Fisheries Expand Carp Production for Food and Income Security
Globally, aquaculture has grown from an alternative means of producing marine and freshwater plants and animals to an integral part of the existing food supply.
In fact, aquaculture is now the most promising means of supplying the protein that the world will require to feed its growing population to compensate for the reduced fishery stocks.
The world has seen changes in fishing technologies and efforts that have facilitated our ability to harvest fish and other aquatic organisms from the sea, rivers and lakes at a rate never before experienced.
As the world population has continued to increase so has the demand for aquatic protein. This has caused countries to look within and invest more into aquaculture research work.
For Fiji, aquaculture technical officers of the Ministry of Fisheries have been putting in considerable effort annually to produce post larvae (baby) shrimps, freshwater prawns and tilapia frys that are distributed to farms across the county as its demand has increased over the years.
Grass Carp production
In realising the urgent need to grow the aquaculture sector, the Ministry after internal assessments has decided to fully revive and expand Grass Carp production in Fiji.
Grass carp is not only a food security and livelihood commodity but is also a biological weed control for our freshwater river systems as they normally dwell in the mid-lower layer of the water column. Grass carp was introduced into the country back in the 1970s to take care of the weed problems in the Rewa River system which increased due to the cessation of dredging and major river traffic.
A gift consignment of 2000 grass carp fingerlings was sent to Fiji in 1974 from the Central Inland Fisheries Research Substation in Cuttack, India as well as a fisheries expert.
The Fijian Government then initiated a pilot scheme for the mass production of grass carp fry and fingerlings at the Naduruloulou Research
Station.
With time, all those that were involved in the initial grass carp production program retired from the service and the technical knowledge of it’s production also lost along the way.
Training
Last year, the ministry engaged the services of former Fisheries Officer, Maleli Dawai who is a trained expert in the artificial breeding of Chinese carps, namely the Grass Carp and Silver Carp species.
With over 30 years of work experience and travelling to various places across the world to learn more on Grass Carp production, Mr Dawai says that he is satisfied with the results of the training.
After four months of training, four officers have successfully completed their practical and theoretical training programme and can now carry out the breeding cycle independently.
“Initially when we first started the training, I had been taking charge of all the steps until the eggs were hatched and the fingerlings were released into the pond. Now, the technical officers have owned it and I am proud of their achievements,” he smiled.
Officers learned all aspects and stages of Grass Carp production
from the biological characteristics of grass carp and their application in hatchery and nursing to hands on practical sessions of artificial breeding of grass carp as well as hatchery operations. Fisheries Technical Officer and a participant of the Grass Carp Production training, Miriama Delai, says that hatchery work involves hard work, commitment and sacrifice. “Commitment in the sense that officers need to be tending to these live species especially during breeding hatchery cycles. For instance, prawn breeding hatchery cycle can take more than a month and this involves on the job monitoring and assessing especially during the early hours of the morning from 1am,” explained Ms Delai. She added that there are few challenges which contributes to the high mortality of a cultured species which can include a water pump breakdown or power outage. “It is for these reasons that hatchery attendees need to be physically and mentally fit and be able to carry out multi-tasking during any hatchery emergency.”
She adds that she is privileged to have worked under the supervision of Maleli Dawai during his time with the Ministry of Fisheries and is now very fortunate to be one of a few aquaculture female officers to be part of the carp breeding cycle at Naduruloulou Reseach Station. “The training was more practical and was simple enough for us to understand. We learnt all stages from pond preparation, broodstock management and selection, hatchery (induced method, spawning, egg collection, incubation), stocking, feed preparation and record keeping. I am confident that we can now run a carp breeding cycle,” she said.
Carp breeding
There were two induced breeding cycles of grass carp and one induced breeding cycle of silver carp during the period of October to November, 2020.
The first grass carp breeding was on October 30, 2020 with a production of 140,000 frys.
Second grass carp breeding was on November 10, 2020 with the production of 15,240 frys and the third breeding was on silver carp breeding with a production of 7770 silver carp frys.
The training surpassed the target production of 100,000 frys as they now have a total of 163,010 frys in the rearing pond.
Grass carp can reach sexual maturity under culture conditions, but cannot spawn naturally.
Hormone injection and mental stimuli, such as environflowing water are necessary spawning in tanks.
Grass carp grow rapidly and reach a maximum weight of 35 kg in the wild. To date the Carp frys have been transferred to rearing ponds for another period of one to two months before they are ready to be distributed to aquaculture farmers or for river release.
In the next few weeks, interested farmers will be able to collect their fingerlings from the Naduruloulou Research Station to be transferred to their individual ponds.
In a COVID-19 era combined with more frequent natural disasters as a consequence of climate change, many countries the world over will turn to the resource-based sectors to rescue their spiraling economies and help provide the basic necessities of life.
The Ministry of Fisheries is prioritising the growth of the aquaculture sector not so much as a matter of choice, but as a necessity. Sustainable aquaculture will not only help feed our people, but also offer the needed protection and conservation of our ocean resources. for induced