7), and Yugoslavia (5). This was a practical course on an operating farm, and almost all the trainees were government employees operating at the extension level.
Most of the aquaculture production in the region is dependent on the collection of wild seed. This also applies to all production of bivalves; naturally-occurring mussel spat are collected on ropes at the site of cultivation by the farmers themselves, and naturally-occurring oyster spat are collected on special substrate (such as shells, prepared tiles, and plastic structures) hanging from floats or suspended over the sea bed. Because of the unreliability of spat collection in some years, a few oyster hatcheries have been built in the last 10 years in France (Brittany), in Spain (Galicia), and in Morocco (the Mediterranean coast). Although farmers in the beginning showed some reluctance to adapt themselves to the handling of the smaller, individual hatchery-produced spat, they have now become used to them. However, there are still only five oyster hatcheries operating in the region, two in France, two in Spain, and one in Morocco, all producing less than 200 million spat per year. This is only a nominal contribution to a yearly consumption of oysters in the region which is excess of 10 thousand million.
Spat collection is highly organized in France, the major producing country, and in good spat collection years "it is difficult for hatcheries to operate as profitable ventures. During the spawning season larval density in the major collection areas is monitored by IFREMER by its research institutions. Information of interest to spat collectors is published in local journals. Some farmers specialize in spat collection, and spat is traded intensely from one culture region to another, according to the results of each season.
Mullet and eel production in the region rely entirely on the collection of wild fry. Trout and carp production, on the other hand, rely entirely on a well established network of hatcheries. In France, Italy, and Spain there are private hatcheries operating within growing farms. Most of them serve the owner's farm and sell only limited quantities within the immediate neighbourhood, but some hatchery owners specialize in the production of juveniles or have a business in the production of eyed eggs. Some of them advertize in professional journals for seasonal or year-round sales.
In Egypt, Greece, and Syria, most of the hatcheries are state-built and state-operated, which is a logical approach from the point of view of state controlled development and planning but not for cost-effectiveness. A recent study of aquaculture in Greece commented on the poor production from the public hatcheries and recommended that their operation should be transferred to the private sector. A study on aquaculture in Egypt in 1987 noted for the 9 existing carp hatcheries a nominal total capacity of 115 million fry per year but an actual production of 5 to 55 million fry per year. Government data reports 5 carp hatcheries (for 230 million fry) and 10 fry collection centres in operation (for 200 million fry annually) and 11 large-scale government farms. Albania has twelve carp hatcheries with an annual production of 17 million fry, and trout hatcheries. In Cyprus the Kalopanayiotis Freshwater Experimental Fish Culture Station provides 0.5 million young trout annually to the private sector.
The newly developing culture of sea bass and sea bream, which is still mainly dependent on the capture of wild fry, is now rapidly moving to hatchery production. At present there are 27 hatcheries in operation, with nominal capacities ranging from 100 000 to 2 million fry per year. These are in Italy (8), France (6), Spain (4), Cyprus (3), Yugoslavia (2), Tunisia (2), Greece (1), and Morocco (1). Total production in 1986 was around 6 million fry, with about 5 million being sea bass. Many of these hatcheries are also farms.
In Greece and Tunisia, where both governments strongly support the development of aquaculture, more than 10 new hatchery projects can be listed, either as being approved or having requested approval. Among them are three public hatcheries with a total planned production of more than 15 million fry per year. In other parts of the region, more than 20 hatchery projects have been approved, are under approval, or are being studied; projected production is in excess of 25 million fry per year. If they are all implemented this could result in an additional 4 000 to 5 000 t of these fish on the market within the next 3 to 5 years.
Shrimp culture in the region also requires hatcheries. Only 5 hatcheries are now in operation. These are in France (2), Italy (1), Morocco (1) and Spain (1). In 1986 total production did not exceed 30 million post-larvae, but two hatcheries only started production in 1987.
With regard to new species, there was a general tendency which began in the 1970s for greater public involvement in the construction and operation of hatcheries. This policy went with the social approach to aquaculture development, which favoured small-scale entrepreneurs in the coastal fisheries communities, and with the general belief that fry would be distributed to the farmers at a subsidized price, if not free of charge. This policy now seems to have been abandoned in the most advanced countries of the region, with a reduction of government investment in pilot and regional demonstration hatcheries and providing the private sector with easier access to subsidies and administrative agreements for hatchery construction. For example, IFREMER in France is now committed to reserve the fry of sea bass and sea bream and shrimp post-larvae from its Mediterranean demonstration hatchery for research and development, and demonstrations, and to sell surplus production only if no private hatchery can deliver juveniles, and only then at the same fixed price.
A particular example of the trend toward more involvement of the private sector in hatchery investment and production is the case of clam production. Clam culture is mostly based on seed produced in hatcheries and on-grown intensively in specialized nurseries. Both hatcheries and nurseries can be small units requiring limited investment.
An effective start to the rapidly growing activity of clam production took place only in the early 1980s, when the policy toward public hatcheries changed. Therefore, no public clam hatchery was built in any of the three major producing countries (France, Italy, and Spain) but more than 10 private hatcheries began operating. The national clam development project in France arranged to provide the first farmers with spat purchased from a private hatchery at nominal cost. However, the only existing clam hatchery in a non-EEC country in the region is in Morocco, and it was integrated into a large state-run project (Marost).
Semi-intensive practices account for only a minimal part of aquaculture production in the region (see Section 2.3, above), and thus only small amounts of supplementary feed and fertilizers are required. These are used mainly in freshwater fish farming, and particularly in Egypt.
There is no specific regional trade in fertilizers for fish farming purposes, and no specific advertizing in the aquaculture related journals. The small quantities of fertilizers and feeds required and used are readily available from resources used for agriculture and animal husbandry. One exception is Egypt where the country is reported to have large quantities of feedstuff reserves but the resources are insufficiently available to aquaculture because of competition with livestock needs.
Specialized fish feed manufacturers are well established in France, Italy, and Spain. The manufacturers are either national subsidiaries of external international holdings (such as Trouw of the Netherlands in the British-Dutch Hendricks Group, which operates under the name Trouvit in France, and Trouw Italia in Italy); or national subsidiaries of internal international holdings within the region (such as the Grand Moulins de Paris group in France, with controlling animal husbandry and fish feed companies in France (Aqualim) and Spain); or either specialized fish feed subsidiaries, or fish feed brands in the hands of national or local animal husbandry feed manufacturers, and which include fish feeds in their product lines (such as Chezzi, Farmix, and Veronesi in Italy; or Sofrada, Gheerbrant, and Ucab (Torrent) in France.
A few of these companies, namely Trouw (in France and Italy), Aqualim (France and Spain), and Dievet (France) now produce feeds for shrimp in their product lines.
Some countries in the region have no fish feed manufacturers at all. These countries import pelleted feed from countries noted above. Albania imports feedstuffs from France; Greece imports from France and Italy; and Morocco imports from France.
Turkey, which has quantities of low cost trash fish available from the Black Sea as well as all vegetable feedstuffs required, only imports small quantities of marine fish feed and feed concentrates from France which are then combined with local meals to prepare moist pellets. There is no technical difficulty for Turkey to manufacture good quality fish feed as required by national producers from the raw materials available in the country. However, feed compound manufacturers do not wish to produce fish feeds as demand is not yet continuous or large enough to make it profitable. Thus the only existing small production available to trout farmers in Turkey comes from public feed factories.
In general, with the exception of one company (Trouw) which alone may market more than a quarter of the fish feed used in the region, feed manufacturers from outside the region, particularly from the active North-Western European countries, have no or little involvement in the regional fish feed trade.
Equipment manufacturers in the region are heavily concentrated in the three major producing countries, namely France, Italy, and Spain. In addition, there is a considerable presence of equipment manufacturers from outside the region, mainly from North-Western Europe, with particular emphasis on mechanical equipment for water-recycling and treatment (Denmark and Germany), nets and rafts (Norway, United Kingdom), and feeders and graders (again all four countries, as above).
A large number of manufacturers advertizing and selling in the aquaculture sector are companies, branches, or agencies of large national or European industrial manufacturers which produce and sell a wide range of industrial products and depend for only a minor part of their turnover on the aquaculture industry. For example, this is the case of pump manufacturers, many of which are national branches of external international holding companies but which manufacture components or assemble in the region (such as Flygt, which partially manufactures pumps in national companies in France, Italy, and Spain, but which is based in Sweden; or Guinard in France; or Rotos in Italy). This is also the case of most suppliers of aluminium and stainless steel grids, geo-textiles, and plastic netting.
In the region there are many small companies, many of which are family businesses, which manufacture and fabricate equipment and advertize and sell in the aquaculture sector, but only for a part of their sales. This is in particular the case of many fabricators of nets and tanks, or manufacturers of specialized boats and vehicles (such as Poncin in France).
A number of manufacturers do most of their business in the aquaculture sector, and some all of it. These are generally small- to medium-sized enterprises which began to meet the need of a specific activity; for example, equipment for oyster culture (such as Norlac in France), equipment for pond fish culture (such as Giovanni Milanese and Promet Ravagnan in Italy, or Faivre in France), or fibreglass cultivation tanks and transport containers (such as Vitrocontenitori and Poloplast in Italy, and Polywest in France). Some of these manufacturers are small and highly specialized firms, selling a technology and the related equipment together (such as Aquinove for hyper-intensive fish cultivation).
Some aquaculture equipment is exhibited at large international fairs in the region (such as the Agricultural Fair in Paris), but most displays are at specialized aquaculture trade shows. Among those which have a reputed national audience, and which are attempting to gain a more international audience each year, are the Salon des Cultures Marines, of La Tremblade in France (a biennial show specializing in shellfish culture held in the centre of the main oyster culture area of the country, and mostly for oyster culture equipment) and the International Aquaculture Fair of Verona, Italy (a biennial trade show since 1982, held in the centre of the main fish and shellfish culture region of Italy, which aims at an all-aquaculture international scope but which is still much stronger in Italian equipment for fresh and brackishwater aquaculture than in other equipment).
New international aquaculture fairs have appeared recently in Greece at Thessaloniki, in Tunisia at Sfax (within international fisheries fairs) and in Turkey at Istanbul. There is also a growing tendency among the organizers of scientific meetings, either at national level (such as the 1987 National Aquaculture Conferences in Portugal, at Porto, and Spain, in Cadiz), or at international level (as in the 1987 Aquaculture Europe conference in The Netherlands, at Amsterdam), to include trade shows of aquaculture equipment, supplies, and services.
In 1989 the European Aquaculture Society will publish a European Trade Directory of equipment manufacturers and suppliers, services, and other commercial contributors to the sector.
Aquaculturists in the major producing countries have access locally or at national level to a wide range of possible services. Various aquaculture consultancy firms and individuals offer assistance in the preparation of applications for new projects, in design and construction of facilities, in environmental impact studies and water chemistry, in legal expertise for accidental water pollution or feed toxicity, and in the provision of technicians, field veterinarians, and management advisers.
Many of these individuals and service firms, often in competition with others from outside the region, offer their services to countries of the region where aquaculture is still too new or undeveloped for such individuals and Firms to have been established at national level. Such individuals and services are used mostly through international cooperation (such as the development of semi-intensive fish culture in Egypt, and particularly for hatcheries) or through private contracts (such as the development of marine fish hatcheries in Greece).
More than 50 registered service firms and independent specialists with aquaculture references can be found in countries of the region, most of them in France and Italy. However, many of these firms which operate at national or international levels consist of only one individual, or a few associated individuals, who became consultants because of the high unemployment of (marine) biologists in EEC countries. Only a few larger companies which employ staff work consistently both in their own country and throughout the region with full capability to provide biological, technical, engineering, legal and financial services for a large project (such as the three main French service firms, France-Aquaculture, Sepia International, and Aquaservice). The largest of these professional consulting firms, France-Aquaculture, in 1986-87 implemented the first full international turnkey and products-in-hands contract in the region, a sea bass hatchery for the National Aquaculture Centre at Monastir.
Active in the region are many service firms based outside it. Most are from North-West Europe (such as Clearwater Fish Farming and Fisheries Development Ltd. from the United Kingdom, or the Aquaculture Institute from Denmark, or Sea Farms from Norway), some of which now offer equity financing and project management. There are also firms from USA, such as KCM International Inc. and James Montgomery Inc., which have at times worked in the region, particularly in Egypt, on projects funded by the World Bank (WB) or the USAID.
There are no multipurpose supply firms for aquaculture operating regularly in the region. Some firms in the region, and from outside, offer specific supplies, like Midisel of France (for Artemia and plankton collected in the salt pens of the Compagnie des Salins du Midi), France-Aquaculture (for larval feeds and chemicals), Artemia Systems from Belgium (for larval feeds and Artemia), or from the Federal Republic of Germany (Dohse Aquaristik, for Artemia). Israel, in association with its international programme of technical assistance, provides quasi-government consulting services.
Livestock insurance is available for farmers, predominantly through services from U.K. (such as The Aquacultural Insurance Service); and business services, for investment advice, tax and financial planning, such as Ernst and Whinney.
There are local credit programmes available to aquaculture entrepreneurs in most of the countries of the region but they mostly offer credit for investment. There are few organized credit programmes available for farm operational costs, particularly in those countries where aquaculture is not yet an important national economic activity.
There is no advertizing of available credit programmes, no documentation is distributed, and little information is readily available. The availability and use of credit invariably appears accidentally in statements made in government reports. For example, France reported to the OECD total credit to the sector of some US$ 12 million in 1986, and Italy reported some US$ 40 million.
Credit to aquaculture is considered a high risk activity. It is usually channelled through specialized banks within the public sector; for example, in France credit is handled by Credit Agricole (mainly for freshwater farming investment) and the Credit Maritime Mutuel (mainly for shellfish culture); in Greece it is the Agricultural Bank of Greece, and in Tunisia, the Banque Nationale de Developpement Agricole.
There are no known trade publications published in the region specifically devoted to aquaculture producers, either for the region or any one country or area. All producers have access to publications concerning the trade of fisheries products (see Section 1.6, above) and to information about the sector as a whole published in professional journals of the region (see Section 4.6), or international ones from outside of the region (such as Fish Farming International and Fish Farmer published in the United Kingdom.
Producers selling on national auction markets (as is mainly the case for mussels) obtain information from the record sheets of those markets, and from the analyses regarding seasonal trends published in periodicals produced by their associations (see Section 4.6). Producers selling on direct contracts usually rely on personal information networks.
One interesting trade source in France is the "Annuaire de la Marée et de l'Aquaculture" (Yearbook of Fisheries Products and Aquaculture), in which any producer can find a full list of all seafood dealers in the surrounding area and around the country.
There are no current technical assistance projects in the surrounding area funded by the international agencies or through bilateral cooperation which are directed at supplying inputs to the producers. MEDRAP, which was initially funded by UNDP and finally by the Government of Italy, terminated in 1987. It provided technical training for potential government extension workers (see Section 3.2, above), and published technical information. Its intentions for a series of demonstration projects were not fulfilled. The provision of extension services at the regional level could have been a major objective of MEDRAP, within its purview of disseminating around the Mediterranean countries the technology and procedures applied in the most advanced countries. However, its action in this field could not be developed because of lack of adequate national counterparts.
Two new but separate regional projects are planned to start in 1989: one is again to be called MEDRAP, to be funded by UNDP, and the other, Aquaculture Development for the Mediterraneran (AQUAMED), to be funded by the Government of Italy.
At the national level there are some specific technical assistance projects involving a small number of producers in highly specialized fields. For example, the IFREMER regional demonstration marine fish hatchery at Palavas-les-Flot (Languedoc Roussillon) samples larvae and fry in all private hatcheries in France and provides in confidence to the owners comparative technical information on the quality of their fry (particularly with regard to spinal column and swimbladder deformities).
