System requirement report for ‘Level 2’: national management institutions, Fisheries Department in Cambodia

(51 p.)

System requirement report for Level 2 – national management institutions, for the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in the Philippines

This report presents the findings from a thorough literature review, workshops, and group and individual interviews conducted by STREAM in the Philippines in November and December 2003. The ambitious scope of the report combined with the limited time frame and funding available to compile it necessitated the extensive use of secondary data, including both published and unpublished material written by staff of the agencies / organisations involved, with very limited editing of material used. All possible efforts were made to generate information in participation with the government institutions responsible for managing the fisheries, and all contributors (as well as many other stakeholders) were provided with multiple opportunities to comment on the report content. The contributors are listed on the front page of the report. (Pdf contains 56 pages).

Dietary carbohydrate requirement of Heterobranchus longifilis

The dietary carbohydrate requirement of Heterobranchus longifilis was evaluated in two separate experiments.In the first experiment, varying levels of carbohydrate ranging from 28, 24 to58 72% were fed to the fish of mean weight 1.83~c0.02g. Results revealed that the polynomial regression curve for the mean weight gain and the carbohydrate levels did not present a point where Y-max is equal to X-max and so the requirement was not obtained. The second experiment was therefore, conducted with lower levels of carbohydrate ranging from 17.00 to 20.86% and fed to fish with mean weight 0.49~c0.02g. Based on growth and feed efficiency data the carbohydrate requirement was determined to be 19.5%

Special carbon requirement of Spirulina platensis culture. [Translation from: Materialy VII Vsesoyuznogo Rabochego Soveshchanii po Voprosu Krugovorota Veshchestv v Zamknutoi Sisteme na Osnove Zhiznedeyatel'nosti Nizshikh Organizmov p55-57. Kiev, Naukova Dumka, 1972.]

By the industrial cultivation of blue-green algae, there very much appears the important question about their carbon nutrition. Spirulina grows within the range of pH value of medium of 8.5 - 11.0. In this range of pH value in the culture medium CO2 is present in the form of bicarbonate and carbonate, which serves as principal source of carbon for the present type of algae. There is little information yet about the influence of the pH of the medium, and the form of carbon components of the medium, on the rate-increase of Spirulina. Investigations were conducted into the influence of some pH values of medium on the rate-increase of the alga Spirulina platensis.

Gross energy requirement in fishing operations

Energy is a key input into the fish harvesting process. Efficient use of energy helps in reducing operational costs and environmental impact, while increasing profits. Energy optimisation is an important aspect of responsible fishing as enunciated in the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. Gross Energy Requirement (GER) is the sum of all non-renewable energy resources consumed in making available a product or service and is expressed in energy units per physical unit of product or service delivered. GER is a measure of intensity of non-renewable resource use and it reflects the amount of depletion of earth’s inherited store of non-renewable energy in order to create and make available a product or service. In this study, GER in fish harvesting up to the point of landing is estimated in selected fish harvesting systems in the small-mechanised sectors of Indian fisheries and compared with reported results from selected non mechanised and motorised fishing systems to reflect the situation during 1997-1998. Among the fish harvesting systems studied, GER t fish-1 ranged from 5.54 and 5.91 GJ, respectively, for wooden and steel purse seiners powered by 156 hp engines; 6.40 GJ for wooden purse seiner with 235 hp engine; 25.18 GJ for mechanised gillnet/line fishing vessel with 89 hp engines; to 31.40 and 36.97 GJ, respectively, for wooden and steel trawlers powered by 99-106 hp engines.

Dietary cholesterol requirement of larvae and postlarvae of the prawn Penaeus indicus (H. Milne Edwards)

Two sets of experiments were conducted to determine the dietary cholesterol requirement of larvae and postlarvae 1-10 of Penaeus indicus. Seven approximately isocaloric and isonitrogenous purified experimental diets were tried with graded levels of cholesterol ranging from 0 to 4%. The control feed for larvae and postlarvae 1-10 were phytoplankton and compounded feed NPCL-17, developed by CMFRI, Cochin respectively. Result of these experiments indicates that cholesterol is an essential nutrient in the diet of larvae and postlarvae 1-10. Survival and growth of larvae and postlarvae 1-10 were greatly affected by cholesterol deficiency in the diet. The optimal cholesterol requirement for larvae appeared to be 0.5% of the diet, while it was higher for postlarvae where inclusion of cholesterol at a level of 2% in the diet gave higher growth.

A preliminary study on the protein requirement of Chanos chanos (Forskal) fry in a controlled environment

Growth rate of fish appeared to be related to the levels of the protein in the diet up to 40%. Fish fed diets containing 50 and 60% grew slower than those fed 40%, and the optimum level appears to be 40% when fed to fry at a rate of 10% of body weight. Best feed conversion of 1.96 was also obtained from the 40% protein diet. Mean survival rates were low in all treatments, but highest for the 40% protein diet. The competition of 5 isocaloric experimental diets containing various levels of protein are tabulated, as are weight gains, diet conversions and survival rates for milkfish fry fed various dietary levels of protein. Growth curves for milkfish fry are shown, and the relationship between weight gains of milkfish fry and the dietary levels of protein are illustrated.

Dietary crude protein requirement of Tilapia nilotica fry

To determine growth and survival of Tilapia nilotica fry fed formulated practical dry diets with varying crude protein levels, fish were subjected to 3 seperate feeding trials. Isocaloric practical diets containing 20, 25, 30 and 35% crude protein were fed to fry at 15% fish biomass daily for 7 weeks in 2 trials and another set containing 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50% was given for 8 weeks. On the basis of growth, survival and feed conversion, T. nilotica fry required 35% crude protein in the practical diets given at 15% fish biomass.

A probability-based approach to setting annual catch levels.

The requirement of setting annual catch limits to prevent overfishing has been added to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 (MSRA). Because this requirement is new, a body of applied scientific practice for deriving annual catch limits and accompanying targets does not yet exist. This article demonstrates an approach to setting levels of catch that is intended to keep the probability of future overfishing at a preset low level. The proposed framework is based on stochastic projection with uncertainty in population dynamics. The framework extends common projection methodology by including uncertainty in the limit reference point and in management implementation, and by making explicit the risk of overfishing that managers consider acceptable. The approach is illustrated with application to gag (Mycteroperca microlepis), a grouper that inhabits the waters off the southeastern United States. Although devised to satisfy new legislation of the MSRA, the framework has potential application to any fishery where the management goal is to limit the risk of overfishing by controlling catch.

Informational report: Bycatch reduction devices used in the Pink Shrimp trawl fishery

The California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) has the authority to require one or any combination of Bycatch Reduction Device (BRD) types in the trawl fishery within California waters for Pacific ocean shrimp (Pandalus jordani), most commonly referred to as pink shrimp. The purpose of this report is to provide the Commission with the best available information about the BRDs used in the pink shrimp trawl fishery. The mandatory requirement for BRDs occurred in California in 2002, and in Oregon and Washington in 2003, resulting from an effort to minimize bycatch of overfished and quota managed groundfish species. Three types of BRDs currently satisfy the requirement for this device in the California fishery: 1) the Nordmøre grate (rigid-grate excluder); 2) soft-panel excluder; and 3) fisheye excluder; however, the design, specifications, and efficacy differ by BRD type. Although no data has been collected on BRDs directly from the California pink shrimp fishery, extensive research on the efficacy and differences among BRD types has been conducted by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) since the mid-1990s. Rigid-grate excluders are widely considered to be the most effective of the three BRD types at reducing groundfish bycatch. Over 90 percent of the Oregon pink shrimp fleet use rigid-grate excluders. The majority of the current California pink shrimp fleet also uses rigid-grate excluders, according to a telephone survey conducted by the California Department of Fish and Game (Department) in 2007-2008 of pink shrimp fishermen who have been active in the California fishery in recent years. Hinged rigid-grate excluders have been developed in recent years to reduce the bending of the BRD on vessels that employ net reels to stow and deploy their trawl nets, and they have been used successfully on both single- and double-rig vessels in Oregon. Soft-panel excluders have been demonstrated to be effective at reducing groundfish bycatch, although excessive shrimp loss and other problems have also been associated with this design. Fisheye excluders have been used in the California fishery in the past, but they were disapproved in Oregon and Washington in 2003 because they were found to be less effective at reducing groundfish bycatch than other designs. The reputation of the United States west coast pink shrimp fishery as one of the cleanest shrimp fisheries in the world is largely attributed to the effectiveness of BRDs at reducing groundfish bycatch. Nevertheless, BRD research and development is still a relatively new field and additional modifications and methods may further reduce bycatch rates in the pink shrimp fishery.(PDF contains 12 pages.)

Automated, objective texture segmentation of multibeam echosounder data - Seafloor survey and substrate maps from James Island to Ozette Lake, Washington Outer Coast

Without knowledge of basic seafloor characteristics, the ability to address any number of critical marine and/or coastal management issues is diminished. For example, management and conservation of essential fish habitat (EFH), a requirement mandated by federally guided fishery management plans (FMPs), requires among other things a description of habitats for federally managed species. Although the list of attributes important to habitat are numerous, the ability to efficiently and effectively describe many, and especially at the scales required, does not exist with the tools currently available. However, several characteristics of seafloor morphology are readily obtainable at multiple scales and can serve as useful descriptors of habitat. Recent advancements in acoustic technology, such as multibeam echosounding (MBES), can provide remote indication of surficial sediment properties such as texture, hardness, or roughness, and further permit highly detailed renderings of seafloor morphology. With acoustic-based surveys providing a relatively efficient method for data acquisition, there exists a need for efficient and reproducible automated segmentation routines to process the data. Using MBES data collected by the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (OCNMS), and through a contracted seafloor survey, we expanded on the techniques of Cutter et al. (2003) to describe an objective repeatable process that uses parameterized local Fourier histogram (LFH) texture features to automate segmentation of surficial sediments from acoustic imagery using a maximum likelihood decision rule. Sonar signatures and classification performance were evaluated using video imagery obtained from a towed camera sled. Segmented raster images were converted to polygon features and attributed using a hierarchical deep-water marine benthic classification scheme (Greene et al. 1999) for use in a geographical information system (GIS). (PDF contains 41 pages.)

Maintaining the "public good" nature of improved fish strains: dissemination of knowledge and materials

Many sources of information that discuss currents problems of food security point to the importance of farmed fish as an ideal food source that can be grown by poor farmers, (Asian Development Bank 2004). Furthermore, the development of improved strains of fish suitable for low-input aquaculture such as Tilapia, has demonstrated the feasibility of an approach that combines “cutting edge science” with accessible technology, as a means for improving the nutrition and livelihoods of both the urban poor and poor farmers in developing countries (Mair et al. 2002). However, the use of improved strains of fish as a means of reducing hunger and improving livelihoods has proved to be difficult to sustain, especially as a public good, when external (development) funding sources devoted to this area are minimal1. In addition, the more complicated problem of delivery of an aquaculture system, not just improved fish strains and the technology, can present difficulties and may go explicitly unrecognized (from Sissel Rogne, as cited by Silje Rem 2002). Thus, the involvement of private partners has featured prominently in the strategy for transferring to the public technology related to improved Tilapia strains. Partnering with the private sector in delivery schemes to the poor should take into account both the public goods aspect and the requirement that the traits selected for breeding “improved” strains meet the actual needs of the resource poor farmer. Other dissemination approaches involving the public sector may require a large investment in capacity building. However, the use of public sector institutions as delivery agents encourages the maintaining of the “public good” nature of the products.

Guidelines for the Provision of Garbage Reception Facilities at Ports Under MARPOL Annex V

This report offers guidelines for the provision of adequate port reception facilities for vessel-generated garbage under the requirements of Annex V of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships, 1973 (MARPOL 73/78), Regulations for the Prevention of Pollution by Garbage from Ships. MARPOL Annex V prohibits at-sea disposal of plastic materials from vessels, and specifies the distance from shore at which other materials may be dumped. Annex V also requires the provision of port reception facilities for garbage, but it does not specify these facilities or how they are to be provided. Since the at-sea dumping restrictions apply to all vessels, the reception facility requirement applies to all ports, terminals, and marinas that serve vessels. These guidelines were prepared to assist port owners and operators in meeting their obligation to provide adequate reception facilities for garbage. The report synthesizes available information and draws upon experience from the first years ofimplementation of MARPOL Annex V. (PDF file contains 55 pages.)

Improvement in the nutritive quality of soyabean meal by co-ensiling with under-utilized fish discards

Improvement in the nutritive value of soybean meal was investigated by Co-ensiling it with underutilized trash fish discards (gizzard shad)at different proportions. The following proportions of gizzard shad to soybean meal were used; (a) 100% gizzard shad + acid combination (b)80% gizzard shad +20% soybean meal & 10% WB (c) 60% gizzard shad + 40% soybean meal & 10% WB (d) 100% gizzard shad without acid combination. Co-ensiling was achieved by adding sufficient acid to produce a paste. Products were neutralized by addition of 2% (by weight) calcium hydroxide and drying was affected by freeze-drying.The dried silage products were stored at low temperatures. Products were analysed for proximate composition and amino acid composition.The amino acid composition and ration of essential amino acid. Non essential amino acid (EAA/NEAA) was used as index of nutritive quality. Also essential amino acid profile of the co-ensiled products were compared with essential amino acid requirement of some warmwater fish species to estimate their nutritive usefulness for these species

Pyridoxine and survival of tilapia (Sarotherodon mossambicus Peters)

Pyridoxine requirements of tilapia (Sarotherodon mossambicus Peters) were studied in two separate experiments using casein-based diets. In Experiment 1, fish on pyridoxine supplemented diet (14.0mg/100g diet) showed no adverse symptoms and remained healthy while fish on a pyridoxine-free diet showed abnormal behaviour with high mortality. Graded dietary pyridoxine (0.13 to 3.52mg/100g diet) was used in Experiment 2. Lower dietary supplementations of pyridoxine resulted in reduced weight increase, high mortality, high ratio of serum glutamate-oxal-acetate transaminase glutamate-pyruvate transaminase, and reduced blood sugar. The results suggest the dietary requirement of pyridoxine may be between 0.5g and 1.17mg/100g diet; higher supplementations did not appear to confer any further benefits