Sturgeon hatchery practices and management for release. Guidelines

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper No. 570

Sturgeon hatchery practices and management
for release

Guidelines

Mikhail Chebanov
South Branch Federal Center of Selection and Genetics for Aquaculture
Krasnodar, Russian Federation

Harald Rosenthal
World Sturgeon Conservation Society
Neu Wulmstorf, Germany

Joern Gessner
Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries
Berlin, Germany

Raymon van Anrooy
FAO Subregional Office for Central Asia
Ankara, Turkey

Phaedra Doukakis
Sturgeon Consultant
Washington , United States of America

Mohammad Pourkazemi
International Sturgeon Research Institute
Rasht, Islamic Republic of Iran

and

Patrick Williot
Sturgeon Consultant on Aquaculture and Conservation Biology
Audenge, France

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Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Ankara 2011

ABSTRACT

Chebanov, M.; Rosenthal, H.; Gessner, J.; Van Anrooy, R.; Doukakis, P.; Pourkazemi, M.; Williot, P.
Sturgeon hatchery practices and management for release–Guidelines
FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper. No. 570. Ankara, FAO. 2011. 110pp.

Sturgeon hatcheries play an important role in the rehabilitation of the sturgeon stocks in the Caspian Sea and elsewhere. Since the demise of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1991, a large part of the experience, expertise and specifi c knowledge on sturgeon hatchery practices and management in the Caspian Sea Basin has disappeared, while research and knowledge on sturgeon and hatchery practices in other regions have advanced rapidly in the last few decades.

Sturgeon restocking practices that resulted in limited success have caused a critical reassessment of the entire culture process, the strategies applied for conservation culture, the design of rehabilitation programmes, the design of hatcheries and the mode of their operation. This technical paper aims to increase global awareness and to guide and build capacity about the best practices currently available by providing senior and mid-level sturgeon hatchery staff with a practical tool for modern sturgeon hatchery practices and management. The technical technical guidelines it contains focus on hatchery practices that are aimed at reproduction and growth of fry and fi ngerlings for restocking objectives.

The technical guidelines address a wide range of issues, including: hatchery design and location; collection and transportation of wild broodstock; selection and maintenance of broodstock; tagging of sturgeon; water quality and supply; feeding and feed quality; selection of broodstock for controlled reproduction; spawning and gamete processing; rearing of larvae and juveniles in tanks; rearing of juveniles in ponds; release of fi ngerlings; sanitary and hygiene measures; hatchery documentation; hatchery maintenance and repair; staff and labour issues; monitoring and research; social and environmental responsibility; international regulations and conventions on sturgeons; and implementation and updating of these technical guidelines.

This technical paper provides specifi c technical guidelines, justifi cations for these technical guidelines and suggestions to support their implementation. The guidance provided is based on the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (1995) and contributes to the implementation of the Ramsar Declaration on Global Sturgeon Conservation (2006). As such, the technical guidelines in this paper are part of the capacity-building and awarenessraising efforts of the partners involved in their preparation in order to increase the success of sturgeon hatchery practices for release purposes. These partners include: FAO; World Sturgeon Conservation Society; International Union for Conservation of Nature; Caspian Environment Programme; United Nations Development Programme; 6th International Symposium on Sturgeon; World Bank; Institute of Hydroecology; and Central Asia and Caucasus Regional Fisheries and Aquaculture Commission.

CONTENTS

Preparation of this document Abstract Abbreviations and acronyms
1. Introduction
1.1	The need for guidelines
1.2	Aim and scope of the guidelines
1.3	Normative and methodological basis for these guidelines
1.4	General principles
2. Sturgeon biology and species in the Caspian Sea Basin
2.1	Russian sturgeon (Acipenser gueldensdaedtii Brandt)
2.2	Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus Borodin)
2.3	Ship sturgeon (Acipenser nudiventris Lovetsky)
2.4	Stellate sturgeon (Acipenser stellatus Pallas)
2.5	Beluga (Huso huso Linnaeus)
2.6	Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus Linnaeus)
3. Hatchery design and location
3.1	Selection of the hatchery location
3.2	Design of the hatchery
3.3	Hatchery structural elements
3.4	Economic aspects of hatchery construction and operations
4. Collection and transportation of wild broodstock
4.1	Sites and periods of broodstock collection
4.2	Transport of broodstock to the hatchery
5. Selection and maintenance of broodstock
5.1	Genetic aspects of broodstock establishment and management
5.2	Other biological criteria to establish captive broodstocks
5.3	Broodstock holding and handling
5.4	Adaptation of wild fish
5.5	Monitoring of the sexual structure of the broodstock
5.6	Monitoring and control of the broodstock
5.7	Cryopreservation of sturgeon sperm
6. Tagging of sturgeon
6.1	Tagging of wild sturgeon and sturgeon at the hatchery
6.2	Sturgeon tagging procedures
7. Water quality and supply
7.1	Access to and availability of water
8. Feeding and feed quality
8.1	Feeding fish for release
	8.1.1	Feeding during pond rearing
	8.1.2	Onset of feeding under controlled conditions
	8.1.3	Ongrowing to fingerling size
8.2	Feeding of larvae selected for broodstocks
8.3	Feeding at acclimation of wild fish
8.4	Feeding of broodstock
8.5	Evaluation of feeding efficiency
8.6	Quality and safety of feed
9. Selection of broodstock for controlled reproduction
9.1	Control of seasonal propagation
	9.1.1	Determining stages of gonad maturity
	9.1.2	Criteria of ripe-female selection and pre-spawn holding of broodstock
9.2	Spawning induction of brood fish
9.3	Timing of maturity and females examination (latency in ovulation)
10. Spawning and gamete processing
10.1	Obtaining ovulated eggs
10.2	Sperm collection and quality evaluation
10.3	Egg insemination
10.4	Egg de-adhesion
10.5	Incubation
10.6	Hatching
11. Rearing of larvae and juveniles in tanks
11.1	Holding of pre-larvae during the period of yolk-sac resorption
11.2	Rearing of larvae for broodstock replacement
11.3	Rearing of juveniles for release into natural waterbodies
11.4	Fry and fingerling monitoring and quality control
12. Rearing of juveniles in ponds
12.1	Pond preparation
12.2	Development of feed potential and phyllopod extermination
12.3	Stocking of fry and juvenile production in the ponds
13. Fingerling release
13.1	Preparing for fingerling release
13.2	Selection of best sites for release
13.3	Transport of fingerlings to release sites
14 . Sanitary and hygiene measures
14.1	Monitoring of fish sanitary conditions and health at the hatchery
14.2	Daily visual control
14.3	Complete ichthyopathological examination
14.4	Quarantine measures
14.5	Prophylactic measures and disease treatment
	14.5.1	Disinfection
	14.5.2	Fallowing
	14.5.3	Administration of therapeutics
	14.5.4	Anaesthesia
15. Documentation
15.1	Documentation and reporting
16. Hatchery maintenance and repair
17. Staff and labour issues
17.1	Hatchery working conditions
17.2	Training and education of hatchery staff
18. Monitoring and research
18.1	Rearing of broodstock
18.2	Reproduction
18.3	Early life stages
18.4	Handling
18.5	Genetics
18.6	Diseases
19. Social and environmental responsibility
20. International regulations and conventions on sturgeons
21. Implementation and updating
References
Appendix

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