The following major conclusions were reached by the TSS-1 mission:
Inland fisheries are important in all countries included in the study. They are especially useful as a source of income, and most importantly as a dietary source of animal protein, for the poorer sections of rural communities. Consequently it is the policy of all the governments concerned to increase freshwater fish output by sustainable management strategies which are compatible with the conservation of stocks and protection of the environment.
The best potential for increasing fish yields is found in certain types of discrete water body, notably natural lakes and man-made reservoirs, in which production can be intensified by application of one or more appropriate management measures which are considered in this paper and summarized below.
Improvements to fish habitat or of access for fishermen are generally best done on a small scale by local communities or individuals. Large projects undertaken by government or international agencies can be effective for especially important waters, but the costs of both the initial engineering work and on-going maintenance may be higher than can be justified by the increased fish yield alone.
The enforcement of fishery regulations by government is poor in all countries, and many of the laws have an inadequate scientific basis. Improving this situation substantially is difficult, perhaps impossible, within the practical constraints and the financial limits imposed by the value of the fisheries. Increasing intensity of policing could also have adverse socioeconomic impacts on poorer sections of the fishing population disproportionate to the benefits accruing to fish stocks.
Instead, where feasible, authority for management of fisheries should be delegated to the local communities which fish them. There are precedents for this in relatively small bodies of water (up to a few hundred hectares), but community management may be impossible to organize effectively in large waters. De facto control of fishing is already exercised by wealthy elites in some places, and this rural power structure would be difficult to change without challenging the entire social system.
Introductions or transfers of fish and other organisms into new waterbodies has been widely practised, and will continue, though on a more cautious basis than in the past. Many introductions of species able to reproduce in the recipient water body resulted in valuable additions to the fish fauna, whilst some others had counterproductive side-effects. Either way, once a successful introduction of a naturally reproducing species has been made it is usually impossible to undo it.
On the other hand, many of the fishes most capable of utilizing the primary productivity of phytoplankton and macrophytes, i.e. Chinese carps and Indian major carps, are riverine species normally unable to reproduce in lakes and reservoirs. Maintenance of fishable populations of these therefore depends on a policy of regularly releasing hatchery-reared juveniles into the recipient water body, and their numbers cannot grow out of control.
Many governments, and some private leaseholders, routinely stock such fishes, and good biological and economic returns are shown in some cases, especially in relatively small waters. However, in the present trend towards privatization and economic rationalization, the stocking programmes of some governments are endangered by their inability to recover costs from the many small-scale and subsistence fishermen who exploit the resource. Lack of full reporting of catches, and doubts about the true number of fingerlings released, compound the difficulty of demonstrating cost-effectiveness in stocking programmes in large lakes and reservoirs.
The fish production from some lakes, reservoirs and rivers is greatly increased by use of cage aquaculture. Cage design and fish species grown vary from country to country in the region. Profitability is generally good. There is excellent potential to increase fish yields through dissemination of the technology for cage culture in all countries included in this study, with TCDC linkages playing a major part in this process.
Cage culture technology lends itself well to family ownership, and can be used as a valuable tool for improving incomes and nutritional standards amongst disadvantaged rural communities, including landless people such as refugees and those displaced from their farms by inundation following construction of dams.
The main recommendations of the mission are embodied in a proposal for a major internationally funded project aimed at increasing benefits from inland fisheries and aquaculture in four of the countries included in this preliminary study. The draft project document for this proposed programme (q.v.) is the primary output of the TSS-1 mission.
The proposal recommends the application of two of the fisheries management strategies outlined above:
Enhancement of yields from capture fisheries by stocking hatchery-reared juveniles of non-reproducing species into lakes and reservoirs.
To ensure sustainability, cost recovery and more equitable distribution of benefits, systems of community-based management should be initiated for the stocked fisheries.
Dissemination of the technology for cage culture of fish in lakes, reservoirs and rivers.
Cage ownership should be vested in disadvantaged rural families, who will require initial financial assistance via credits and/or subsidised inputs.
Most of the technological knowhow required is available in the region, and a major strategy of the project will be to encourage exchange of information within and between countries through TCDC. Improved international cooperation in the field of water management is considered essential in this rapidly developing region of Asia if potential conflicts over water use are to be avoided in future.
Only four countries out of the eight studied by the TSS-l mission were selected for inclusion in the follow-up project proposal, partly because this was considered the maximum workable number. The priorities for inclusion were geographical contiguity and climatic similarity, and capacity to successfully host the project both in terms of natural and human resources. The selection was further narrowed by consideration of the number and extent of other fisheries development projects active; those countries in receipt of least international assistance being favoured. There is in fact considerable potential for increasing inland fish production through intensification of management practices in all the countries considered, as well as their Asian neighbours, and it would be desirable to extend use of the recommended strategies to other countries once their effectiveness has been demonstrated.
