World Aquaculture March 2019

38 MARCH 2019 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S.ORG T he Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (AARD), part of the Ministry of Agriculture, Indonesia, was first established in 1974 and major growth in research and scientific literature was being generated by 1990. AARD had put in place well-trained and well-equipped researchers, facilities, equipment and it identified that the key to future success was the utilization of the integrated capability. Part of the early effort was to generate the Second Long-Term (25 year) Development Plan (1994-2018) with three priorities set by AARD: 1) alleviation of poverty, especially in rural areas, 2) agro-industry development and diversification and 3) employment creation. This article summarizes the development of hatchery technology for milkfish Chanos chanos and also what would follow. The story described here with milkfish should be told to disseminate positive aspects so other nations can derive maximum benefits from technological advances (Caliskan 2015). A quotation from one of the greatest presidents of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt, is a good way to summarize what happened regarding milkfish: “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those Status of Milkfish Culture in Indonesia: An Example of What Happens With Technological Changes Gede Sumirasa, Fuad Cholick, Taufik Ahmad, Katsumi Aida, Cheng-Sheng Lee, Harry Ako and Clyde S. Tamaru who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little” (Roosevelt 1937). That was clearly the focus of AARD from its inception and apparently this did occur with milkfish. Milkfish Culture in Ancient Hawaii Milkfish culture began centuries ago in Southeast Asia and Hawaii. The development of ancient Hawaiian fishponds marks one of the first technological advancements in aquaculture. That technology is estimated to have begun around the fourteenth century but the precise date is unknown (Kikuchi 1976). The stone walls of the ancient Hawaiian fishponds were constructed using a technique known as a “dry stack” that relies on skilled stacking of stones that uses weight and gravity to lock the stones into place. The same technique was used to construct a sluice canal that also included a fixed gate on the ocean side of the canal called a m ākā h ā, an inclusion that marks the dawn of aquaculture in Hawaii (Kikuchi 1976, Anonymous 1989). A schematic of the sluice canal and the fixed gate (Fig. 1) depicts how fish were harvested from these ponds. The gate can be distinguished from a fish trap because FIGURE 1. Schematic of sluice canal and gate (mākāhā) built into Hawaiian fishponds and used for collection of fish. (Source: Costa-Pierce 1987). FIGURE 2. Photograph of moveable gate at Molii fishpond.