Starting small
In the front yard of a government fisheries institution in Thailand, a lady sits selling fish seed. The small fingerlings are swimming in crystal clear water in inflated oxygenated bags hanging up in the cool shade of a tree. The lady is not alone - other traders sit selling fingerlings and farmers wander around inspecting and discussing the quality of the stock before negotiating a sale. The market atmosphere is, perhaps, not uncommon but the provision of facilities, clean water and oxygen, has been initiated by the enlightened Chief of the Fishery Station, who is keen to ensure that fish seed sold by local traders is of good quality. With little effort this practice could be adopted elsewhere, particularly as a DFID-funded research project has discovered that fish seed losses are often high and many fish fail to grow well or succumb to disease.
The quality of fish seed, or young fish, is a vital element for successful aquaculture production. Simple pond fish culture by small-scale farmers
is an activity often encouraged by national fisheries programmes or NGOs.
Such projects are intended to provide an additional source of food or income to the farm household. However, despite good intentions, such
projects can often fail because, even on a very small scale, there is a great deal more involved than simply digging a hole and filling it with water
and fish. Water quality is an essential consideration but the siting and shape of the pond are also important. But even if these factors are
satisfactory, poor stock will result in poor yields.
Working with a range of local partners, the DFID-funded research project has been investigating the problems associated with freshwater seed supply in five regions in South and East Asia. Initial results have been very revealing, suggesting that, in some areas, much can be done, and sometimes in only very minor ways, to improve the supply, survival and quality of fish seed to small farmers. For instance, local field trials with farmers and extension staff are ongoing to identify practical methods for improving seed quality, which include simple seed care and nursing techniques, better management during transport, and better developed skills in introducing seed into receiving waters such as ponds, cages, lakes or reservoirs. The use of toxic chemicals to reduce predation on nursing or stocked seed has also been a problem, and simple management methods without the use of chemicals are currently being tested and demonstrated.
In NE Thailand and S Laos, wild fish stocks are no longer sufficient to meet local needs and the majority of farmers are dependent on fish stock produced from hatcheries, of which 70% is the small native carp, the silver barb (Puntius gonionotus). And yet problems with inferior quality have resulted in poor availability and survival of stocked seed. Interestingly, a key issue in both regions was the belief that seed produced by the private sector networks was inferior to those produced by provincial-level government hatcheries and yet the project was able to show otherwise. Private seed networks are particularly important as they provide employment opportunities for large numbers of poor people. Within the seed chain from producer to trader to consumer, every 1% increase in survival of silver barb fry is known to return the equivalent of approximately two person days of labour. With recommendations for developing measures of quality in order to allow traders and farmers to make improved choices when buying stock, a modest improvement in early survival of seed after stocking would produce higher returns.
