AQUACULTURE DEVELOPMENT

Aquaculture is currently
playing, and will continue to
play, a big part in boosting global fish production and in meeting
rising demand for fishery products.
A recent session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) stressed the increasingly important
and complementary role of
aquaculture and inland capture
fisheries in fish production for
human nutrition and poverty
alleviation in many rural areas. Aquaculture, in common
with all other food
production practices, is
facing challenges for
sustainable development.
Most aqua-farmers, like their terrestrial
counterparts, are
continuously pursuing
ways and means of
improving their
production practices, to make them more efficient
and cost-effective.
Awareness of potential
environmental problems
has increased
significantly. Efforts are under way to further improve human
capacity, resource use and
environmental management in
aquaculture. COFI emphasized
enhancement of inland fish
production through integrated aquaculture-agriculture farming
systems and integrated utilization
of small and medium-size water
bodies. Integrated aquaculture has a
variety of benefits for farmers in
addition to the production of fish
for consumption or sale. In Asia,
for example, rice farmers use
certain species of fish to fight rice pests such as the golden snail. With
rice-fish farming, they boost their
rice yields and harvest the fish.
Under FAO's Special Programme for
Food Security (SPFS), farmers in
Zambia are introducing small ponds into their home gardens for
irrigation and aquaculture. Mud
from the bottom of fish ponds is
also an organic mineral-rich
fertilizer. In traditional, extensive
aquaculture, fish can be bred in
open waters such as lakes,
estuaries or coastal bays, where
they feed on naturally available
nutrients, or in farm ponds, where they can be fed with by-products
from the farm. Traditionally in
China, more than five species of
carp are bred together to make the
best use of feeds and ponds. The promotion of sustainable
aquaculture development requires
that "enabling environments", in
particular those aimed at ensuring
continuing human resource
development and capacity building, are created and
maintained. The FAO Code of
Conduct for Responsible Fisheries
contains principles and provisions
in support of sustainable
aquaculture development. The Code recognizes the Special
Requirements of Developing
Countries, and its Article 5
addresses in particular these needs,
especially in the areas of financial
and technical assistance, technology transfer, training and
scientific cooperation.

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