WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • DECEMBER 2016 3 Editor’s Note In previous issues of World Aquaculture, I have deliberately not written about the many interesting places I’ve visited and the work that I’ve done as a freelance consultant. My Note for this issue is different. I feel compelled to write about recent work in Bangladesh, leading a team that reviewed the USAID-funded Aquaculture for Income and Nutrition (AIN) project, implemented by the WorldFish Center. I’m moved to write about my experience because I came away being very impressed with the aquaculture sector there. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2016 report from the FAO indicates that Bangladesh is the world’s fifth largest producer of aquatic animals, with about 2 million t of production, 86 percent of it inland. There are fish ponds literally everywhere and the country is endowed with about 7-8 million ha of aquatic resources. The country is among the most densely populated in the world, with over 1100 people/km2. It would be equivalent to moving the entire population of the US to Arizona. The country is low-lying and highly vulnerable to periodic tropical cyclones and to the effects of climate change, which are already being felt in the coastal areas. The AIN project undertook several fruitful initiatives. One major project activity was the replacement of carp (mostly rohu) broodstock in more than 80 hatcheries, most of which are located in the Jessore area, considered the “seed basket” of the country. A combination of small hatchery broodfish populations, repeated use and poor broodfish selection practices had led to diminished performance of the seed produced. The project arranged to capture new broodfish from natural stocks in three major rivers of the country. The project also provided support to hatcheries in the form of training on brood pond management practices and a so-called “oxygen tower” or tiered aeration screen to aerate oxygen-deficient groundwater. Collectively these had a profound impact on the survival of carp spawn and also resulted in decentralization of carp seed production from the Jessore area. Intervening at the hatchery level – through improvement in broodstock quality and management practices – had impacts that extended downstream in the value chain to nursery pond operators, seed traders and ultimately farmers. The project was so successful in this regard that the supply of fish has increased throughout the project area, resulting in a decline in fish prices. Although not part of the original project proposal, WorldFish initiated genetic improvement programs for rohu, catla and silver carp, with the program for rohu farthest along. The project does not plan to release improved fish until a “remarkable” difference between the improved fish and existing stocks can be demonstrated. This will allow hatcheries to charge a higher price for improved seed. The project introduced the 11th generation GIFT strain of tilapia from Malaysia, as well as the hatchery technology and training package previously mentioned. After the initial quarantine, fingerlings were distributed to 30 hatcheries, some of which were established as a tilapia breeding nucleus (TBN) to produce broodstock for satellite hatcheries. The project established a male rotation program among eight cohorts on each TBN to attempt to preserve the genetic quality of the broodstock. Tilapia was a relatively unpopular fish in Bangladesh until the mid-1990s, but is now well-received and current production has rapidly expanded to around 350,000 t. Although Bangladesh is not as big a player in marine shrimp farming as many other countries in Asia, the sector is growing, especially because some coastal areas where rice farming was formerly widespread have become salinized and shrimp farming is one of the few options available, especially in the large, extensive polders called ghers. The sector is characterized by excess capacity on the hatchery side and on the processing side. The project worked with hatcheries, first to provide support for PCR testing for white spot syndrome virus and later working with a single hatchery to introduce SPF black tiger shrimp broodstock from Moana Technologies in Hawaii. The sector continues to have problems with biosecurity and the dispersed, smallvolume nature of production, but the potential is great. There was a significant effort to train “household” farmers, most of whom are women. Part of the training was in household nutrition, particularly about the advantage of consuming small indigenous species, such as mola (Amblypharyngodon mola), whole as a source of micronutrients. The project took a train-the-trainer approach and ultimately emphasized using local service providers (LSPs) in the form of nursery pond operators, fry traders and feed mill owners to provide training to project beneficiaries. Working in Bangladesh was a fascinating experience. It was impressive to see the great importance of aquaculture to the livelihoods and household nutrition of rural smallholding farmers. The country is an aquaculture powerhouse. We don’t hear much about it because nearly all fish are consumed internally. It’s rather unfortunate that the popular and aquaculture press in the global North focuses on countries and sectors involved in global trade, giving us a skewed perspective on the importance of aquaculture in countries with a high degree of dependence on aquaculture for protein food security. — John A. Hargreaves, Editor-in-Chief Bangladesh: Aquaculture Powerhouse The Editor-in-Chief presenting a copy of World Aquaculture to AWM Anisuzzaman, communications coordinator for the WorldFish AIN project, responsible for the stunning image on the cover of the March 2016 issue.
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