Photo credit: Philippe Sawadogo (Burkina Faso) Review: Philippe Sawadogo and Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)
The photos show an education facility located in Loumbila,
25 Km from Ouagadougou (the capital).
In this privately-owned facility (school), the primary
school teachers are trained on the breeding of catfish in order to allow them
to acquire the technical knowledge on catfish breeding.
The system comprises of an overhead tank which receives its water through pumping and then supplies the water by gravity to wooden tanks coated inside with plastic sheets. The water gets oxygenated during its trip from the overhead reservoir to the grow-out wooden tanks.
The second picture which is taken in the same facility shows the phase just before emptying of catfish out of the tank.
Review: Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)
During my contribution to the seminar on the research aquaculture
needs in the region, I had the chance to visit two marine fish hatcheries – as far
as I remember located in Limassol. The focus of the hatcheries during that time
was to produce fingerlings of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) and
European seabass (Dicentrachus labrax). I will not be surprised if the
focus continues to be the same.
The artificial reproduction of the two species seemed fully
mastered during that time and even simplified. Outdoor tanks in these hatcheries are used for
the spawning whereas egg ovulation and fertilization occur naturally in the tanks.
Fertilized eggs float over water surface and move with the water current to a small
annexed container lined by plankton net with appropriate mesh allowing an easy collection
of eggs to continue the incubation, hatching and nursing in indoor facilities.
One of the hatcheries I visited (and probably the second) relied
on underground water drawn from more than one well whereas water is of high
quality and mostly of steady temperature. The coastal wells serving a hatchery
are at different depths and salinity. This enabled the hatchery to acclimatize the
produced fry/fingerlings according to the required salinity in the receiving farms.
The outflow water goes through filtration and settling ponds before it is
released back into the sea.
My visit to the hatchery took place during the
last week of October, 1991.
Photo credit: Marcelin Ngatcham (Cameroon) Description: Abdel Rahman El Gamal
(Founder of the website)
Fish displayed and sold in Egyptian fish markets are mostly on
ice. In the past few years, there is a tendency for the sale of live tilapia
from aquaculture especially higher prices has been achieved for live fish.
In regard to African catfish, Clarias gariepinus its display
and sale is traditionally alive no matter whether caught from the wild or
harvested from fish pond bearing in mind that catfish may be only displayed in traditional
and village markets.
The reason for that is because of the
outstanding tolerance of this air breathing species to harsh environmental
conditions such as low dissolved oxygen which makes it possible to keep the
fish alive for days with simple arrangements. Dead catfish indicates to most
consumers the low freshness of the fish although this may not be true. In
reality, dead catfish are either processed or sold at much lower prices.
The
inserted photo was taken on October 08, 2019; the last day of the technical
component of the program. The course was concluded today (October 10) as the
graduation ceremony took place. Depending of flight schedules, the course
participants are flying back home soon.
This
3-month course has been annually organized since 2004. The course is jointly
supported by the Egyptian International Centre for Agriculture – EICA” and
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). It is always a pleasure to
contribute to these courses and meet such wonderful group of friends. The photo
shows Dr. Abdel Rahman El Gamal and the course participants:
Souleymane BA and Richard Kima (Burkina Faso), Karerwa Odette and Baseka
Michel (Burundi), N’Guessan Yao Joachim
(Cote d’Ivoire), Hantanirina Rasoamananjara and Adavelo Jean Marcel
(Madagascar), Madalitso Magombo and Camerson Ghambi (Malawi), Nancy O. Egwame (Nigeria), Sahar Mohamed (Sudan), Mussa George mndeme (Tanzania), Poukre
Tchawre and Treku Komla Asafo (Togo).
This video has been compiled of four parts that have been filmed in four aquaculture projects in Egypt. Identified parts are credited to Marx Perfecto C. Garcia (Philippines) and Sherif Sadek (Egypt). The below review is mypersonalopinion (Abdel Rahman El Gamal – Founder the video channel)
The introduction of red tilapia into Egypt goes back to late
1980s whereas specific shipments were received from South-East Asian countries,
United Arab Emirates and finally from Taiwan. Since then, red tilapia continues
to exist here and there but without noticeable booming and hence it is almost
not found on fish displays. When compared with red tilapia in Latin American
countries (e.g. Colombia) or in Asia (Vietnam, Taiwan) and others, the status
of red tilapia in Egypt did not witness comparable development. The reasons for
such stagnation in red tilapia could be attributed to several factors. At the
level of consumers, it was not clear that red tilapia enjoyed consumer
preference especially Egyptian consumers are not accustomed to eating Sashimi that is mainly raw
fish whereas red tilapia with its purple abdomen would be advantageous for such
dish compared to the dark abdomens for naturally colored tilapia.
At
the production levels, the reproduction of red tilapia hybrids resulted in
offspring with different coloration patterns and hence the initial attractive
colors were not maintained.
Added to that, the relative salinity tolerance of red
tilapia and hence its potential culture in saline water was not justified since
by no means, red tilapia could compete with marine fish in regard to market
value highlighting that marine fish/shrimp species remain to be the candidates
for marine waters.
In brief, as long as the market situation as
well as the production situation remains the same, there is no major change in
the status of red tilapia is expected.
Photos’ credit: Abu Sayed Talukder and Zahangir Alam (Bangladesh) Review: Abu Sayed Talukder and Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)
Hilsa is a small-size
fish of hilsa fish whose scientific name is “Hilsa ilisha”; which is the
synonym of “Tenualosa ilisha”. The earlier name “Hilsa
ilisha” could be still in use because of its popularity and use over a long
period of time. The species is highly popular and is the national fish in
Bangladesh.
In order to
conserve the stocks of hilsa against fishing violations, acts including
the Protection and Conservation of Fish Act, 1950 have been issued to ban the fishery of
the species during particular period as well as to limit the size to be fished;
hilsa specimens under 23 cm is considered illegal and hence the fishing gears
used to catch the species have been specified as any gill nets under 450
mm mesh size are forbidden in the fishery of hilsa.
In line with
that, catching the broodstock of the species from the spawning grounds is
forbidden during the peak of the spawning season in the full moon during
September/October as the brood hilsa are protected for 22 days during
the peak of the spawning season in October (before and after full moon).
In regard to the
immature hilsa, known as “jatka”, its catch, distribution, transportation,
marketing and selling is banned between November and May every year.
Building
awareness on the conservation of hilsa through video shows and broadcasts on
television and radio take place. This goes side by side with the enforcement of
law that ultimately target to stop catching, trading, and marketing of jatka
whereas Department of fisheries is in charge with the help of Police or coast guard or Navy and Magistrate. One of the inserted photos shows the action taken in a given violation
where the smaller hilsa (jatka) are seized and destroyed.
As usually the case, my
contribution to this course was yesterday (October 7) where I delivered my
first lecture. This 10-week Fish Culture Development training course has been
annually supported since 1988 by the Egyptian Government as represented in the
Egyptian International Center for Agriculture (EICA).
The course adopts variety of
training tools including lectures, practical training, field visits, specific
workshops and group projects. The lectures in the course are delivered in
English while simultaneous interpretation into French and Spanish takes
place whenever applicable. The participants in this course are:
Kally Ouindlassida and Inoussa Compaore (Burkina
Faso), Yousuf Mohammed Ali Kaabi (Sultanate of Oman), Yousuf Jan and Naheed
Bano (Pakistan), Sambou Jean Marie (Senegal), Hussein Ahmed Mohamed (Somalia), Mahanamanam
Geeganga Gamage Gunasena (Sri Lanka), Hisham Mohamed Ahmed (Sudan), Mlaponi
Farida Mohamed (Tanzania), and Dombrovska Tamara (Ukraine)
Photo credit: Paola Luna Morales (Bolivia) Review: Paola Luna Morales and Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)
The inserted picture shows a specimen of palm worm (Namalycastis
rhodochorde) attaching to a fishing hook in Irimo community (Bolivia)
showing the use of the worm as fishing bait by a native community at northern
of La Paz, Lecos (Bolivia). The native community uses this palm worm as a
fishing bait to attract fishes like pacú (Colossoma macropomum). These
worms are found mainly within the crown of palm tree.
The palm worms are among the insects consumed by humans in
some societies around the world. They are eaten raw or cooked.
It may worth noting that culturing of the worm has
been done in some parts of the world as a means to overcome the
overexploitation of the worm especially in the light of the degradation of its
natural habitats.
This lecture has been
delivered in regional and international training courses held in Egypt and
organized by the Egyptian International Centre for Agriculture (EICA).
In order to address the focus of the lecture which is the
promotion of small-scale aquaculture in rural development, the lecture started
with the features of rural communities focusing whenever applicable on fish
consumption. The items needed for the promotion has been addressed including
appropriate technologies, selected species, labor, credit when required and
others have been addressed. This has been followed by examples of small-scale
projects especially those integrated with other agricultural crops or livestock.
The adoption curve in rural community has been addressed.
Moreover, a proposed criteria of small-scale aquaculture has been discussed.
The lecture addressed the promotion strategy and the importance of initial success as well as the sustainability beyond the promotion program. Special issues have been emphasized in the lecture including extension service, project planning, environmental concerns, subsidies and others.
Video credit: Charles Bernard Makuya (Malawi) Review: Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the video channel)
This video shows the feeding of African catfish, Clarias gariepinus when intensively grown in concrete tanks in Egypt. The aggressive feeding of stocked catfish is quite obvious as the floating pellets were picked-up within seconds. Added to that, the size of feed pellets seems matching the mouth opening of stocked fish indicating higher efficiency of feeding and lower feed wastes.
