WBL/85/WP - 3
SOME OBSERVATIONS ON
SEAFARMING MANAGEMENT

by

W.L. Chan, B. Tiensongrusmee, S. Pontjoprawiro and I. Soedjarwo¹

I. INTRODUCTION

Admittedly, seafarming is a relatively new fishery activity to Indonesia; but it is an activity that can be mastered within a rather short period of time given the chance of understanding the inter-relationships of the different facets. It has happened to all countries in the region, and there is no reason that Indonesia is an exception.

The purpose of this set of notes is to enable seafarming colleagues to share some of the main issues with the staff of the FAO/UNDP Seafarming Development Project INS/81/008. It is by no means complete but hopefully it serves a useful start.

II. NEED FOR MANAGEMENT

Experience has shown that irrespective of the scale of investment, seafarming requires:

1. on the part of the operator, a comprehensive understanding of the range and interrelationships of potential problems and tasks involved, with a view to
2. identifying and resolving these problems or tasks for the design of a manageable, functional and effective organisation of the required and/or given manpower, facility and other supporting resources, and at the same time
3. built into such an organisation standing arrangements as specific and task-oriented as possible to tackle urgent natural and man-made threats through crisis management with timeliness and effectiveness.

The need for management in the betterment of fisheries, both capture and captive, has for some time been a key development issue. In this early stage of seafarming development, advantage should therefore, be taken to introduce capabilities in the design of management practices to ensure the betterment of the interest of both the prospective operators and the Government management authorities. Technical development cannot be effective without a sound management system in support of investment.

The management of constraints, risks and other local problems inherent in a culture area plays a vital role in realising planned production programmes. Their identification and the provision of problem-solving technical backup should thus be a necessity in management design. The control of mortalities, the realisation of scheduled production programme, and the timeliness in taking actions are all directly and indirectly responsible for the optimisation of the eventual annual gross profit through the minimisation of losses on the one hand and the optimisation of the cost-effectiveness of inputs on the other.

Fig. 1 summarizes the inter-relationships among various independent and dependent variables in the forecast of the eventual level of profit in seafarming management. It can therefore, be seen that realistic management planning is vital to viable investment, and that a practical strategy in problem solving is an asolute necessity.

1) FAO/UNDP Seafarming Development Project INS/81/008.

Although a management schedule for one site may not necessarily be applicable to another, the same principles, in essence, do hold true in all cases. Errors and poor decisions may be expected from time to time, and discrepancies may be revealed through actual performance. These provide however, excellent opportunities to learn from mistakes, and to revise and to improve management design to facilitate progresses to be made in management.

Unlike animal husbandry, whose development has made significant technological advances to enable controlled production and even genetical improvement of the species, seafarming is still in its infancy. In this connection, a number of key constraints can be identified.

1. Available scientific information particularly of an applied nature in the tropical region is inadequate for a number of inherent reasons, of which the principal one is the lack of integrated research and development approach.
2. Arising from these situations, disease and nutritional problems, for examples, then become difficult to solve, thus limiting the choice of species, the design of culture system, and in fact all practices vital to the optimisation of yield rate.
3. Seed supply has to depend upon the little understood wild seed stocks of the cultured species, thus restricting the design of production system.
4. These in turn affect the production schedule and therefore, also the annual profit level.
5. On the other hand, orderly development would appear to be difficult in absence of legal recognition of the rights of the operator to his facilities and fish stocks, making losses through poaching and sabotage absolutely unmanageable.
6. The low priority of fisheries in the hierarchy of national development cannot assure the satisfaction of the needs of operators, especially in competition with the “common users” of the seas who are in fact the key pollution sources having direct and indirect conflict with seafarming.
7. The backwardness of infrastructural support, product distribution system, traditional market and marketing “habits”, postharvest practices and any and all similar and related traditional problems are expected to present adverse effects to otherwise viable opportunities of seafarming.

III. FACILITY MANAGEMENT

Seafarming facilities not only incur a significant percentage of annual production cost but also directly and indirectly affect the well-being of the cultivated stocks. The cost-effectiveness of investment can thus be optimised through the design of facility management schedules.

1. Finfish Culture Facility The following factors are particularly relevant in the design of management schedule :
   1. Structural and material defects must be checked daily during feeding period (s) for immediate repair to prevent escapement of the confined fish and therefore, loss of the cultured stock. It also prevents loss of facility.
   2. This also serves to reduce the depreciation rate of facility and facility materials, thereby also reducing the amortisation rate in the annual cost and benefit calculations.
   3. Timeliness in detaching foulers from netcages maintains an optimum rate of water transport through the impounded water thereby raising the oxygen budget and average daily weight increment of the fish stock on the one hand, and minimising difficulties in ridding the otherwise fast-attaching foulers on the other.
   4. The principles of good maintenance also apply to the caring of sea transport facilities, fish holding utencils for marketing the products, pumps, nets, and the range of facility items which collectively add up facility costs.
   5. Loss of fish stock through mismanaged facility has also been known. In particular, the reinforcement of the material strength of facility and the facility itself to confront adverse weather conditions during strong monsoonal seasons, is indeed a very essential management input.
2. Molluse Culture Facility. In molluse culture, realistic facility management schedules are also required.
   1. For hanging culture methods using floating devices and hanging lines, structural and material strength defects must be checked and repaired at all time.
   2. For bottom pole methods, it is again the material strength and the rig-up of the facility which should be checked and repaired to avoid losses.
   3. For bottom rock culture methods, high rate of siltation over the substrate suffocates the cultivated mollusc stock, and periodic checking of the effect of siltation is essential.
3. Eucheuma seaweed Culture. For the off-bottom hanging culture of Eucheuma seaweed, facility management would appear to be a vitally important input.
   1. Suitable Euchema culture sites normally received more direct oceanic water masses. As such they are more prone to the adverse effects of strong winds, reef channel water transport and irregular strong wave actions. The strengthening of facility during rough seasons thus becomes vital to successful culture operations.
   2. The choice of culture facility is another important factor wich should require differing management schedule.

IV. STOCK MANAGEMENT

Ideally, stock management in seafarming should conform with that in agriculture and animal husbandry. For many reasons considerable advances have to be made before seafarming could be placed onto the same footing. There are however, certain salient management inputs which are within the command of our abilities, and which are vital to the planning, implementation and realisation of production programmes.

1. Finfish. In marine fishcage culture, stock management is an extremely vital input. This form of culture confines large numbers of fish, either of one or several kinds, within a given limited space, depriving the stocked fish of their preference or pursuit of survival needs. This posses a serious ecological stress on the species with respect to feed and nutritional requirements, environmental suitability, and among other factors, competition. The end results of this high density culture system invariably include a number of common phenomena depending on the species involved.

These are :

1. Uneven growth as a result of dominance by the larger or stronger fish in competing for food and space.
2. Physical damages to the smaller or weaker fish due to agressive behaviour exhibited by the larger fish, often resulting in disease infection to be followed later in more serious disease infestation.
3. Cannibalistic behaviour exhibited by the larger fish invariably bringing about great losses of stock.
4. Gradual and abrupt changes in environmental conditions coupled with moving tidal or slack tidal conditions have been known to have been responsible for large scale losses of fish stocks.

In their natural setting, the fish would be in a position to avoid unfavourable circumstances and to pursue their needs.

To at least lessen these adverse effects on the stock in the interest of meeting production schedule, the following management measures should be attempted:

1. As far as possible fish stocked in one cage should be of a uniform size to be achieved by periodic grading. In both stocking and handling great care must be taken to avoid direct or indirect damages to the fish, such as flesh wounds, internal bleeding, detached scales and broken fins which may later on lead to disease infestation.
2. Planned optimal biomass carrying capacity for a given volume of impounded water should be periodically re-assessed relative to environmental conditions and the wellbeing of the fish, in order to ensure optimisation of the cost-effectiveness of the invested facility.
3. Inputs (a) and (b) would enable optimal growth under an “equal-handicap” condition and further facilitated by a balance between the available “oxygen budget” and the periodically revised “optimal biomass carrying capacity” of the caged water.
4. Losses of weight gained through poor growth, disease infestation (particularly primary infection stage) cannibalistic behaviour and other stressful conditions, are principal threats to planned production programme, which can also be avoided or reduced through (a) and (b).
5. The monitoring of the occurence of stratification in the seawater column as a result of differences in salinity (halocline) and temperature (thermocline), must be an ongoing, daily chore.
   Such phenomena during slack tides can trigger off mass mortality normally through aphyxiation. This type of situations is more likely to take place in indented coastlines during long periods of minimal tidal fluctuations associated with low air pressure and high air temperature. Potentially dangerous periods of this type of environmental situations can be predicted if good, reliable weather records are kept.

2. Mollusc. Stock management is also of vital significance in the production of mollusc engaging off - bottom and on - bottom culture methods. Since molluscs are filter-feeders, certain activities concerned with attaining acceptable edible quality are also part of the work in stock management.

1. Over-crowding is a common phenomenon in mussel and oyster culture. It reduces the harvestable numbers of the species, as well as the condition factor of the individuals. Thinning out is thus an important task in stock management.
2. Bivalves grow best in areas of high primary productivity, or in waters fed by a high level of nutrients normally associated directly or indirectly with densely populated areas. Edibility standards of such stock should thus be tested with a view to deciding to relay them to clean areas for a period of time before harvesting. Managers should know that while bacteria and other microbes may be cleansed or thinned out, metallic contaminants tend to increase in level in older mollusc and cannot be reduced to meet public health standards.
3. All mollusc culture grounds must be declared as off-limit areas to activities of many common “users” of the sea. These include in particular any authorities having direct or indirect responsibilities of oil spills. These also include those activities responsible for the dispersing and/or mopping up of oil spills. Both hydrocarbons and dispersants are toxic to mollusc; and when dispersed into tiny droplets these would become lethal to the mollusc. Special arrangements must be made with a thorough understanding of all concerned authorities for the handling of oil spills. Except stocks grown on clutch fixed to the bottom, all off-bottom stocks must be removed from areas to be effected by the spilled oil.
4. On other abrupt environmental changes known to be detrimental to the mollusc, management measures must also be taken. These are discussed under Chapter XII.
5. Mass mortalities among cultivated mollusc stocks caused by environmental changes and disease infestation, are also common. These are discussed under Chapters VI, VII, VIII and XII.
6. To avoid the spread of harmful pathogens, the deterioration of the utilisable life span of a ground, and the legal problems over individual rights to the dividual stock and facility, some manageable measures must be established for the gazetting of grounds to be granted to operators.
7. Attentive facility management would also avoid unnecessary losses of stocks.

3. Eucheuma Seaweed. Stock management in the culture of Eucheuma seaweed emphasises on the maintenance of the culture facility, the implementation of cropping schedule and the observation on the general well-being of the stock under culture.

1. Culture facilities must be checked regularly and defects must be corrected to avoid loss of stock and facility.
2. Scheduled cropping should be adhered to so as to enable production programme to be implemented according to needs.
3. The general well-being of the stock with respect to the planned culture programme and environmental conditions should be checked and any problems arising should be put right.

V. PEST AND DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Pest and disease are notorious for their harmful effects on the economic well-being in seafarming. These may occur in an area as a part of its norm, or may be introduced to the area via certain activity. Unlike animal husbandry, both prevention and cure of diseases in aquatic organisms are very little understood. Moreover, genetic improvement on the species is almost unknown. The management of these problems then become a rather difficult and awkward undertaking.

1. Pest. Pests are normally resident organisms either preying on the cultivated stocks or incurring damanges to facilities resulting in loss of stocks. In site selection, the presence of pests must be considered seriously as a highly potential threat to production programmes.

1. Otter. This animal is a serious pest causing considerable damages to both the fish stocks and culture facilities. Gillnet can be used to surround floating netcages to prevent the otter from reaching the facility.
2. Puffer. The puffer, or blowfish (Tetraodontidae and Lagocephalidae), is also known to be a very damaging pest as it nibbles at the netting with its parrot-like dental plates in a bid to get at the feeds sunk to the bottom of netcages. Galvanised wire netcage is a useful deterrent.
3. Bird. Many species of birds are well-known predators feeding on the confined fish. In floating netcage culture, loss of stock can be avoided by using a good cover net at all times. Occasional killing of these birds with air rifle shots has also shown no results in discouranging them to frequent approach to netcages. They are particularly bad to fishes in nursery cages.
4. Jellyfish. Jelly fish at certain time of the year occurs in large numbers clotting up netcage and blocking tidal water or current flow, thus minimising the required oxygen budget. Their stinging cells also may cause considerable irritation to the already stressed fish. It is difficult to prevent this clogging phenomenon particularly when tidal water flows towards the fishcage. Physical removal using strong poles or partially blocking the water flow path with small-meshed gillnets, may sometimes help.

2. Disease. Disease is herein used to include bacteria, viruses, protozoans and parasites (crustaceans, helminths, etc.). It is a highly specialised subject which has only begun to make recent advancements.

Poikilothermy (body temperature conforms to environmental temperature) in the cultured organisms is most prone to the constraints of the aquatic environment. This consideration is against the physical and biological degradative influences of the aquatic medium that the milieu interieur of the fish must be maintained and with which necessary exchanges of materials must take place. The interplay between these two ecological factors- the fluctuations in the aquatic environment and the poikilotherm's inability to control its temperature - is thus of overriding significance in dictating the chain of events following any pathological change such as microbial infection, traumatic damage or nutritional deficiency.

Under confined condition in the case of finfish culture in netcages, “stress” factors are especially important in understanding the contracting of disease in fish. For practical purpose, stress is defined as a physiological stage produced by an environment or other factors on the fish which extends the adaptive responses of the organism beyond the normal range, or which disturbs the normal functioning to such an extent that the chances of survival are significantly reduced.

In response to environmental stress, the general adaptation syndrome is normally represented by non-specific physiological and biochemical changes in three phases:

1. the alarm reaction;
2. the stages of resistance during which adaptation to achieve home statis under the changed circumstances is taking place; and
3. the stage of exhaustion which adaptation has ceased to be adequate and home-statis is not achieved.

When the stage of exhaustion is reached, microorganisms of the gut and the environment, which are innocuous to the healthy fish, are able to invade the host. Under high density stocking conditions stress from environment is particularly pronounced, and the spreading of diseases within a stock and between stocks is also a serious management problem.

In the wild there are many phyla of the animal kingdom which are parasitic on fish and mollusc. Despite the hundreds of known - species of parasites, very few species are really harmful to fish. In cultured fish and mollusc populations however, parasites often cause serious outbreaks of disease. Under high density stocking conditions, circumstances may favour certain parasite species so that the parasite population increases to a very high level. The numbers of parasites necessary to cause harm to a fish varies considerably with the species and size of its host and its health status.

Many parasites are host-specific to at least some degree and are capable of infecting only one or only a limited number of host species. The individual parasite may have widely differing effects on different host species.

The management of diseases and disease outbreaks must be seriously carried out. On noticing “abnormal” behaviour and also of the environmental conditions at the time. In accordance with the opinion of the experienced supervisor or farm hand, a quick report to the nearest technical office should be made with the recorded information. The technical office will decide on the appropriate action to be taken.

When fish are dying, make samples of the dying (not the dead) fish. Place each fish in clean plastick bag, and seal the bag. Put the bag in a wide-mouth thermos together with plentiful of good ice. Tighten the thermos lid, and send the samples thus prepared to the nearest disease diagnosis office for its approriate actions. Together with the samples, again environmental data and the symptoms of the dying and dead fish should be accurately documented to assist diagnosis and recommendation of treatment.

Normally, it is difficult to cure diseases. Prevention is therefore, always the better option in reducing loss of fish through mortality.

VI. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

The need to manage the environment for the betterment of the growth, survival and production of the species is a very essential necessity. Lessons must be learned from unmanaged or poorly managed seafarming grounds and the associated resulting mass mortality. The lack of environmental management in seafarming can indeed bring adverse consequences to investments.

For the culture of finfishes, mollusc and Eucheuma seaweeds, the same principles apply although one group of organisms may be more susceptable to certain environmental conditions than the other. In all causes, environmental management in seafarming is directed towards the following targets:

1. to prolong the utilisable life-span to culture grounds through preservation of the original conditions of its substrate and the benthic community therein;
2. to ensure minimal environmental changes from the norm which might bring about mass mortalities;
3. to protect the economic interest of culture grounds to needy social groups or investments;
4. to make seafarming manageable to governmental authorities through the legal recognition of the basic rights of operators guidelines for common good;
5. to sustain an optimal level of average value and edible health standard of the products.

The original conditions of the aquatic and adjoining shore environment serve to provide much baseline information with which subsequent conditions then provides reliable indicators of environmental changes, which can then be interpreted as to whether or not the aquatic environment utilised for seafarming has been affected, and if so what might have been the cause. This is an investigatory undertaking which normally falls within the responsibilities of marine science or fisheries research.

Changes in the aquatic environment can normally be measured and monitored by referring to :

1. the diverse variety and quantity of benthic (bottom) organisms in the substrate of the seafarming grounds concerned;
2. the diverse variety and quantity of planktonic organisms with time and space in the water column over the grounds concerned;
3. the level of chlorophyll a as an indicator of the rate of primary productivity and therefore, indirectly the level of nutrients;
4. the level of ammonia as an indicator of the potential adverse effects of human activities;
5. the level of coliform bacteria again as an indicator of the potential adverse effects of human activities.

In support of such measurements and monitoring arrangements, baseline hydrographical surveys should be carried out initially monthly and later on quarterly following the inherent monsoonal seasons.

Environmental management in seafarming is thus a governmental responsibility in setting regulatory measures to minimise the above noted situations through legal control and legal control in seafarming is to enable environmental management targets listed above to be met.

For the government to fulfil its responsibilities, it is necessary to locate all activity sources, from which effluents of wastes are discharged directly or indirectly into the seas. From this charting “unaffected” areas will be tested for their respective suitability for seafarming. Once identified, a potential site should be gazated for seafarming production use only. Coupled with this action, seafarming regulations illegal and undersirable acts, and to require cooperation and information feedback from the operator.

Under Chapter VIII on population management, this subject is further discussed.

VIII. POLLUTION MANAGEMENT

The sea has served for as long as the history of time, as the common recepticle of all matters. Good or bad discharged from the land. Foreign matters once enter the sea, stay there and some go through changes therein often resulting in making certain changes to the original environmental setting.

To seafarming, the introduction of wastes of human and industrial activities into the sea has as often as not been found to have caused immeasurable short and long-term damages to the cultured stocks.

1. The discharge of untreated domestic sewage in many parts of the world has caused well-known cases of eutrophication, and in less serious circumstances near anaerobic conditions causing great losses of both natural and cultured stocks.
2. The discharge of industrial effluents, say, from plating activities, have brought about high levels of chromium, lead, zinc and other metal accumulated in oysters, making food production grounds utterly useless.
3. The discharge of human wastes in untreated forms has caused the spread of many of the common but deadly tropical diseases such as cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, etc.
4. The discharge of bunker oils by seagoing craft has caused many serious cases of oil pollution, at least tainting sea life.
5. Oil spill and the ignorant use of dispersant have caused many maritime disasters causing millions of dollars in losses.
6. The discharge of nutrients have also caused large-scale diatom blooms endangering marine life and causing public chaos.

These are but some examples of man-made pollution causing an assortment of damages to the sea, its life and its possibility to produce food through seafarming.

To control these happenings in the future is very expensive as it entails the pretreatment of domestic sewage, industrial effluent and the like before dumping them into the sea. Even if it was to be done, the setting of standards for various types of pollutants for various types of pollution sources would necessitate realistic determination through proper, no slip-shod, scientific investigations. At the same time, an undertaking such a magnitude would call for the participative management efforts of nation-wide “common users” of the seas.

For the development of seafarming, it is thus prudent to identify in the first instance areas “relatively” remote from the adverse effects of pollution sources. Once so identified, permission from the Government to operate in a site should automatically also include the Government's understanding of the need to discourage activities which may even pose a remote chance of adversely affecting the interest of the operator through increasing level of pollution.

It is therefore, necessary to provide governmental guidance for regulating conflicting activities to facilitate and manage seafarming development. On the part of the operator, it is essential that his activities must also not be a pollution source. To discard wastes into the sea, to immerse feeds not immediately used by the fish in the sea, to dump all unwanted materials into the sea, are equally damaging. From years of experience, aquaculturists have come up with the term “old ground” to refer to seafarming ground whose productivity declines to an economically undesirable level. This phenomenon is the result of the doings of the operator.

It is thus essential that seafarming operators must not look for convenience, but rather disciplining themselves by treating their wastes on land in a way scientifically acceptable.

IX. PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

The planning and management of production programmes in seafarming as in other primary production activities, are inseparable and inter-related. In essence, effective production management requires:

1. realistic planning production programmes;
2. functional manpower resources; and
3. acceptance of modern methods of management, both man and technical managements.

On (a), the anticipated unit time growth rate of the species provides a measure of the attainability of the planned programmes. As regards (b), all available manpower, including the manager, form a functional work team which can tackle and forecast all usual problems expected to be encountered. This enables good management to the stock, facilities and other essentials, thus enabling the growth of the species proceed as scheduled.

With respect to (c), reluctance to recognise the need of management is a fatal mistake, whatever the case may be. While traditional know-how is precious, modern management know-how must at least be accepted to be complimentary.

X. POSTHARVEST MANAGEMENT

Postharvest problems in seafarming may in all probability be less acute than those presently being confronted by the capture sector. This is largely due to number of two inherent reasons:

1. being live stock, the commodity can be harvested upon receipt of orders; and
2. after harvest, the commodity being delivered in some cases can continue to survive for a length of time, enough to reach the recipient point in an acceptable fresh state.

Postharvest management in seafarming should thus take advantage of these situations. It is of course, quite possible that the usual human factors may insist to kill these benefits for traditional gains.

XI. CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Abrupt occurence of natural calamity often cause large-scale mortalities and therefore, losses to seafarmers and natural fish stocks in the sea. To name a few examples, diatom bloom has been known to cause oxygen depletion in the sea; oil spills and the dispersing of such spills have been known to result in huge losses to seafarmers; sudden unusual downpours after prolonged periods of dry spells in inhabited areas have caused classical euthrophication in semi-enclosed seas; erosion of the land has resulted in the suffocation of caged fish by high silt loads in the shore waters; and numerous other cases of losses.

It is therefore, prudent on the part of the operator to make contingency plans for the handling of such crisis.

9.1 Diatom Bloom. Diatom blooms involving ciliates such as Noctiluca-like species capable of emiting toxins which are harmful to the fish (and human being). Such a bloom normally took place, as in red tides, after great disturbance of the sea especially over the sea bed thereby releasing trapped nutrients. Coupled with traced elements from the freshwater runoffs from land, a setting was created in favour of the multiplication of the diatom. A diatom bloom then occurs, and it will stay there until either all nutrients in the area are utilised or through wind drift which spread the bloom towards the seaward side. Nothing can be done to get rid of a bloom.

To avoid the toxin of the diatom and the possibility of aphyxiation, fish stocks in floating netcages should be moved towards the deeper and more open waters. For better measure relay the stock to a safe place. Monitor the behaviour of the fish for symptoms of lack of oxygen. If defected drop cage to the seabed after putting a cover net.

9.2 Oil Spill. Two major types of spills can be identified:
black-coloured crudes and rainbow-coloured light fuels. The former has a wide range of toxity, while the latter's “killing” power is more consistent among varieties.

In general, when a spill takes place, immediately send out a call for mop-up while at the same time assess as accurately as possible, the state of the tide at every turn, the direction and force of winds, and in layman terms the nature of the crudes. In the latter identification, it is to note mainly how “bad” it smells. This is because the smelly parts are the volatile parts of the hydrocarbon; as such the volatile parts can go into solution with the seawaters, or through wind transport dissolved in landlocked freshwater in serious cases. As a rule of thumb, the more smelly a crude the more deadly its killing power.

In countries where the owner of a spill can be legally sued, collect a large bottle of the crude (not having been in touch with seawater and not having been exposed to air for too long) under the witness of persons who many acquire an authoritative status in the eye of the law. Get more bottles if possible. Then cork each bottle, and seal it with a piece of paper and have signatures of witnesses put on it. Send the bottles to the authorities for the testing of the contents of the crude including the level of toxic elements. This is a very important evidence to show that crude can in fact kill and at what dosage, without direct contact with the fish

Having gotten samples of the crude, and having reported to the authority to mop-up, using simple winddrift and tidal transport principles, estimate the possible direction the spilled crude would tend to drift. This is another very important decision.

This decision enables the booming of the crude to confine it to an area, from which it could be scooped out, mechanically sucked up, burned (quite unlikely), or dispersed.

The last method should always be discouraged in areas having natural or cultured mollusc stocks, or near the siting of floating netcage culture activities. This is because the dispersed tiny droplets of oil and oil-dispersant are extremely harmful to both groups of organisms. And this has been well-established evidence in this region.

If dispersants must be used, the authority must confirm that the kind used is the least toxic to the fish.

Move all fish stocks under cultivation to a safe place. Nothing can be done for mollusc.

Fish partially exposed to the dissolved hydrocarbons may get tainted, i.e., having the taste of hydrocarbons in its flesh. In which case relay the affected fish to clean seawater where the taint can be lost in less than three months.

XII. DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT

In a country with a great seafarming potential like Indonesia, it is pertinent that even at an early stage plans should be in hand to make arrangements to facilitate development undertakings.

The authority having jurisdiction over seafarming development would require a master resource plan for the siting of all present and future seafarming operations. This enables the authority to distribute its resources and to expect production contribution in a systematic manner. With the location of pollution sources also inserted, it will also be possible for the authority to hold the rein of environmental preservation.

These undertakings are supported by a set of seafarming regulations to protect the rights of the operators and in return to require the operators to oblige to information feedback necessary for the planning of development undertakings.