4.1 Manpower training in aquaculture technologies
4.2 Manpower training in management
4.3 Aquaculture research in the region
4.4 Management of credit
4.5 Associations of professionals in the region
4.6 Information for professionals
4.7 Technical assistance projects in the sub-sector
4.8 Capital assistance projects in the sub-sector
There are many institutions of higher learning in Australia and New Zealand which provide education (graduate and post-graduate levels) in disciplines relevant to the aquaculture sector, such as biology, agriculture, marine science, engineering, veterinary medicine, economics, etc. Australia has 21 universities and 47 colleges, and New Zealand has 7 universities and 9 technical institutes. Neither country has a university or college specifically for fisheries, although many have active fisheries and aquaculture components as parts of major courses.
In Australia, the James Cook University, the University of Queensland, and the Hawkesbury Agricultural College all have aquaculture courses as part of certain graduate programmes.
Few other educational institutions exist within the Pacific island countries and territories. In Papua New Guinea there is the University of Papua New Guinea, with approximately 1 500 students., and the University of Technology with just over 1 000 students. The University of Papua New Guinea has aquaculture courses in its degree programme for fisheries. Fiji is the organizational centre and main campus of the University of the South Pacific which has 2 200 students on campus and an enrollment of 2 894 in extension programmes. The University of Guam with an enrollment of approximately 2 000 offers undergraduate coursework in aquaculture and post-graduate degrees in marine biology which can include aquaculture; and educational research opportunities are available in aquaculture at the Marine Laboratory. The College of Micronesia, based in Pohnpei, in the Federated States of Micronesia, offers a two-year programme in biology which includes courses in aquaculture.
Many of the students of the Pacific Islands attend the University of Hawaii (USA) where more opportunities for graduate studies and for post-graduate research in aquaculture exist. The main departments are the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and the Department of Agricultural Engineering.
A database for opportunities in fisheries training, which includes aquaculture, is maintained by ICLARM/FAO in Manila, Philippines. The 1986 database lists only one institution In the South Pacific region with post-graduate education resources, but only in fisheries. This is the Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique Outre-Mer (ORSTOM) in New Caledonia. There are two institutions under the North America region (the Universities of Hawaii, and Guam) which offer considerable graduate and post-graduate education in aquaculture.
Several of the universities listed above offer programmes in business management and public administration. As yet none has developed a course in the management of aquaculture investments, or for administration in aquaculture.
The ADB, which has responsibilities for the Pacific region, runs short workshops on project management for managers of ADB country loan projects, including fisheries and aquaculture. Such workshops focus on ADB procedures, but also touch on fund management, disbursement, and related fiscal topics.
Aquaculture research within the region is carried out on a limited scale by many of the local government agencies involved with fisheries. This is particularly true for the respective state agencies in Australia (for example, the Brackishwater Fish Culture Station in Queensland, where research is carried out on oyster culture and fish propagation, and in Tasmania for salmonids). There is also the Arthur Ryiah Institute for Environmental Research, at Heidelberg in Victoria, which is under the direction of the Fisheries and Wildlife Division, working on the breeding of Macquarie perch, trout cod, and Murray cod for stock, enhancement; the Curtin University of Technology working on the culture of marron and yabbies; the Eastern Freshwater Fish Research Hatchery at Grafton, working on the culture of native freshwater fish, as is the Inland Fisheries Research Station at Narrandera.
Research is carried out by the federal departments of fisheries in New Zealand. The Fisheries Research Centre in Wellington at Greta Point employs some 60 scientific and 69 technical staff. Its aquaculture interests include research on oysters and abalone.
There are a number of research organizations which have a specific focus on aquaculture. These include EVAAM, the national department of fisheries in French Polynesia (Tahiti) which is actively involved in, among other responsibilities, aquaculture development and research related to the culture of pearl oysters and baitfish.
In Guam the Department of Agriculture (Division of Fish and Wildlife) has a small laboratory, staffed by one biologist and a biological aid, to examine the culture of catfish. The Marine Laboratory at the University of Guam has a research unit with two faculties engaged in aquaculture research on rabbitfish and the culture of sea cucumbers; and the new Aquaculture Development and Training Center, administered by the Guam Department of Commerce is working on the hatchery production of freshwater prawns, rabbitfish, and marine shrimp.
In French Polynesia (Tahiti), the French Government research organization IFREMER has a large facility (with a staff of approximately 70) which has been conducting research on a variety of marine species for many years, and is the strongest research resource in the region. In New Caledonia IFREMER has two facilities, a commercial farm (SodaCal) where some applied research is carried out, and a hatchery and pond facility for research in rearing marine shrimp. Another French Government agency, the Institut Français de Recherche pour le Développement en Coopération (ORSTOM), maintains two research centres in Tahiti and Noumea (New Caledonia).
The MMDC at Malakal, Palau, has a small research and development centre primarily engaged in larval production and culture of giant clams; ICLARM and the James Cook University of Australia are conducting research on the giant clam at the Coastal Resources Centre in Honiara, Solomon Islands as well as in Australia at the Orpheus Island Field Station.
ICLARM conducts research on specific aquaculture problems relevant to the region through collaboration with other research and/or academic institutions in the Pacific and in Asia. It has no research facilities of its own other than resource information. Through multilateral and bilateral agencies it obtains grants and contracts for collaborative research and provides senior specialists for joint research teams. ICLARM now has a Coastal Aquaculture Centre in the Solomon Islands, and is planning to develop a Genetics Unit in the Philippines and an Integrated Farming Unit in Thailand. ICLARM is linked with SEAFDEC for the Asian Fisheries Social Science Research Network, which includes the Pacific. ICLARM publishes research results and findings in newsletters for circulation throughout the region, and in reports and books. Newest among these is the Asian Fisheries Society's Journal "Asian Fisheries Science", which includes aquaculture.
There is little information on the organization and use of credit by the aquaculture sector within the region. In addition to the commercial banks, most of the islands have development banks which make loans to small businesses, in which can be classified many aquaculture investments. Many small loans are made to the fisheries sector.
The following development banks exist in the islands; the Development Bank of American Samoa, Fiji Development Bank, Cook Islands Development Bank, Development Finance Institution (Kiribati), the Agriculture Bank of Papua New Guinea, the Development Bank of the Solomon Islands, the Tonga Development Bank, the National Development Bank of Palau, the Development Bank of Vanuatu, the Caisse Centrale de Coopération Economique (France), and the Development Bank of Western Samoa. There is also the Guam Economic Development Authority which provides credit for small businesses.
The Development Bank of Fiji helped finance a shrimp farm in Fiji. The Guam Economic Development Authority has provided assistance to aquaculture producers and to the Guam Aquaculture Association.
The Tasmanian Fisheries Development Association in Australia is providing grants and loans to the sector for salmon and oyster farming.
The Asian Development Bank, based in the Philippines, has geographic responsibility for the region and has been a substantial provider of development funds for aquaculture, but particularly in Asia. It has made at least one study of aquaculture development in the region, but has not made any loans.
There are few professional organizations dealing specifically with aquaculture within the region. Those which do exist are more concerned with marine science, and consider aquaculture as one sub-component.
The newly formed Pacific Aquaculture Association encourages membership from anyone in the sector, not only farmers, but scientists, professionals, and administrators. The Association operates from its headquarters in Hawaii, USA, and holds meetings throughout the region.
The following professional societies are concerned with aquaculture or related areas, to some degree. In Australia there is the Australian Aquaculture Society, which is the only society specializing in the field, and the Australian Society for Fish Biology and the International Society for Reef Studies. In New Zealand there is the New Zealand Marine Sciences Society, and in Papua New Guinea there is the Papua New Guinea Scientific Society.
The Asian Fisheries Society which was organized in 1987 is based at the ICLARM offices in Manila. It is open to all fisheries professionals in Asia and the Pacific. The Society had its first large scientific meeting in Manila in 1987 which was attended by fisheries professionals, including a significant number of aquaculturists.
Many professionals in the Pacific region are members of the World Aquaculture Society (WAS). This society is based in the USA and disseminates scientific research information and arranges annual conferences. Two of these conferences have been held in Hawaii. An affiliate of WAS is the European Aquaculture Society (EAS), based in Belgium; this society also has members from the region and arranges conferences in which the development of aquaculture in the Pacific is often discussed. Membership is individual or commercial, and materials can also be obtained through library membership. Many of these professionals obtained their post-graduate education or training abroad and joined the aquaculture societies in the regions where they studied.
The information resources for professionals produced within the Pacific region itself are limited for most areas of aquaculture and deal mostly with marine resource management and fisheries. These resources are predominantly institutional libraries and international databases.
A substantial library dealing with fisheries, and which includes aquaculture, is available in the South Pacific Commission headquarters in Noumea, New Caledonia. Aquaculture resources are also available at the Micronesian Area Research Center of the University of Guam, and the Pacific Information Center of the University of the South Pacific, Fiji.
In Hawaii, libraries with a heavy emphasis on aquaculture documentation are at the Oceanic Institute, and at the University of Hawaii (Hawaiian Institute of Marine Biology). Similarly, the IFREMER research centre in French Polynesia has probably the largest collection of reference materials relevant to aquaculture in the region, including the resources in French.
A database for aquaculture in the geographic area of Micronesia has been developed at Guam as part of the Micronesian Area Tropical Agriculture Database at the Micronesian Area Research Center of the University of Guam. Funding has recently been obtained to establish the Pacific Island Marine Resource Information Service (PIMRIS) which is to be based at the University of the South Pacific, and which will include aquaculture.
The UNDP/FAO Regional Fishery Support Project (see 6.4) produces fisheries bibliographies which include sections on aquaculture in the Pacific islands. To date bibliographies have been completed for Palau, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Western Samoa.
Aquaculture professionals in the Pacific region have access to a rich variety of information sources from Asia and North America. These are in the form of published material (technical/scientific, semi-technical journals, newsletters, magazines, agency annual and progress reports, hand-outs, brochures, among others); audio-visual aids (e.g. slides, film strips); data bases (e.g. Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Information Service (ASFIS)); and even workshops, seminars, and various conferences.
Most of the technical and scientific journals published in Asia by SEAFDEC-AQD, ICLARM, International Development Research Centre (IDRC), UNDP/FAO, and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), to name a few, are available in the main libraries within each Asian country. These libraries also have the international journals like "Aquaculture" on their shelves and professionals can have their own copies through subscription.
SEAFDEC publications include those produced by the Secretariat in Thailand and those published by the three different departments. The former include a quarterly newsletter; Fishery Statistical Bulletins for the South China Sea Area (which include statistics on aquaculture production volumes and values); and a Directory of Scientists and Technologists in the fields of fisheries research, development, and management in the Southeast Asian region. The SEAFDEC-AQD in the Philippines produces research papers, technical reports, extension manuals, a newsletter, and "Aqua Farm News". The SEAFDEC-AQD library maintains a good collection of scientific literature as well as other published materials in the fields of aquaculture. The library maintains over 250 subscriptions to journals in fisheries and aquaculture, and has over 8 000 volumes. It also has audio-visual materials (film strips) on various aquaculture production methods and systems.
ICLARM has a well-developed Information Programme comprising a special library, publications unit, and research projects. ICLARM has 7 technical publications series: (i) Studies and Reviews, (ii) Conference Proceedings, (iii) Technical Reports, (iv) Bibliographies, (v) Translations, (vi) Education, (vii) Software, as well as six newsletters, and the quarterly magazine NAGA. A Selective Fisheries Information Service provides in-depth answers to enquiries from researchers. The ICLARM library maintains an up-to-date collection of material relating to fisheries and aquaculture in tropical countries. Its book and monograph holdings exceed 8 000 volumes; there are 650 serial titles and 3 400 reprints. A microfiche reader/printer is available. Databases from other organizations such as FAO, US National Agricultural Library, and Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau, can be searched online by the library's modern link. Two electronic mail services are used to facilitate overseas retrieval. The CD-ROM version of the major aquaculture database, FAO's ASFA, is also available.
IDRC in Singapore publishes scientific monographs and technical reports as well as more general materials on aquaculture and aquaculture research. There are also printed and audio-visual materials, including films and slides, relating to IDRC projects in developing countries.
There are a number of smaller libraries in the Asia region to which professionals have access. For example, the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, and the NACA office, both in Thailand, as well as the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Tropical Biology (BIOTROP) library in Bogor, Indonesia all provide fisheries scientists with information. The National Inland Fisheries Institute in Thailand has a collection of papers on aquaculture but many are written in Thai with abstracts in English.
The EAS based in Belgium publishes a regular newsletter for members which also contains the contents of some abstracts of the more important aquaculture journals. It also publishes special volumes on aquaculture technology available at reduced rates to members. The EAS is an affiliate of the WAS which is based in the USA, and members have reciprocal benefits. The WAS produces the Journal of the World Aquaculture Society which is free to members.
The other, specialist journals on aquaculture are obtained on subscription. These are Aquaculture (the Netherlands), Aquaculture and Fisheries management (UK), Aquaculture Engineering (UK), Bamidgeh/Journal of Aquaculture (Israel), Bulletin Français de la Pêche et de la Pisciculture (France), Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (Canada), Diseases of Aquatic Organisms (Federal Republic of Germany), Journal of Fish Biology (UK), Journal of Fish Diseases (UK), Progressive Fish Culturist (USA), Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (USA), etc.
The largest resource of information for scientists and technical professionals in the sector is FAO in Rome, Italy. FAO produces a series of publications many of which are specific to aquaculture. These are FAO Fisheries Reports, FAO Fisheries Technical Papers, and FAO Fisheries Synopses. All titles are categorized and lists are regularly produced. Some documents are free and others are sold at cost. It maintains a large serial collection on all subjects related to fish and fisheries received from fisheries institutes, government departments, and commercial publishers throughout the world, together with a special collection of documents on a country basis, and subject files.
FAO maintains a database in which aquaculture information can be found. ASFA is an international bibliographic database providing comprehensive coverage of publications on the science, technology, and management of marine and freshwater environments. The database can be searched via terminals and personal computers to retrieval systems in Europe and North America; the database is also available on compact disc. Aquaculture Abstracts from ASFA are available in printed form through subscription.
ICLARM and SEAFDEC-AQD maintain ASFA-I (Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts), BRAIS (Brackishwater Aquaculture Information System), and SEAFIS (Southeast-Asian Fisheries Information Service).
At ICLARM the DIALOG system of over 120 databases can be searched interactively through a teletype facility. The SEAFDEC Secretariat in Thailand has established a Fisheries Information Service which is a clearing house for extension materials for small-scale fishermen and fish farmers in Southeast Asia.
No current technical assistance projects directly relevant to supporting national infrastructure can be identified. Representatives from the region have been able to participate in activities on the periphery of the region, particularly in Asia and in North America. A number of trainees have participated in the international technical training and education courses provided by the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia (NACA), a UNDP/FAO project based in Bangkok, Thailand. For example, students from Fiji (1), Papua New Guinea (2), Palau (2), and Tonga (1) have attended the four-month course on integrated fish farming in Wuxi, China between 1980-1988. One student from Fiji attended the twelve months post-graduate course for M. Aqua. at the SEAFDEC-AQD centre in the Philippines.
No current capital assistance projects relevant to supporting national infrastructure, such as the construction of research and development or training centres, can be identified.
