All participants representing agencies or other institutions interested in aquacultural research were asked to review their programmes of research or support of research. Brief summaries of those presentations are given below. During these statements observations were also made on research needs and plans for future activities. These latter observations have been incorporated into section 4 of the report. The attention of the participants was also called to Information Paper No.5, “Aquaculture Aid Profiles. A Summary of Information on Aquaculture Projects with External Aid Components. January 1980”, prepared by the UNDP/FAO Aquaculture Development and Coordination Programme.
AID's biggest effort in support of aquacultural research is a “collaborative research programme” now being designed that will focus on “pond dynamics”. It will be carried out through collaboration between a group of U.S. universities and universities/research institutions in the third world. The programme will be global; possible activities have been identified in all continents. The planned funding is about U.S.$ 1.8 million for three years. However, the programme is expected to be continuing. It has an inbuilt planning horizon of five years.
AID is also supporting ICLARM, initially for a period of three years.
In view of the financial stringency being introduced into the U.S. Government, AID may have a cut in its budget, which will affect also fisheries and aquacultural projects.
The “Centre National pour l'Exploitation des Oceans” (CNEXO) carries out research in aquaculture in its research centres at Brest, and Tahiti, and in pilot stations of its affiliated firm: France Aquaculture. The present research programme concentrates on: salmonids, flat fish, crustacea, and molluscs. Amongst tropical species, work is centred on crustacea. At the moment CNEXO has about 30 scientists working in aquacultural research. The firm France Aquaculture is responsible for transfer of know-how.
EIFAC is an intergovernmental body sponsored by FAO. It has three sub-commissions, one of which is charged with the subject of fish culture and diseases. Although EIFAC does not have its own funds, the work of the commission has been fairly effective.
EIFAC does not support individual scientists or research projects overseas, but has organized meetings and symposia on several aquacultural topics. Its cooperative research programme provides a very useful mechanism for gathering scientists together on common research problems. Proceedings of symposia, workshops and working parties, as well as other publications became a significant source of information of global significance.
The institute was established in 1974. Work has been focused on the reproductive physiology of tilapia species, and continues along these lines. The work programme of the institute includes plans for induced breeding of tilapia species, artificial spawning and fertilization to produce hybrids. Research is also being done on reproductive physiology of lungfish (Kamongo). The work is later to be expanded to studies of other species with potential for aquaculture such as the catfishes and indigenous carps.
ICLARM is an autonomous research organization located in the Philippines, and formed in 1977 to stimulate, accelerate and carry out research on the development and management of aquatic resources in developing countries. Its major programme emphasis is on aquaculture.
The aquacultural programme is focused on problems of broad geographical interest which can be expected to create significant impact on aquacultural production in the medium and long term. The specific objectives of the research programme were decided on the basis of a broad review of long-term trends in aquacultural development, and an identification of technical constraints to increased production projected from these trends (see section 4.1.1.).
In view of the special demands posed by these trends, ICLARM has placed primary emphasis in research on (a) seed production (and, subsequently, genetic improvement of stocks), (b) nutritional requirements, and (c) pathology, with a secondary priority on integrated agricultural-aquacultural farming systems. The door has also been left open for research on aquatic ranching. Research on economics of aquacultural systems is an integral part of all research programmes.
Current projects include research on integrated animal-fish farming in the Philippines with plans to initiate a similar rice-fish farming programme in 1980. Three projects on aquacultural economics are underway in the Philippines, Thailand and Taiwan. Negotiations have been underway for two years on the implementation of a pilot-scale experimental hatchery for brackishwater/marine species in Egypt. Negotiations are also underway with SEAFDEC's Aquaculture Department to establish a cooperative programme of research on controlled breeding of brackishwater/marine fishes and one staff member has been seconded to the Tigbauan station. Finally, to provide overall guidance to the aquacultural research programme, a continuing programme of research on trends in aquacultural development is also underway.
IDRC has initiated its assistance in aquacultural research in Southeast Asia where aquaculture is of continuing vital importance for the food supplies. It has since extended its networks of projects in Africa and Latin America. At present ongoing IDRC projects in aquaculture fall into the following categories: fish breeding, indigenous species culture, fish production systems (including cage culture), fish health, bivalves, mariculture (Irish moss, conch). In its work IDRC focuses on indigenous species and in building national research capabilities in recipient countries. IDRC has made a specific effort to support research workers and practitioners by publishing handbooks (fish breeding, tropical oyster culture, cage culture systems).
IFS was set up in 1972 with the purpose of trying to slow down the exodus of third world scientists to developed countries by providing them with the financial and other support required to carry out research in their own countries. IFS's assistance to aquacultural research follows this principle. The grants to any individual researcher are normally limited to U.S.$ 10 000 per research period (normally one year) and support for the same project should normally not last more than four research periods.
During the period 1974 to 1979 IFS approved 71 grants for aquacultural research. At the moment there are 63 research projects being executed in 25 countries. Actions are also being taken to apply and disseminate the practical results yielded by the IFS projects and to further implement those which yield interesting proposals for projects that are more development-oriented.
IFS has concentrated its support in particular to two scientific areas: i.e., (a) spawning and reproduction, and (b) nutrition, feed and growth. The main species studied have so far been tilapia, mullet, catfish and milkfish.
IFS has organized regional workshops for its grantees and other associated scientists. The first was held in Penang in 1978 and the second in Abidjan in December 1979. In addition, a meeting on Macrobrachium rosenbergii, co-sponsored by IFS will be held in June this year in Bangkok.
The institute is presently sponsoring a project aimed at the pilot cultivation of Mytilus in Patagonia. It also is conducting experimental investigations on penaeid shrimps related to the rearing of larvae and postlarvae. Special diets are being investigated in order to improve growth of juveniles and adults in experimental tanks.
The Rockefeller Foundation provides core support to ICLARM as its major activity in aquaculture and other areas of fisheries. Grants are also made to institutions in the developed and developing world in support of basic research on reproduction and nutrition of tropical finfish. Fellowships are available to individuals from cooperating institutions for post-graduate and post-doctoral training.
SEAFDEC carries out its research activities in aquaculture through three research stations in the Philippines and one in Singapore. In the Philippines research on marine species is carried out at Tigbauan, Iloilo; brackishwater culture at Legunes, Iloilo, and freshwater fish culture research at Binangonan at Laguna de Bay. Research work is carried out on milkfish (to complete the life cycle, and pond management), prawns (Penaeus monodon, now shifting to other species), mullet (fry production), sea bass, molluscs (at Singapore substation), tilapia (broodstock development, for pen/cage culture), Macrobrachium rosenbergii.
SEAFDEC is now placing increasing importance on economic research related to its aquacultural production systems.
The Philippine government provides part of SEAFDEC's budget which now totals about U.S.$ 4 to 5 million annually.
UNDP's support for aquacultural research on a global basis is channelled through the “Aquaculture Development and Coordination Programme” (ADCP). ADCP is establishing regional centres for aquacultural research and training in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The African centre, in Nigeria, will be inaugurated in June 1980 and the Latin American centre in July 1980. Detailed research programmes have been developed for the centres. When in full operation the regional centres between them will undertake research on 31 farming systems and 64 species groups (42 fish, 14 molluscs and 8 crustacea). The research will be multidisciplinary in nature and focused on the solution of problems faced in the application of selected farming systems. The time frame of the research programme is currently seven years, with a start-up period of two years.
The centres are funded by UNDP and by the host country and are receiving contributions from Regional Development Banks.
The FAO Fisheries Department, as one of its central tasks, gathers, compiles, compresses and publishes information concerning fisheries related scientific disciplines, technologies, and managerial and administrative practices. To carry this out it maintains mechanized data-bases to meet user requirements for both numerical and non-numerical information. These are grouped under:
ASFIS is an international system, consisting of several machine-readable data-bases, indexed references, with titles and abstracts in English, to relevant scientific and technological literature (including socio-economic and legal aspects). It also includes registers of experts engaged in relevant research, of institutions with programmes of information on international activities and on meetings relevant to fisheries. ASFIS includes material on all aspects of aquaculture and therefore is potentially capable of meeting most of the requirements of the aquaculture user-community.
ASFA (Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts), the bibliographic data-base, included 1 638 references in 1979. By the end of 1980 the data-base will have about 7 000 references covering the years 1975–1980. Together with the National Aquaculture Information System (NAIS) of NOAA, with a data-base of about 4 300 references for the years 1970–1978, the Aquaculture user-community will have access to about 11 000 references by 1981.
The statistical data-bases include fish-catch data and fish-commodity data, providing time series records of nominal catches by country, species, area and year; and time series records of international trade and production of fishery commodities by country, commodity, year and other identifiers. The regular output from the system are the catch yearbook and the production and trade yearbook of fishery commodities, statistical bulletins and ad hoc reports. At present separate statistics for aquacultural production do not exist, but the Department, following the recommendation of the Aquaculture Information Group meeting in Rome in April 1979, has developed statistical forms for Inland and Aquaculture fisheries to be discussed at the Coordinating Working Party on Atlantic Fishery Statistics (FAO, ICES, NAFO, ICCAT, ICSEAF and EUROSTAT/EEC) meeting in July 1980. As soon as a mutually acceptable form is designed, the Department will start collecting separate aquacultural statistics, initially in the North Atlantic and EEC countries.
It is expected that the FAO regional bodies and the ADCP regional and lead centres will in the future have the capability of providing information services to their respective institutional networks, providing both written and numerical information on request. To achieve this goal as rapidly as possible the financial assistance of donors interested in support of aquaculture would be welcome.
Several questions were raised in the ensuing discussion about access to the systems described by researchers in the developing countries. It was noted that the Freshwater and Aquaculture Contents Tables (FACT) was being distributed widely in the developing countries, and that copies of articles of interest not available locally can be requested from FAO. Similarly researchers could contact the ASFA input centres in their country, where these exist, to make searches on specific problems through the computerized system. Otherwise they may contact FAO to carry out such searches for them. The IDRC Current Awareness Bibliographies were mentioned as another aid to researchers in developing countries in locating appropriate reference material. It was suggested that contributions to these from regional centres and other large institutions would be very helpful.
Problems of coverage of the very large “grey” literature which is of considerable importance in aquaculture were discussed. It was hoped that again the regional centres and other institutions could assist by screening this literature for the more significant material. The problem of distribution of ad hoc informal translations was also discussed but it was recognized that copy-right releases would be required in some cases.
With regard to aquacultural data, the remark was made that the need for data on the results of pilot and production projects identified by the meeting on aquacultural information in 1979, was of great importance. It was noted that, for adequate coverage of this type of data, the list of data developed by the Aquaculture Information Group needed to be reviewed in the light of the needs of prospective fish farmers.
