Ziad H. Shehadeh

Senior Fishery Resources Officer

Fishery Resources Division

Arthur, J.R. and S. Lumanlan. 1997. Checklist of the parasites of fishes of the Philippines. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 369. Rome, FAO. 102p.

The checklist summarizes information on the parasites of Philippine fishes contained in the world literature dating from the earliest known record (de Blainville, 1882) to the end of 1996. Information is presented in the form of parasite-host and host-parasite lists. Included are 201 named species of parasites, as well as records of parasites not identified to species level. Parasites have been reported from 172 of the more than 2030 species of marine and freshwater fish occurring in Philippine waters, and from another 17 species of freshwater aquarium fish examined in the Philippines but not found in natural waters. The Parasite-Host List is organized on a taxonomic basis and provides information for each parasite species on the environment (freshwater, brackishwater, marine), the location (site of infection) in or on its host(s), the species of the host(s) infected, the known geographic distribution (by island) in the Philippines, and the published sources for each host and locality record. Citations are included for all references and a supplementary list of references contains other literature on Philippine fish parasites. Parasite and host indices are provided.

Cruz, P. S. 1997. Aquaculture feed and fertilizer resource atlas of the Philippines. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 366. Rome, FAO. 1997. 253p.

The paper is based on a comprehensive survey conducted by the author in 1995/1996 concerning the feed and fertilizer resources of the Philippines and their availability and use by the Philippine aquaculture sector. Presented in the form of an illustrated atlas, the report compiles information on the fertilizer and feed resources of the Philippines, where they are geographically located, how much is available and when, who is currently using this resource and how, the composition and cost of this resource at source and with transportation, together

with an assessment of the status of the existing animal feed manufacturing industry and its regulations, together with information on the feeding strategies employed by the aquaculture sector. It was estimated that approximately 45-75% and 85-95% of the feed ingredients currently used within commercial aquafeeds for fish (i.e. mainly tilapia and milkfish) and marine shrimp were composed of imported feed ingredients, respectively, as compared with only 20-30% for livestock and poultry feeds.

Tacon, A.G.J., J. Collins and J. Allan. (Comps.) 1997. FAO field project reports on aquaculture: indexed bibliography, 1966 -1995. FAO Fisheries Circular. No 931. Rome, FAO. 1997. 192p.

The aim of the document is to compile a list of available FAO field project reports on aquaculture which have been received by the David Lubin Memorial Library of FAO and input into the FAODOC database. In order to maintain a permanent record of these reports and to supply copies to Member Countries, the FAO Library has made microfiche reproductions of all FAO publications. The microfiche number is given for each record and details of availability are provided.

The document presents a bibliographic list of 1,712 FAO field project reports dealing with, or containing relevant information related to, aquaculture. It does not include the reports produced by the FAO Regular Programme and FAO regional bodies as these have been covered in other, similar publication. The reports presented were produced between 1966 and 1995 as part of the activities of 208 national field projects conducted within 80 countries around the world (including 171 FAO Fisheries Department projects, 16 Agriculture Department projects, 13 Forestry Department projects, 6 Economic and Social Department projects, 1 Legal Office project, and 1 Development Department project); 41 regional field projects (including 39 Fisheries Department projects, 1 Agriculture Department project, and

1 Forestry Department project); and 8 inter-regional Fisheries Department projects. The reports are listed by project for individual countries or by region. Author, subject, species, and geographic indexes are provided.

FAO/NACA. 1997. Aquaculture research development priorities and capacities in Asia-Pacific. FAO Fisheries Circular No. 930 Rome, FAO, 1997. 263 p.

This document incorporates the outcome of two related activities: (i) a synthesis of data from a survey and analysis of aquaculture development research priorities and capacities in Asia, and (ii) the results of a regional workshop which reviewed the findings of the survey, identified themes for regional research collaboration and prepared project outlines for these themes. The synthesis includes the responses of 14 developing countries/regions in Asia to a survey of aquaculture development priorities and capacities conducted in 1996 by FAO and NACA. The information from the survey was supplemented by information provided by or published about the aquaculture development programmes of a number of international and regional organizations in the region. This document also contains the summary of survey returns from the participating countries/regions among which are the major aquaculture producers in Asia and the world. The national aquaculture development objectives and priorities are identified and matched with the research priorities and capabilities of the aquaculture sector; the analysis also points out the weaknesses in the research systems including the research priority setting mechanisms. This is followed by a description of the needs of aquaculture research and an explanation of a list of potential areas and opportunities for collaborative research at the subregional and regional levels. The synthesis also outlines the roles of governments and collaborative assistance agencies and donor organizations, as well as the private sector in regional and national research efforts. The analysis presents a strong case for greater research attention on institutional and non-biological/technical issues in the region. One of the major observations resulting from the analysis is that planning, applying or deriving the full benefit from biological/technical research — in which there is a great concentration of efforts — is largely constrained by the weaknesses in the enabling mechanisms. For the overall research effort to contribute to sustainable aquaculture development, equal attention should be trained on issues associated with the socio-economic, institutional, environmental, policy, legislation and technology transfer aspects of aquaculture development. The workshop report highlights the main outcome of discussions on the conclusions of the synthesis and presents the seven themes and related project outlines for regional research collaboration.

Coche, A.G. and J. Collins. 1997. Supporting aquaculture development in Africa: Aquatic Farming Systems Information Network. CIFA Occasional Paper. No. 22. Accra, FAO. 72p.

This is the report of a mission fielded in October 1996 to visit existing libraries in Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Nigeria, previously identified as potential contributors to an information network on aquatic farming system. Available resources (infrastructure, trained staff, equipment, collections and networking activities) were identified and evaluated. Interest and willingness to participate in the network were ascertained. Main findings were the following: There is a continuing loss of institutional memory. Differences between individual libraries are substantial. Libraries in Eastern and Southern Africa have significantly better resources. Even if relatively disadvantaged from resources point of view, francophone Western and Sahelian African libraries undertake several important information and documentation activities. The barrier separating francophone and anglophone sub-regions results not only from linguistic problems, but also from the distribution pattern of information resources.

The lack of access to the results and findings of research between the different African sub-regions and between the anglophone and francophone countries is a major obstacle to development. Major constraints on access to information in sub-Saharan Africa include: relatively recent development of aquaculture and aquatic farming systems in the region, lack of information flow between institutions, publication of research results mostly as grey literature and absence of collection/dissemination of these results by readily available information systems. In conclusion, the mission recommended: To establish a regional network between institutions with programmes and information resources relevant to aquatic farming systems. To ensure that the approach to information be as multidisciplinary as necessary to address the production system as a whole. To build this network of existing, geographically separated but closely linked, anglophone and francophone information centres. To have the network initially composed of the libraries at two co-ordinating centres, one in each linguistic sub-region (Côte d'Ivoire, IDESSA and Malawi, Bunda College of Agriculture) and eight satellite centres. Main objectives and guiding principles for operation of this network are defined. To provide technical and financial assistance to initially strengthen the francophone co-ordination centre and to initiate regional networking activities, as outlined in a project proposal.

Coche, A.G. (comp.). 1997. Aquaculture in marine waters. An indexed list of non-FAO reference books and monographs, 1961-1997. FAO Fisheries Circular. No. 925. Rome, FAO. 1997. 68p.

This is a bibliographic list of about 600 selected non-FAO books and monographs providing information related aquaculture in marine waters in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Author, geographic, taxonomic and subject indexes provide further assistance in locating the information required. The list was prepared to help students, researchers, field workers and laymen locate and retrieve published information on marine aquaculture. Most of the books selected are less than 10 years old and are still available either from the publishers or from technical bookstores. The titles are listed in chronological order of the publication year. For each particular year, they are listed in alphabetical order of authors' names.

Kapetsky, J. M. and S.S. Nath. 1997. A strategic assessment of the potential for freshwater fish farming in Latin America. FAO COPESCAL Technical Paper, No. 10. Rome, FAO. 1997. x + 124p.

Currently, inland aquaculture production in Latin America is insignificant compared with the output from inland and marine fisheries. Lack of good planning at national level has been identified as a serious impediment to the development of aquaculture. Estimates of potential are scarce that are both comprehensive and comparable over large geographic areas. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to estimate the potential for warm-water and temperate-water fish farming in the fresh waters of Latin America in order to stimulate improved planning for aquaculture development at national levels, and at the same time to provide a tool to plan comprehensively for technical assistance activities by FAO and other national and international organizations.

The present study is patterned on an estimate of warm-water fish farming potential made for Africa. However, a number of refinements have been made, one of which is a fourfold increase in resolution (i.e., to 5 arc-minutes, equivalent to 9 km ´ 9 km grids at the equator), thereby making the results much more usable for assessing fish farming potential at the national level. Another refinement is that, for the first time, a bio-energetics model has been incorporated into a geographical information system (GIS) to predict fish yields over large geographic areas. A gridded water temperature data set was used as input to the bioenergetics model to predict numbers of crops per year for four species: Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum), pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus) and carp (Cyprinus carpio). By varying input levels and sizes at

harvest, opportunities for two levels of commercial fish farming and for small-scale fish farming were identified.

In addition to the suitability of each 9 ´ 9 km grid cell for the production of the above-mentioned species, each grid cell was evaluated for a number of other factors important for fish-farm development and operation. These included urban market potential based on travel time proximity and population size of urban centres, potential for farm-gate sales based on population density, engineering and terrain suitability for pond construction using a variety of soil attributes, water loss from ponds due to evaporation and seepage, and availability of agricultural by-products as feed inputs based on crop potential. Commercial and small-scale aquaculture models were developed by weighting these factors using a multiple criteria evaluation procedure. Areas unavailable for inland fish farming development were identified by incorporating protected areas and large inland water bodies as constraints.

Finally, the yield potential of each grid cell for each of the four species was analysed using the growth model together with the other factors in the commercial and small-scale models to show the coincidence of each class of suitability with each range of yield potential.

Potential for inland fish farming is high in continental Latin America. From 38% to 60% of the continental area scores from suitable to very suitable for small-scale farming of Nile tilapia and carp, respectively. In the same areas, from 0.9 to 1.7 crops/y of Nile tilapia and from 0.9 to 1.8 crops/y of carp can be realized by harvesting at modest weights.

The most important factor for commercial fish farming _ urban market potential _ scores high across more than one-half of the continent. For Nile tilapia and carp, from 19% to 44% of Latin America rates from suitable to very suitable for commercial farming. From 1.2 to 2.4 crops/y of Nile tilapia and from 1.2 to 2.3 crops/y of carp can be realized on the same areas by feeding at 75% satiation and harvesting at a moderate weight. Tambaqui and pacu occupy an intermediate position in terms of the surface area that is suitable or very suitable for commercial farming. From 0.7 to 1.4 crops/y for tambaqui and from 1.0 to 2.0 crops/y for pacu can be achieved from areas that are suitable or very suitable for commercial farming by feeding at 75% satiation and harvesting at a moderate weight.

From a country viewpoint, at least 18 of the continental countries have some area with potential that rates suitable or very suitable for farming of Nile tilapia and pacu, while there are 19 in the same category for tambaqui. Finally, there are opportunities for carp farming in all 21 countries.