42 JUNE 2016 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG medications used. We attempted in vain to obtain a list of drugs distributed to trout farmers by a local NGO. The NGO was politically aligned and distributed drugs to be seen as helping the farmers. Mortality on Hermel trout farms often exceeds 90 percent, although most farmers would admit to only 45-50 percent but do not really know the actual rate. This number is much greater than the average mortality experienced by trout farmers worldwide. The ability of trout farmers along the Assi River to maintain low mortality rates depends on the appropriateness of rearing practices. In brief, good food and proper storage of feed, good egg quality, adequate feeding regimes, controlled water quality, suitable raceway construction and design, reasonable stocking density, regular and accurate record keeping, correct disease management and regular raceway cleaning are factors that would allow farmers to keep rainbow trout in good health until the desired market weight is reached. Growth and Marketing On average, to reach 250 g/fish, rainbow trout should be grown for about 7 months; 1 kg/fish, about 13 months; 2 kg/fish, about 14 months; and to reach 3 kg/fish, the fish required 21 months. Trout farmers in Hermel reported a production of about 2,000 t of rainbow trout in 2011 but the war in Syria and concomitant market loss reduced production by more than 60 percent. Prior to the Syrian civil war, most of the rainbow trout production in Hermel was sold in Syria at wholesale prices. Only 28 percent of farm owners sold fish in Hermel exclusively, but this does not imply that trout sold in Hermel is consumed locally; most was resold in Syria through middlemen. Six percent of surveyed farm managers in Hermel stated they had markets in Lebanon and only one farmer affirmed he sold rainbow trout in Kuwait and other Gulf countries. Most rainbow trout produced along the Assi River is illegally sent across the border and sold in Syrian markets. Farmers cite various reasons for sending fish to Syria, including that Lebanese consumers are not accustomed to eating freshwater fish, better prices in Syria than in Lebanon, and Syria is closer to Hermel than any other market in Lebanon, which allows farm owners to save considerably on transportation. Fish are smuggled into Syria and sold illegally for two main reasons. First, passing through the official border checkpoint is timeconsuming and risky. Second, some farmers claim that Lebanese legislation does not allow seafood exports. Apparently, this law aims to ban overfishing in the marine environment. Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture could not confirm the existence of such a law. At the time of the survey, the average farm-gate price of rainbow trout produced in Hermel was equivalent to US$ 3.50/kg. Prices of rainbow trout vary according to fish size, health and shape. Sixty percent of farmers do not adopt a fixed market weight and sell fish of sizes ranging from fingerlings to several kilograms, while 40 percent of farmers always sell rainbow trout at a fixed weight. Of the 40 percent who sell fish at a predetermined weight, 47 percent sell fish at less than 1 kg, 21 percent sell fish between 1 and 2 kg, and 32 percent sell fish larger than 2 kg. Only six percent of the fish farmers in Hermel sell fish at retail prices; 68 percent sell only at wholesale prices, and 26 percent put rainbow trout on both the wholesale market and retail market depending on demand and opportunity. Seventeen farms also own a small restaurant near the farm with trout as the main item on the menu. Limited market availability is often the main reason fish farmers cannot get a good price for their product. When farmers depend only on local markets to sell fish, supply might greatly exceed demand, effectively reducing prices of fish (Ahmed and Lorica 2002). Moreover, rural areas usually have lower purchasing power, slower growth of income and lower elasticity of demand (Ahmed and Lorica 2002). Hence, markets other than Syria and Hermel, especially urban markets, should be developed for the fish farmers of Hermel. There are two major steps to expand markets for rainbow trout. First, identify potential markets, locate markets accessible to producers, understand demand pattern and consumer’s preferences and purchasing power (Ahmed and Lorica 2002); and second, improve the image of the fish as perceived by consumers and fish farmers (Edwards 2000). When trout farmers in Hermel stock fish, they usually do not have a plan for the season. They do not know which client is going to buy their crop, when markets would be ready to accept rainbow trout and what fish size the market would require. This is why market weight varies tremendously among trout farmers along the Assi River, although nearly all farmers stock fish at the same time. Fish farmers usually rely on a few merchants to buy the production, giving those merchants a monopoly. Furthermore, because rainbow trout farmers in Hermel do not truly understand production methods, the probability of unexpected disease outbreaks and mortalities is very high. Thus, whenever they experience a disease outbreak, which they do not always know how to avoid, they rush to sell fish to avoid further economic losses. This situation obviously limits profit because the season concludes with less production than the potential of the farm. Production Economics An analysis of the costs and returns of rainbow trout aquaculture based on 100,000 eggs for a typical farmer in Hermel suggests that even small-scale farmers should have a decent income. An example is given below. Eggs are imported in boxes containing 100,000 eggs each. The average price of one box is US$ 2,150. In Hermel, the average survival rate is 43 percent. Most mortalities occur within the first 45 days after stocking. Of the 100,000 hatched eggs, only 43,270 survive. At this FIGURE 4. Dr. Saoud measuring temperature and dissolved oxygen concentration at the source of the Assi River.
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