The following constitutes an interim report on the activities carried out by the consultant in support of the project PAK/88/048 Cold Water Fish Culture in Azad Kadhmir. For reasons explained later, a final report, covering the complete terms of reference could not be prepared.
In 1987/88 a Coldwater Fish Culture project was proposed for the Azad Kashmir State of Pakistan with the following objectives:
to demonstrate the viability of cold water fish farming in the northern part of Kashmir, and specifically the Neelum Valley;
to strengthen the fisheries extension service of Azad Kashmir and specifically, to provide it with technical information on fish farming and management of natural resources.
The project was initiated in 1991 with a preparatory assistance phase funded by UNDP. During the early part of the project, it was recognized that similar potential existed for cold water fish culture in Northern Areas of Pakistan and a preliminary assessment was proposed.
During the preparatory phase of the Azad Kashmir project, a number of consultants were appointed to examine different aspects of the project and offer technical advice and support. This report summarizes the findings and recommendations of the Aquaculture (Engineeering) Consultant appointed to the Azad Kashmir Project (PAK/88/048). The terms of reference of the consultancy concerned the provision of advice and technical recommendations with regard to the establishment of hatchery facilities and longer-term project developments, and the provision of assistance in preparing a full Project Document for the main implementation phase of the project.
On arrival and in preliminary discussions with the FAOR Islamabad, the CTA and the NPD of the project, it became very clear that the immediate priority for the work concerned the preparation of the main project document, and in the course of this, substantial rethinking of the original project characteristics might be required.
In this light, and as the value of specific aquaculture engineering interventions were questionable at this stage in the project development, and as described in the PA document, the terms of reference were modified so that the consultant focused primarily on preparation of the project document. As a parallel initiative was under way for the Northern Areas, the consultant's brief was extended to include a review of the situation there, and the formulation of the Project Document and Preparatory Assistance Document for the newly proposed Northern Areas Cold Water Fisheries Project (PAK/91/008). The consultant was joined in this work by the CTA and NPD of PAK/88/048, and by the Trout Culture Consultant (Dr David Edwards) and Extension Consultant (Dr Ian Cowx). As the only person in the group who had specific experience of project formulation, the consultant had to take on the main reponsibility for the production of these documents.
The consultancy was originally scheduled earlier in 1991, but was postponed at that time due to delays in clearance, and was finally carried out between 16 September and 10 October 1991. It was agreed at the meeting in the office of the FAOR, Islamabad, and subsequently confirmed in FAO Rome that the engineering inputs, if required during the main phase of the project, would be provided in the course of an additional period of consultancy early in the following year, at which time an appropriate mission report would be provided.
To this end, the consultant made appropriate background preparations during the mission, to obtain information, and to agree with the project CTA and NPD on the probable needs of the project. On this basis, an additional period of approximately 3 weeks was proposed for these components. In the event however, the later phases of the project were postponed, and no further funds were made available in the following year for the engineering components of the consultancy.
Details of the outputs of the mission are provided in the Appendixes, as are the proposed engineering inputs for the later phase of the project.
