Oct 28 2016

Pilcomayo River and incidences of massive fish kill – Bolivia

Photo credit: Rory Felix Mamani (Bolivia)

Review: Rory Felix Mamani and Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)

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The Pilcomayo River is a river in central South America which is about 1,100 kilometers long. The river originates in the eastern Andes Mountains in Bolivia which forms the upper basin of the river while the lower course forms about 800-kilometer international border between Argentina and Paraguay. The river has a total surface of approximately 290,000 km2, of which 31% belongs to Bolivia, 25% to Argentina and 44% to Paraguay.

Incidences for mass mortality of wildlife (fish, birds and mammals) along the Pilcomayo River have been reported whereas combinations of factors have been blamed for such crisis. Pollution especially from mining, sedimentation and drought are key causes for the mass kill incidences. In some parts of the river (e.g. in Paraguay), it is claimed that thousands of crocodiles and fish are dying trapped in the mud of a drying river.

It worth mentioning that the river basin is home to approximately 1.5 million people: one million in Bolivia, 300,000 in Argentina, and 200,000 in Paraguay. Economically, the Basin of Pilcomayo River is dedicated principally to agricultural activities as well as to fisheries. Bolivia has, within the context of the basin, about 12% of its national economy engaged in the area. The Pilcomayo River (a dry-land river) is characterized by its extreme inter-annual and inter-seasonal variability in discharge.

The inserted pictures show the mass fish mortality of the Pilcomayo River in Bolivia. This particular incidence occurs due the very fast draining of the river’s waters as required for the irrigation of agriculture lands. As a result, fishes could not follow the water and were trapped in small pools of water that gradually dried-up and turned devoid of oxygen leading to the mass kill of fish as shown in the photos. Incidences as such have serious impacts on sustainable fishery of the river due to hindering the natural spawning of affected fish as well as would affect the indigenous communities that rely on the river fishery in their livelihoods.

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=13636

Oct 24 2016

Culture of Nile tilapia and African catfish in the province of Ouargla (Algeria)

Photo credit: Naim Belakri (Algeria)

Review:  Naim Belakri and Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)

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The inserted picture belongs to a fish farm located in Ouargla Province in the southeast of Algeria where the culture of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) takes place.

Nile tilapia stocks were imported from Egypt, while red tilapia hybrid has been produced locally. The African catfish has been obtained from local resources.

Groundwater from wells is the only water source of to the farm. In the Ouargla province, ground water is characterized by its freshness and abundance.

The climate in Ouargla Province is desert and dry implying the scarcity of rainfall, in addition to wide thermal ranges whether on a daily or quarterly basis; with high summer temperatures that could exceed 40 degrees C, declining sharply in winter, especially at night where temperature reaches its lowest to about zero Celsius or even below that.  Based on that, the growing season on the farm takes place mainly during warm weather especially in the summer having in consideration the sensitivity of Nile tilapia to cold climate regardless the warm well-water.

This farm adopts the rectangular shape of grow-out ponds with approximate dimensions of about 5 m × 30 m. The fish feed used in the farm is imported from France.

It may worth mentioning that farmed tilapia is acceptable to citizens while catfish which is still farmed at experimental bases is marketed as fillets and also sold cooked through a restaurant owned by the farm owner.

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=13624

Oct 22 2016

Predation on caged salmon by sea wolf in Chile (video)

Video credit: María Cristina Marín-Riffo (Chile)

Review: María Cristina Marín-Riffo and Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the video channel)

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The video was filmed in the premise of a salmon cage farm in Chile. The attack attempt by sea wolf on caged salmon is seen in the video. Typically and as reported, caged salmon are attacked through the cage netting often from beneath and during night, when fish were close to the bottom.  Fish could be bitten and clawed through the net, or seized by the seal and the flesh sucked through the netting.  In fact, netting cages were ripped and fish are allowed to escape.

It may worth mentioning that the monk seal (Monachus monachus) has received its name “sea wolf” based on their howling ability like wolfs.

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=13603

Oct 21 2016

Fish Culture Development training course – Africa – 2016 (Graduation)

 

The inserted group photos were taken on 13 October, 2016 during the graduation ceremony of the training course.

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This 3-month course has been annually organized since 2004 by the Egyptian International Centre for Agriculture – EICA” since. The course is jointly supported by EICA and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). This year, the course hosts 16 participants from 9 countries.

The course participants are: Manirambona Jean – Marie (Burundi), Ngatcham Djouani Marcelin (Cameroon), Mayitu Katambay Narcisse and Kafumbe Mubindu Bienvenu (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Yaa Agyapomaa Danso and Eleanor Naa Ayele Aryee (Ghana), Ahmed Al Alwan (Jordan), Charles Bernard Makuya, Dazilone Medicine Alexander, and Chimwemwe Tembo (Malawi), Atif Ali Mohamed El Hassan and Maha Abdeen Mohammed El Sadig (Sudan) and  Agosseme Kodgo, Hamady Makorwa and Omar Ali (Tanzania) and Tairou Abdoul Aziz (Togo).

I had the pleasure to witness the ceremony which has been managed by EICA staff headed by Eng. Yehia Sayed Mohammed (EICA Director General), and JICA staff headed by Mr. Nakasone Shiro, Senior Representative of JICA.

Note: Please note that my contribution to the EICA courses is just teaching and supervising group projects. In other words, I am not the one to be asked about participation in EICA courses. More details are found on EICA website: http://eicaeg.org/home.html

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=13601

Oct 20 2016

Conserving of rice field fishery helps Cambodia’s poor (Video)

Ownership of the video: USAID, WorldFish Center and more agencies

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In rural Cambodia, where millions depend on fish for food and income, fish populations in natural wetlands are under threat from illegal fishing, habitat destruction and harmful pesticides used for agriculture.

To rebuild and protect these fish populations the Rice Field Fisheries Enhancement project is helping communities to sustainably strengthen the rice field fisheries close to their villages through building ‘community fish refuges’. These are conservation ponds that provide fish with a protected habitat to breed during the dry season.

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=13598

Oct 17 2016

Trash-fish feeding of caged cobia in Vietnam

Credit: Hai DO Xuan (Vietnam)

Review: Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)

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The inserted photos show the feeding of caged cobia (Rachycentron canadum) in Vietnam where most cobia farmers rely on trash-fish in the grow-out phase in spite of its relatively poor feed conversion ratio of approximately 5 and even higher. While minority of cobia farmers use pellets in the nursery stages of grow-out, most cobia farmers are hesitant to move to pelleted feed especially when the economic viability of their operations is precarious.

The dependence on wild-caught fish as feed is considered a constraint to the long-term development of marine aquaculture including cobia. In that regard, there is ongoing promotion towards the use of pelleted feed which is seen more reliable, has much better feed conversion ratio and in the same time the use of pelleted feed implies less incidences of diseases and fewer environmental problems.

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=13587

Oct 16 2016

A Typical fish pond in Malawi

Credit: Medicine Alexander Dazilone (Malawi)

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The pond shown in the inserted picture is in the southern part of Malawi in (Chikwawa District). The pond is approximately 400 sq meters. These ponds are very well taken care if and the green water is just witness to primary productivity in these ponds. In regard to feed, locally produced supplementary feed made from maize husks and soya beans is used.

This has been the size that has been promoted previously the Department of Fisheries so one is bound to get similar sizes among farmers whose ponds were constructed with help of the department of fisheries. However, Government has started promoting 1000sq meters.

That aquatic plant had just been removed from the pond manually. That weed on the pond dyke are water lillies and yes it is one of the common weeds that side of Malawi.

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=13585

Oct 13 2016

Country report – India (2011)

Owner of the report: G. Venkata Raju (India)

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http://fishconsult.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Country-report-India-2011.pdf

A permission has been granted to publish the report on this site

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=13581

Oct 10 2016

Fish Culture Development training course – 2016

The technical session of the 75-day “Fish Culture Development” training course started in Cairo on the 9th of October, 2016. This course has been annually organized and supported by the Egyptian International Centre for Agriculture (EICA) since 1989 for participants from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The participants in the 2016 course are:

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Blaise Enochian Mahouanon  (Benin), Druk Pola (Bhutan), María Cristina Marín-Riffo (Chile), Dian Tugu Warsito Taufik (Indonesia), Farahiyah ilyana Jamaludin (Malaysia),  Viiav Manaar (Mauritius), Folani Asake Olayinka (Nigeria), Liz Mariela Martinez Ovelar (Paraguay), Italo Bardales Balarezo (Peru), Sidiga ali abdalrahman sam (Sudan), Ibrahim Musa Abdelwahab Ahamed (Sudan), Emad Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa (Sudan), Lopez Fernandez Nicolas Martin (Uruguay), and Mirian Judit Requena Gavidia (Venezuela).

As occurs every year, Dr. Abdel Rahman El Gamal delivered the opening lecture and continues contributing to this course through series of lectures as well as supervising the group projects.

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=13577

Oct 02 2016

Para-boiling of small fish in Malawi

Photo credit: Charles Bernard Makuya (Malawi)

Review: Charles Bernard Makuya and Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)

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Landed fish in Malawi are marketed in variety of forms including fresh, iced, frozen, smoked, sun-dried or para-boiled before drying. While fresh fish is more popular in villages and towns near the lakes and rivers, most remote rural areas are supplied with processed fish.

The attached picture has been photographed on Chilambula beach (Salima district) and shows the para-boiling (paraboiling) method of fish processing. In this method, the fish is partially sun-dried first after that fish is dipped in boiled in water for a few minutes (approximately 2-3 minutes) using a small basket. Afterwards, fish is put on the rack to be sun-dried.

The para-boiling is a preferred processing method for small fish especially Usipa, “Engraulicypris sardella” whereas women are more involved in this type of processing. It is estimated that about 20% of usipa catch is sold to processors for para-boiling whether sold directly to consumers or traded through middlemen to wholesalers and retailers. Usipa is a “small sardine-like fish that are usually processed through either sun-drying or through para-boiling.

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=13571

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