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THE USE OF IRRIGATION SYSTEMS FOR SUSTAINABLE FISH PRODUCTION: UZBEKISTAN

by
Bakhtiyar Kamilov
Institute of Aquaculture, 21a, Chilanzar-10, Tashkent, 700123, Uzbekistan

Abstract

In Uzbekistan capture fisheries is practised in freshwater irrigation and multiuse reservoirs, and in lakes for residual water storage. Two groups of lakes are of major importance for capture fisheries: the Amu-Darya Delta, where there are 20 lakes varying from 4 000 to 15 000 ha in an area covering a total of 97 000 ha, provides about 1 500 tonnes of fish annually, and the Aydar-Arnasay lake system, where situated off the middle course of the Syr-Darya River.

In 2000, 1 600 tonnes of fish were captured. Before independence, fish farms annually stocked up to 15 million one-year-old common carp, bighead carp, silver carp and grass carp in reservoirs and lakes with capture fisheries. In the Aydar-Arnasay lake system the fish yields without stocking during the 1970s and 1980s reached a maximum of 15 kg/ha, and after stocking they increased to a maximum of 25 kg/ha (Kamilov et al., 1994). In the 1990s the stocking rate was greatly reduced because of budgetary problems. It is believed that future strategies of fishery development in irrigation waterbodies, apart from continuing to pursue the stocking of reservoirs, should focus on small-scale aquaculture in reservoirs, canals and lakes, with strong involvement of villagers and local administrators.

1. Introduction

Central Asia occupies an area of about 2 million km2 situated deep in Eurasia. This region is enclosed from the south and east by mountains and open to the north and west. About 70 percent of Central Asia is covered by steppes and deserts and 30 percent by mountains. Five countries form this region: Kyrgyzstan (198 500 km2), Tajikistan (143 100 km2), Turkmenistan (448 100 km2), Uzbekistan (447 000 km2) and the southern part of Kazakhstan. The basin of the Aral Sea occupies the central part. The northwestern part of Uzbekistan is represented by the Turan plain covering more than 35 500 km2, the eastern part is covered by the Tien Shan mountain system, which represents about 90 600 km2 or almost 20 percent of the country’s area. Uzbekistan extends from an elevation of 10 m in the Sarykamysh depression to 4 640 m in the western Tien Shan (Anon., 1993).

Due to the landlocked location of the region and it being open to the north, the climate is extremely continental, with high aridity. Large seasonal and daily fluctuations in temperature are characteristic. Summer is dry, cloudless and very hot; in July, the warmest month, the average monthly temperature is 25-31 oC; from June to the first half of August the maximum temperature usually reaches 40 oC and more. Only in the mountains is the temperature lower. The dry cold Siberian air mass has free access from the north where there are no mountains. The average January air temperature varies from -8 to -12 oC in the northwest, -6 o to -8 oC in the mountains, and 0 to +2 oC in the south (Anon., 1993).

Central Asia is an arid region with low precipitation: about 20 percent receives less than 100 mm per year, 90 percent less than 300 mm. Ninety-five percent of the precipitation is generated from moisture entering the region from outside. Usually 30-50 percent of the total rainfall is in spring, 25-40 percent in winter, 10-20 percent in autumn and 1-6 percent in summer. Rivers, lakes and ponds usually freeze from late December - early January to mid-February. There are many hours of sunshine: 2 500-3 000 h per year, and the total annual insolation is between 140 and 160 kcal per km2.

Due to the climate, deserts and arid steppes cover the plains of Central Asia. Large rivers such as the Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya can only exist because of the presence of high mountains, from which they are fed predominantly snow- and icemelt water (Shultc, 1966). Both rivers enter the Aral Sea and their catchments constitute a major part of the Aral Sea catchment. The Aral Sea has no outflow. Uzbekistan is located in the basin of the Aral Sea between the Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya. Its lowlands are dominated by the rivers Amu-Darya, Syr-Darya, Zarafshan and Kashka-Darya. Zarafshan and Kashka-Darya, which were in the past tributaries of the Amu-Darya, do not enter it any more because they have been diverted for irrigation and what flow is left dries up in the desert.

The rivers receive about 90-95 km3 of water largely from the mountains located in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, with only 10 km3 forming in Uzbekistan mountains. Water consumption in Uzbekistan has stabilized at about 62-65 km3 per year. About 85 percent (53-55 km3) of the water is used in agriculture, 12 percent (6 km3) in industry, and 3 percent (1.7 km3) as municipal supply. Agriculture is therefore the main water consumer.

2. Irrigation systems

Although the basin of the Aral Sea is mostly covered by deserts, since ancient times it has been known as a region with highly developed agriculture. This has been possible only through the development of irrigation. For the last 2000 years, irrigated agriculture has expanded far from rivers, such as in the Fergana Valley and Tashkent, and even deep into deserts to form oases, such as Khorezm and Bukhara. Without irrigation those places would still be deserts.

In the second half of the twentieth century Uzbekistan was the main cotton producer and even today it is the fourth largest producer of cotton in the world, with 20 percent of the total world production. But the cotton monoculture causes ecological problems. While rice and wheat are also cultivated, cotton is still the main culture. In the basin of the Aral Sea the irrigated area during 1925-1980 increased from 2.0 to 7.2 million ha. For one hectare of irrigated land one uses from 16 000 to 18 000 m3 of water, which is about two times more than in other parts of the world cultivating the same crops. A huge and extensive network of irrigation and drainage canals has been created. About 73 percent of the irrigated land is set aside for cotton production, which is unprecedented in the world’s agricultural practice. Under the centrally planned economy, the main idea was to use extensive irrigation; however, canals constructed for this purpose are not efficient and water losses from such irrigation networks are estimated at about 40 km3 annually. This amount of water would be enough to stabilize the Aral Sea at its current level.

In Uzbekistan cotton, rice and wheat yields average only one third of those elsewhere. Uzbekistan uses mainly furrow and flood irrigation. Such irrigation causes increased soil salinity that requires more water for soil washing. In cotton monoculture this leads to soil degradation.

Under the impact of man, the river network of the Aral Sea basin has changed. Not only do the waters of Zarafshan and Kashka-Darya not reach the Amu-Darya anymore, but water taken for irrigation from the middle course of rivers, if not too saline after being used, is returned as drainage water to the river downstream. If the salt concentration is too high, the water may be discharged into lakes, some of which have been formed entirely from such water (Nikolsky, 1938; Shultc, 1966). Since the 1960s irrigation and drainage systems tie together different river basins into one network.

Irrigation systems in Uzbekistan include reservoirs, irrigation canals, drainage canals, and lakes for residual water. Before the end of spring, water is collected in reservoirs and in summer it is drawn off until autumn. Water taken for irrigation seeps into soil and enters groundwater. Groundwater may re-enter the river and also lead to formation of swamps. While entering the river downstream this drainage/groundwater boosts up river discharge, but it also changes water quality.

Before the first half of the twentieth century water uptake for irrigation did not upset the water balance of the Aral Sea, but since the 1960s the flow redistribution has caused irreparable damage to the whole ecosystem. Irrigation has changed the water regime in the whole of the Aral Sea basin.

3. Aral sea crisis

Uzbekistan shares the Aral Sea, one of the largest lakes in the world, with Kazakhstan. In 1960, the Aral Sea had an area of about 68 000 km2 and a volume of 1 061 km3 (Micklin, 1988). Before 1960, the Syr-Darya and Amu-Darya rivers annually discharged into the Aral Sea about 56 km3 of water, and a further 8 km3 came in the form of precipitation, and as groundwater flow. The mean annual evaporation from the sea surface was 63 km3. The water level of the Aral Sea was about 53 m above sea level (a.s.l.). As a result of the intensive uptake of water for irrigation up until the 1990s, the annual water runoff reaching the Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya river deltas was reduced to 5 km3, and in some years the rivers virtually stopped flowing into the sea. By 1992 the Aral Sea water level had dropped to 37 m a.s.l., the surface area was reduced to 34 100 km2, salinity reached 34-37 g/litre as compared with 9-10 g/litre in the 1960s. Today the sea coast is 60-80 km from the original coastline.

Waterbodies in the basin of the Aral Sea can be grouped as follows:

In Uzbekistan there are more than 600 large and small rivers. Only a few of them, those in the mountains, are not affected by irrigation. Only the large rivers Amu-Darya, Kashka-Darya, Zarafshan, Syr-Darya and their tributaries have fishery importance. The Amu-Darya, 1 440 km long, has the highest discharge of about 78 km3. The Syr-Darya has a discharge of 36 km3 and is 2 140 km long. During the last decades, all natural lakes have been impacted by large-scale irrigation development. Some lakes have dried up, others have been used for residual water storage. In the middle and lower courses of Uzbekistan rivers there are practically no natural lakes left whose water regime would not be affected by salinity and by the irregular discharges of drainage water.

In the countries of Central Asia there are about 60 reservoirs with a total volume of 61.6 km3. They were constructed in the basins of all large rivers. In the basins of the two major rivers, Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya, there are 39 reservoirs (Tables 1 and 2). The total water surface of reservoirs with fisheries importance is 3 310 km2 (Nikitin, 1991). Some of the large Uzbekistan reservoirs are important for fisheries, such as Tudakul, Shorkul and Mezhdurechye.

Table 1
Reservoirs in the Aral Sea basin

River basin

Number of reservoirs

Area km2

Volume km3

Syr-Darya

22

1 850

34.5

Amu-Darya

17

1 460

23.3

Table 2
Reservoir distribution by size

Volume, million m3

Amu-Darya basin

Syr-Darya basin

Number of reservoirs

1-50

5

4

50-500

6

13

>500

6

5

Total

17

22

Volume of reservoirs, million m3

1-50

110

112

50-500

1 490

1 543

>500

21 700

32 850

Total

23 300

34 505

The system of irrigation canals is well developed and has a total length of about 150 000 km. Only 5-6 large main canals, with a length of 100-350 km and a capacity of 100-300 m3/sec each, are at present of fishery significance. These are the Yuzhnogolodnostepsky main canal, Karshi main canal, Amu-Bukhara main canal and several others. In most canals water flows by gravitation. The Karshi main canal and Amu-Bukhara main canal use pumping.

There are about 100 000 km of drainage canals in Uzbekistan. For fisheries only the large main collectors with more than 100 km length and water flow rates of 40-100 m3/sec each are important. The annual discharge of some of these collectors is comparable with that of some rivers, e.g. Ozerny (1.2 km3) and Centralno-Golodnostepsky (1.5 km3).

Lakes used for or artificially created for residual water storage are important for fisheries. Those of importance for fisheries cover about 7 000 km2, a surface area of about twice that of all reservoirs. Most of the lakes function for many years. They do not experience major seasonal changes. After the demize of fisheries in the Aral Sea, the Aydar-Arnasay lake system and the lakes of the Amu-Darya delta are the major waterbodies in this category supporting fishery in Uzbekistan. Due to the current problem of harmonizing the use of the Syr-Darya among the riparian countries, the Aydar-Arnasay system is now receiving large volumes of water, and as a result of that it now covers more than 4 000 km2 which makes it the largest artificial lake in the region.

In the 1960s, the delta of the Amu-Darya had some 40 lakes with a total water surface of about 100 000 ha; now there are only some 20 lakes, but they have a total water surface of approximately 115 000 ha. It is a direct result of the restoration of the main lakes and appearance of new isolated ones on the dried Aral seabed. These waterbodies are maintained almost completely with collector-drainage waters. Furthermore, along the Amu-Darya many large lakes with saline water formed, including Sarykamysh (330 000 ha) and Dengizkul (26 000 ha).

4. Fish fauna

Prior to large-scale irrigation efforts the indigenous fish fauna in the Aral Sea catchment rivers and lakes was little affected by human activities. Kamilov and Urchinov (1995) listed for Uzbekistan 84 species of fish, including those which were rare and those which were introduced. The ichthyofauna has undergone major changes as a result of water regulation and introductions of fish species from outside the Aral Sea basin (Kamilov, 1973; Kamilov et al., 1994). Some species disappeared or became rare, such as three species of endemic shovelnoses (Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni, P. hermani, P. fedschenkoi), ostroluchka (Capoetobrama kuschakewitschi), minnows (Alburnoides bipunctatus, A. taeniatus, A. oblongus) and Zarafshan dace (Leuciscus lehmanni), because they have been unable to adapt to the new environment, or because dams blocked their spawning migrations (spiny sturgeon Acipenser nudiventris, Aral barbel Barbus brachycephalus). Some species such as gudgeons (Neogobius fluviatilis, N. melanostomus, Pomatoschistus caucasicus, Proterorhinus marmoratus) and Baltic herring (Clupea harengus membras), introduced in the Aral Sea, became established for a while, but later on disappeared as a result of increasing salinity and other changes in the Aral Sea environment.

During 1960-1990 a number of fish species from outside the region were introduced in a number of irrigation waterbodies of Central Asia. Pikeperch and bream were released into reservoirs and lakes of the rivers Zarafshan, Kashka-Darya and the middle courses of the Syr-Darya and Amu-Darya. Silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis) and snakehead (Channa argus warpachowskii), introduced from the Far East, were stocked in fish farms in the Tashkent area and from there the hatchery-produced stocking material was regularly stocked into lakes and reservoirs. Three species of buffalo (Ictiobus cyprinellus, I. bubalus, I. niger) and channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) were also introduced into fish farms but they did not enter rivers except the last species which entered the Syr-Darya. Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), Sevan trout (Salmo ischchan issykogegarkuni), peled (Coregonus peled) and lake herring (Coregonus sardinella) were released into Charvak reservoir in the Tashkent area where they are now established.

Many species spread throughout the basin via the connecting major canals. Some species started to breed in both the irrigation and drainage canals. Fish stocks in canals were not managed. In the 1970s-1980s management concentrated on stocking fingerlings and one-year-old marketable fish, the stocking material of which was produced in fish farms. Silver carp, grass carp, common carp and bighead carp were regularly stocked in reservoirs and lakes for residual waters storage. This resulted in fish yields increasing by 5-15 kg/ha. After 1991 stocking continued only in the Aydar-Arnasay lake system and several other large waterbodies.

5. Fisheries

Until 1960 fishing was concentrated on the inshore waters of the Aral Sea and the deltas of the inflowing major rivers. In the 1960s, Uzbekistan fishery concentrated only on the Aral Sea, with an average annual catch of 25 000 tonnes. At that time only one small fish farm and one hatchery existed near Tashkent. Fisheries were government-owned, but several fisheries cooperatives also operated on the Aral Sea. The major fish species captured were common carp (Cyprinus carpio), bream (Abramis brama), barbel (Barbus brachycephalus), roach (Rutilus rutilus) and shemaya (Chalcalburnus chalcoides aralensis). Less common were wels (Silurus glanis), pike (Esox lucius), asp (Aspius aspius), sturgeon (Acipenser nudiventris), pikeperch (Stizostedion lucioperca). During the 1960s-1970s, fish catches decreased sharply. In 1983, the last year of the Aral Sea fishery, only 53 tonnes were caught.

Fisheries in Uzbekistan had to find new sources of fresh fish. During the 1970s fishing fleets were transferred from the Aral Sea to Lake Sarykamysh and the Aydar-Arnasay lake system. During this period up to 6 000 tonnes of fish were caught annually in these lakes. While in 1964 the catch in Aydar-Arnasay lakes was only 26 tonnes, in 1971 it was 512 tonnes and a maximum of 4 200 tonnes was captured in 1988, corresponding to a yield of approximately 25 kg/ha.

But capture fisheries under conditions of irrigation could not replace the quantity of fish lost from the Aral Sea. The Ministry of Fisheries had to do as best as possible to develop fisheries in the new waterbodies, whatever the constraints to fish production arising from their management for irrigated agriculture. The Government of Uzbekistan and the former All-union Ministry of Fisheries developed a large-scale development programme of pond fish culture and fisheries in inland waterbodies. That programme included creation of new fish farms and fishing enterprizes in all regions of Uzbekistan, testing and implementation of new technologies, establishment of research centres, specialist training, etc.

Dissolved salt concentrations in rivers are from 0.5-2.5 g/litre, in reservoirs 0.5-2.5 g/litre, in lakes for residual waters storage 4-18 g/litre. Freshwater of less than 1 g/litre is only in the upper catchments of the rivers and tributary streams and in the upper parts of the middle courses of major rivers. Further downstream all rivers and associated lakes receive return waters. From 1960 to 1995 water salinity in the lower Amu-Darya increased from 0.5 to 1.2 g/litre. Today water salinity near the Termez city, which is situated between the upper and middle course of the Amu-Darya, is about 0.3-0.5 g/litre. Further downstream it raises to 1.2 g/litre. During the last decades water salinities in rivers ranged from 0.5 to 2.0 g/litre, in reservoirs from 0.5 to 2.5 g/litre, in lakes formed from residual waters and in natural lakes receiving such waters were from 3 to 20 g/litre.

While irrigation reservoirs have good water quality, they also have some limitations, such as unseasonal water level drawdown which conflicts with fish reproduction. Also there are no structures which would prevent all developmental stages of fish from entering irrigation systems, in which they perish. Thus, in the lower Amu-Darya up to 90 percent of larvae and fry enter canals and end on irrigated fields (Pavlovskaya, 1995). On the other hand, large connecting canals may be beneficial for fish distribution. For example larvae and fry of the middle course of the Amu-Darya migrate through the Amu-Bukhara Main Canal into Tudakul reservoir where they significantly contribute to maintaining fish stocks in this reservoir.

By the end of the 1980s, the annual volume of drainage water in the basin of the Aral Sea reached about 33 km3 which was about 60 percent of the total river discharge into the Aral Sea. This volume included 17 km3 in the basin of the Amu-Darya, 13 km3 in the Syr-Darya and 3 km3 in the Zarafshan and Kashka-Darya. About 20 percent of the 33 km3 was returned into rivers and 10-13 km3 was diverted into depressions where this water eventually created Lake Sarykamysh (3 000 km2), the Aidar-Arnasay lake system (at present more then 4 000 km2), and a number of smaller lakes.

For a while lakes for residual water storage were more preferred for capture fishery than reservoirs as they behaved like lakes, i.e. their water level was not affected by drawdowns. But, after the dissolution of the USSR the regional system of water resource management in the Aral Sea basin became fragmented as a result of each country obtaining full independence. At present water resources in the basin of the Aral Sea are regulated from five centres, one in each country of Central Asia. This has already caused a number of problems. For example, during the period 1991-2001 huge amounts of Syr-Darya water had to be discharged into the Aydar-Arnasay lake system, which has no outflow, therefore the water cannot be reused.

As all good land was allocated for agriculture fish farms had to be established on land with poor soil. In spite of that, with good management they all functioned well between 1970 and 1990. In the 1980s the total annual fish production in Uzbekistan averaged 30 000 tonnes per year. From this, 7 000 tonnes came from capture fisheries and 23 000 tonnes from fish pond culture (Table 3). Besides the capture and culture, the fisheries organisations also dealt with fish transport, storage and marketing of about 60-70 000 tonnes of marine fish imported from other regions of the former USSR. This comprehensive fishery programme was possible under the very centralized system, where the fisheries were under the USSR Ministry of Fisheries, which was assisted by the appropriate Uzbekistan authorities.

After the disintegration of the USSR, under conditions of economy reforms towards the free market economy the Government of Uzbekistan decided to privatise the fisheries. Starting in 1994, it discontinued its financing. Fishermen found themselves in the new unfamiliar conditions of a market economy. The overall economic crisis and the loss of economic links with producers of equipment in the former USSR have also adversely affected fisheries. Over the last ten years the fishing equipment has much deteriorated. The number of fishing boats, set nets and seines dropped. In the 1990s there were only 20 fishing boats with 130 horsepower engines, 40 boats with 20 to 60 horsepower engines, and 250 other types of motorized boats. All fishery companies together had only 5 000 gillnets and 36 beach seines, which are now worn out. Table 3 gives information on reservoir, lake and river capture fisheries for selected years. After a major decline in catches, which reached the lowest value in 1996, there has been a slow recovery.

The main limitation in aquaculture was the absence of formulated fish feed. In 1995, the total fish production was 5 600 tonnes. Table 3 gives data on aquaculture production in Uzbekistan prior to and after gaining independence. The same trend can be seen as for the capture fisheries with the lowest production reached in 1996 (Table 4), this to be followed by a slow recovery. The 20 existing fish farms in Uzbekistan were established along the irrigation network: twelve of them have freshwater, eight contain drainage water with a salinity of 5-6 g/litre.

Table 3
Capture fisheries and aquaculture in Uzbekistan (in thousand tonnes)

Year

Capture fisheries

Aquaculture

Total

Lakes*

Reservoirs

Rivers

1980s**

5.5

1.0

0.5

23.0

30.0

1994

2.0

0.8

0.3

14.6

17.7

1996

1.2

0.3

0

5.0

6.5

1999

3.1

0.4

0

5.6

9.1

2000

2.7

0.3

0

6.2

9.2

* - lakes used for residual water storage
** - average for a decade

Table 4
Aquaculture production (thousand tonnes) in Uzbekistan by type of water

Year

Fish farms with freshwater

Fish farms with saline water

Total

1990

13.2

7.6

20.8

1993

12.8

6.1

18.9

1996

3.8

1.2

5.0

1999

4.1

1.5

5.6

Due to lack of access to oceans, as well as the demise of the Aral Sea fisheries, the future of Uzbekistan’s fisheries lies in aquaculture and enhanced capture fisheries. Extensive fish pond aquaculture is the most important sector of the fisheries industry, providing 60 percent of today’s total fish production. About 20 companies own hatcheries, which induce-breed and farm fish, mainly silver carp, bighead carp, and grass carp, with common carp reproduced both artificially and naturally. The fish are grown on farms to market size. In the 1990s the total area of ponds reached 10 400 ha, with sizes of the individual ponds ranging from 10 to 150 ha.

All waterbodies of irrigation systems (with the exception of two reservoirs serving hydropower production) and the fish in them are still state-owned and managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Management. Fisheries are private and any interested party can develop them. But most enterprises have joined in the "Uzriba" Corporation that was established from the former Fisheries State Committee of Uzbekistan. "Uzriba" consists of 20 fishing and aquaculture production, aquaculture engineering, research and fish disease control organizations.

6. Conclusions

The river systems in the Aral Sea basin have been heavily modified for irrigation. The network of reservoirs and canals was created under the conditions of the centrally planned economy of the former USSR, when the priority of agriculture was cotton production. Fisheries was given a low priority, nevertheless there was allocation in the budget for its development, especially in the irrigation reservoirs. The large-scale diversion of water for irrigation and damming of rivers led to changes in the fish species composition in the modified rivers and in reservoirs. As irrigation demand consumed most of the available water, water discharges into the Aral Sea greatly diminished, the sea started desiccating and its water salinity increasing. This led to the loss of fish stocks and the Aral Sea fisheries ended in 1983.

A comprehensive programme was initiated which led to the establishment of new fisheries in reservoirs. One of the reasons for that was to develop an alternative fish supply to that which was lost from the Aral fisheries. During the 1960s and 1980s, 20 fishing companies were created to manage the fisheries in all large lakes, reservoirs, and in lakes for residual water storage. All capture fishery and aquaculture companies were state-owned and financed from the government budget. Special attention was paid to the production in fish farms of material for regular stocking of reservoirs as well as for production of market size fish. In the 1980s up to 30 000 tonnes of fish were annually produced in Uzbekistan, all fisheries using water of the irrigation system. During those years there was a close cooperation between the All-union (i.e. USSR) Ministry of Fisheries and the government of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Dissolution of the USSR, problems during the period of economic reforms, privatization and cutting off the financial support of the government led to substantial decrease in fish catches and aquaculture production, with the production falling to as low as 5 600 tonnes per year. This was followed by a partial recovery by the end of the 1990s as private farmers started to be better acquainted with the new economy. In 2000, a total of 9 000 tonnes of fish were captured and produced in aquaculture.

Uzbekistan has a great potential for aquaculture and capture fishery development through enhancement, also because the climatic conditions are very suitable. But there is a need for a change in attitude. Fisheries has never been on the list of government priorities and today support by the government is minimal. The privatized Uzbekistan fisheries industry, united in the corporation "Uzbalik", has as an objective the rehabilitation of fisheries in larger waterbodies of Uzbekistan. But there is a need to develop aquaculture, especially on a small-scale. Small-scale aquaculture could be developed in reservoirs, canals and lakes, with participation of villagers and local administration. At present the Government deals only with "Uzbalik".

Today small-scale development of aquaculture is also limited by the lack of funds. Farmers do not yet understand the mechanism of using bank credits for farming, and this includes also fish farming. At present there is no competition among producers, because local administration traditionally and preferentially protects local fish farms. Once the credit mechanism is fully understood, with the help of the local administration the new small-scale aquaculture ventures should be easy to implement.

From the technical point of view there is a great need for the development of model small-scale aquaculture farms which could be established on irrigation systems in the countries of Central Asia. The models should be based on pilot studies of how to achieve the following production:

To carry out such studies successfully will require international assistance, both advisory and financial.

References

Anon., 1993. Environment protection and use of natural resources in the Republic of Uzbekistan. Report of the State Nature Protection Committee of Uzbekistan, Tashkent. 90 p. (In Russian)

Kamilov, G.K. 1973. Fishes in Uzbekistan reservoirs. Fan, Tashkent. 234 p. (In Russian)

Kamilov, G.K., Karimov, B., Khakberdiev, B., Salikhov, T., Kamilov, B., Pridatkina, N.V., Abdullaeva, L., Taraskin, A., Al Madjid, Yuldashev, M., Nazarov, M., Gerasimova, O. 1994. Uzbekistan waterbodies and their importance for fisheries. Two volumes. Tashkent State University, Tashkent. (In Russian)

Kamilov, G. &. Urchinov, Zh.U. 1995. Fish and fisheries in Uzbekistan under the impact of irrigated agriculture. FAO Fisheries Circular No. 894: 10-41. FAO, Rome.

Micklin, P. 1988. Desiccation of the Aral Sea: A water management disaster in the Soviet Union. Science 241, pp. 1170-1176.

Nikitin, A.M. 1991. Reservoirs of Central Asia. Gidrometeoizdat, Leningrad 165 p. (In Russian)

Nikolsky, G.V. 1938. Fishes of Tajikistan. Academy of Science of the USSR, Moscow-Leningrad, 228 p. (In Russian)

Pavlovskaya, L.P. 1995. Fishery in the lower Amu-Darya under the impact of irrigated agriculture. FAO Fisheries Circular No. 894: 42-57. FAO, Rome.

Shultc, V.L. 1966. Rivers of Central Asia. Gidrometeoizdat, Leningrad. 691 p. (In Russian)


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