Oct 22 2015

Integrated aquaculture-poultry system in Tanzania

Photos’ credit: Lucka Paschal and Erick Kiiza (Tanzania)

Description: Lucka Paschal and Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)

Integrated fish chicken in Tanzania (01) Integrated fish chicken in Tanzania (02)

 

 

 

 

 

The inserted pictures were taken during 2010 in an integrated fish-chicken farm located at Tarime District in Mara Region, Tanzania. Tarime is one of the districts of Mara Region and is situated in the north of Tanzania. The district has a total area of about 11,100 km2 and lies between 1200-1500 m above sea level whereas temperature ranges from 20-25 C.

The practices in such farms have been benefited from the outcome of a national study carried out in the district whereas the participatory approach has been adopted in which fishery agency, research institutes and farmers worked together targeting to enhance the farm productivity and profitability through appropriate, affordable and adoptable technologies.

Typically, in such type of integration, poultry rearing unit (chicken huts) are placed on the top of water surface in fish pond where tilapia has been the species of choice. Chicken feed is mixed on-farm using locally available feed ingredients. No supplemental feed is provided to fish throughout the culture period as the poultry droppings and spilled feed from poultry would provide feed for the fish either directly or through enhancing water productivity. In regard to laying hens, the chicken huts are furnished with wooden egg laying boxes (30 cm × 30 cm × 30 cm).

 

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=12946

Oct 20 2015

Fish Culture Development training course – 2015

Fish culture Development 2015 (02) Fish culture Development 2015 (01)

 

 

 

The technical session of the 75-day “Fish Culture Development” training course started in Cairo on the 8th of October, 2015. This course has been annually organized and supported by the Egyptian International Centre for Agriculture (EICA) since 1989. The participants in the 2015 course are:

Hennig Hernan Hernando (Argentine), MD. Abdul Wahed (Bangladesh), MD. Abdul Hannan (Bangladesh), Andres Loayza Apaza (Bolivia), Fabrice Juliot Mougang (Cameroon), Zanga Adalbert Donatien (Cameroon), Aliadoumadji Rimadoum (Chad), Cristian Camilo Suarez Barazeta (Colombia), Karen Sachica (Colombia), Diego Mauricio Carrillo Freire (Ecuador), Kassa Kassa Eugene (Gabon), Ebrima K.M. Jabang (Gambia), Gloria Akuffo (Ghana), Abdallah Elmgawshi (Libya), Muhammad Hafeez-ur-Rehman (Pakistan), Macedo Aguirre Raul Sergio (Peru), Tariq Mohammed Zakaria (Sudan), Parinya Sutthinon (Thailand), Oberu Charles (Uganda), and DO Xuan Hai (Vietnam).

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

Note: Abdallah from Libya and Karen from Colombia do not appear in the inserted picture as they joined the course after October 8.

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=12943

Oct 20 2015

Fish feeding in off-shore marine cages in Spain – Video

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

Marine cages are usually located away of the coast in order to enjoy better water quality as well as well as to reduce the pollutant impacts. In such systems and as shown in this 3-min video (filmed in Spain), automated feeding system is used in which a large floating feeding barge is connected to each cage with a tube via which, the feed is delivered to each cage that is often stocked with either European seabass or gilthead seabream. In this automated system, there is sensor in the bottom of each cage to gauge the amount of feed delivered.

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=12939

Oct 13 2015

Green tilapia (Tilapia zillii) in the catch of lake Qarun, Egypt

Green tilapia in Lake Qarun (Egypt)

 

 

Lake Qarun (21,800 ha) in Fayoum, Egypt is a closed system which originated from a fresh water lake called Mories. After the disconnection of Nile water reaching the lake, the agricultural drainage water of Fayoum province became the only source of water feeding the lake. Consequently, and due to the extensive evaporation, the salinity of lake water has increased progressively. The salinity increase accompanied by the nutrient load in the incoming water has detrimental effects on the species composition of the lake fishery. Frequent fishery surveys indicate the significant contribution of green tilapia, Tilapia zillii in the lake catch. The reason for that is attributed to its high tolerance to salinity compared to other tilapia species such as Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), blue tilapia (Oreochromis aureus) and tilapia galilaea (Sarotherodon galilaeus) which may exist in the catch but at negligible quantities.

It may be of interest to know that although the displayed tilapia –as shown in thee inserted photo- is usually much smaller than other tilapia species (due to its early maturation), its price is much higher due to its unique taste as well as the egg roes that almost fill the body cavity of females.

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=12937

Oct 06 2015

Small-scale aquaculture in rural development (2015)- lecture

The inserted lecture has been delivered in the regional and international training courses.

The lecture starts with features of rural communities in regard to livelihoods and social aspects highlighting the importance of fish to rural communities. A subsequent part of the lecture focused on the models of small-scale aquaculture projects which fit best the rural development in regard to systems and species. Several integration models have been included such as rice-fish, fish duck, fish-rabbit and fish-chicken highlighting the advantages of each type as well as concerns if exist. The part on the planning and promoting of small-scale aquaculture projects starts with the curve of adoption to new ideas then promotion packages giving several case studies from many countries. The participatory approach has been focused on. Some issues of concerns have been covered including extension, subsidies and simplicity of small-scale aquaculture.

http://fishconsult.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Small-scale-aquaculture-in-Rural-Development-Features-Models-Promotion-2015.pdf

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=12933

Oct 01 2015

Fish market in Maputo, Mozambique – Value chain strengthening

Photo credit: Tim Huntington (UK- Poseidon)

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

Maputo fish market (Mozambique)

 

 

 

The Maputo fish market is a popular market located at Costa do Sol, which is on the coastline towards the north of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. The market has stalls with all sorts of sea food – fish, clams, crabs, prawns, etc. It is often claimed that fish displayed in the market is incredibly fresh and some is still alive, like the clams, lobsters and the crabs. Towards the back of the market, there are several restaurants which can prepare/cook the purchased fish for a small fee.

Fishermen come to the market in the early evening with their day catch; frequent visitors believe that  the best time of the day to visit the market is the afternoon, after the morning’s catch has come in.

The improvement of value chain activities in Maputo market received considerable attention and support through agreements between the governmental agencies in Mozambique and international organizations including IFAD and JICA. The key objective of strengthening the value chain is to improve the distribution of marine products as well as the improvement of the livelihood of the people involved in artisanal fishing. Training of fish traders has been considered an essential line of action to ensure the application of best practices for market/vendor operations.

 

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=12927

Sep 29 2015

Giant grouper Epinephelus lanceolatus – Video

This video was filmed in the Sea World, San Diego, USA
Source: www.fishconsult.org

Giant grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus)

The giant grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus), which belongs to the family Serranidae is also known as brindle bass, brown spotted cod, or bumblebee grouper and as the Queensland giant grouper in Australia. The species is the largest reef-dwelling bony fish. It may grow to more than 3 meters long, weighing up to 400-600 kg. This species can live to be more than 50 years old.

Distribution and habitats: The giant grouper is native to the Indian Ocean and is found chiefly in coral reef ecosystem throughout the Indo-Pacific, it occurs from the Red Sea to Hawai‘i, and from New South Wales (Australia) to southern Japan. This solitary species is found at depths that ranges from near the surface to up to 100 m.

Description: The giant grouper has a large mouth and a rounded tail. The fish can expand its mouth to create a strong suction enabling it engulf its food. Juveniles are bright yellow with irregular black and yellow/brown bars, while adults are green-grey to grey-brown with faint mottling. There are numerous small black spots on the fins. Its mottled coloration blends with the surroundings, providing good camouflage for this large hunter. The eyes of this species function effectively in dim light, giving it an advantage over prey during dawn and dusk.

Feeding habits: Giant groupers feed on a variety of marine life of reef system, including reef fishes, small sharks, juvenile sea turtles, spiny lobsters and other crustaceans. The expandable mouth allow them to swallow their preys whole. The giant grouper has at least seven rows of teeth on the middle of its lower jaw.

Changing sex: As most groupers, the giant groupers start out life as females and later switch sex to male at an age of about half their lifespan .

Utilization by human: For centuries, giant groupers have been an important subsistence and artisanal fishery. However, in many parts of their range, giant groupers have been wiped out because of the damaging fishing practices including the use of cyanide and/or the explosives for fishing on reefs.

Threats: Due to overfishing, this species has declined drastically in many regions, and it is now considered Vulnerable according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) list of threatened animals.

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=12924

Sep 27 2015

Lake harvest of tilapia in Samoa Islands

Photo credit: Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC)

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

Lake harvest of tilapia in Samoa islands

 

 

 

Samoa consists of two large islands, Upolu and Savaii, and seven smaller islands with 326 villages; out of which, about 230 of these villages are coastal. There are few freshwater bodies.

Over time, several exotic species have been introduced into Samoa for aquaculture including mussels, oysters, giant clams, carp, tilapia an others.

The two introduced tilapia species are tilapia mossambica (Oreochromis mossambicus) and Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). However, Nile tilapia has been preferred because of its superior productive traits compared to tilapia mossambica. The culture of Nile tilapia has been established in a number of tilapia farms whereas their seeds have been secured through a tilapia hatchery at Apia.

The stocking of Nile tilapia in natural lakes has been initiated for providing an important source of food for the villagers as well as providing a source of income for some fishermen. Accordingly, Satoalepai Lake on the island of Savaii has been stocked with hatchery-produced Nile tilapia fingerlings whereas the co-management regime has been adopted in this lake stocking program through which consultations with village communities took place as well as identifying the project objectives, activities, and the participation of the villagers and the dissemination of the outcomes of the project.

The inserted photo shows the harvest of tilapia in the Lake Satoalepai, Samoa islands. This lake is situated in the Matautu District on the north east coast of Savaii Island, with around 600 people living within 2 km of the lake.

The lake stocking initiative which is carried out under the responsibility of the Samoa Fishery Division has been supported by some international organizations including the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=12921

Sep 24 2015

Processing and trade of sun-dried sardines in Tanzania

Photo credit: Lucka Paschal and Erick Kiiza (Tanzania)

Description: Lucka Paschal and Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)

Sun dring of sardines in Tanzania

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Malawi, is a shared lake between Malawi, Tanzania (known as Lake Nyasa” and Mozambique (known as Lago Niassa). Lake Nyasa fishery is a major source of animal protein for surrounding populations in Tanzania whose livelihoods depend largely on fish catches from the lake.

Sardines which is locally known as “Dagaa Nyasa” in Kiswahili, is the most captured species in Lake Nyasa. Men’s, go for fishing whereby most of the women become involved in processing that includes boiling as well as sun-drying. Such processing lower fat and dried product which could be transported for longer distances. Fish drying depends on the use of locally available wood material to build such structure. The inserted photo show a Tanzanian woman while in the process of sun-drying sardine caught from Lake Nyasa.

Typically, the Nyasa fishermen in Tanzania sell their catch at the lakeshore to long-distance fish traders (the Yao and the Bena), who most likely transport the catch to distant markets such as the Mbinga and Songea towns as dried fish and sardines.

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=12917

Sep 14 2015

Fish Hatchery Management (2015 version)

This lecture was delivered in the Fish Culture Development training course which started on August 2015. This course is annually organized –since 2004- by the Egyptian International Centre for Agriculture “EICA” and supported by Japan International Cooperation Agency “JICA”. The course hosts 15 African trainees from nine African countries. This lecture will be delivered also next month (October, 2015) in the Fish Culture Developed training course which is annually organized –since 1988- by EICA for trainees from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Common Wealth countries.

The present lecture focused more on the management issues related to fish hatcheries. The lecture started with background information on different types of fish reproduction as well as parental care in nature and relates that to related biological parameters. The biological information has been utilized in the application of practical reproduction of farmed fish species and crustaceans.

Natural spawning and artificial spawning are discussed with some on species of economic value to aquaculture. Key parameters affecting fish production were addressed in relation to types of fish hatcheries. Enhancing the productivity of fish hatcheries through management tools was discussed.

The lecture has been supported by different types of illustrations and case studies.

http://fishconsult.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Fish-Hatchery-management-20151.pdf

Permanent link to this article: https://fishconsult.org/?p=12913

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