The importance of developing aquaculture in inland and coastal waters was recognized in several countries of Latin America since many years and experimental or small-scale production programmes have been in operation in some of them for varying periods of time. However, the progress of these efforts has been relatively slow, largely because the programmes often lacked the basic requirements for making a major impact on aquafood production or economic development. The fact that some of the countries are important meat producers or have large marine fishing industries has often led to an inadequate appreciation of the role of aqua-culture in these countries. However, in recent years most of the countries have recognized the need to give greater priority to fish and shellfish production through aquaculture for domestic consumption, especially to meet the food and nutrition requirements of rural populations. In view of the limitations of marine fisheries expansion, the governments are giving increasing consideration to inland fisheries development, which involves primarily large-scale aquaculture per se or the application of aquaculture techniques to enhance fish stocks in natural or artificial bodies of inland waters. Development of coastal aquaculture for exportable products like shrimps and oysters has also received considerable attention. The CARPAS Symposium on Aquaculture in Latin America held in Montevideo, Uruguay, 26 November - 2 December 1974, recommended appropriate national planning to realize the full potential of aquaculture in the region and to accelerate the pace of development. The Regional Workshop on Aquaculture Planning was organized by the FAO/UNDP Aquaculture Development and Coordination Programme in Caracas, 24 November - 10 December 1975, in implementation of this recommendation and as the third and last of the series of regional workshops organized by the Programme in support of global aquaculture planning. As in the case of the two earlier workshops, the objectives of this workshop also were to:
(a) discuss the basic data required for the formulation of sound aquaculture development plans;(b) consider the levels of aquaculture development suited to different socio-economic and ecological situations;
(c) evaluate organizational, financial and technological requirements for the implementation of development programmes, with special reference to the production and distribution of inputs, training of manpower and building of extension services;
(d) consider ways and means of overcoming legal and environmental constraints on aqua-culture development;
(e) formulate and discuss phased outline development plans for each of the participating countries; and
(f) identify external assistance required for the implementation of aquaculture development in each of the participating countries, and discuss the national, regional and inter-regional elements of the assistance required.
The Workshop was hosted by the Government of Venezuela and held in Hotel Avila, Caracas. It was attended by participants from 13 selected countries of the region (see Annex I). Annex II shows the agenda followed.
The Workshop was inaugurated by the Vice Minister for Agriculture in Venezuela, Dr. Antonio Alvarez Fernandez. He emphasized in his opening speech the significant role of fisheries in Latin American economy, particularly of inland fisheries and aquaculture. He called for closer cooperation between countries of the region and pooling of experience and resources to achieve rapid development in this sector. Dr. Miguel Albornoz, the UNDP Resident Representative in Venezuela, called on the Workshop to consider ways of accelerating research, training and information dissemination for aquaculture development in Latin America and possible means of establishing close linkages with aquaculture centres in other parts of the world to enable easier transfer of technology and expertise between countries and regions.
Like the previous two workshops, this one was also organized in two stages. Stage I was attended by all the participants and discussed the concepts and principles concerned with large-scale aquaculture development planning, laying emphasis on short and medium term increase in production using existing technologies. For this purpose the following topics were discussed:
(i) Basic data required for aquaculture planning(ii) Levels and patterns of aquaculture development
(iii) Role of public and private sectors in aquaculture development
(iv) Organization of aquaculture services for small- and industrial - scale development
(v) Research support and extension services for aquaculture development
(vi) Manpower requirements and training of personnel
(vii) Market surveys, handling and marketing of aquaculture products
(viii) Development of auxiliary industries
(ix) Financing, credit and incentives for aquaculture development
(x) Legal and environmental aspects concerning aquaculture development
(xi) Bilateral and multilateral assistance for aquaculture development
(xii) Regional and inter-regional cooperation for development of aquaculture.
In the light of these discussions and the national development objectives, participants from each country formulated statements of national policies, priorities, production targets and production procedures. Based on these, draft outlines of national development plans for the participating countries were prepared (Annex III) and discussed during Stage II of the Workshop. The national development plans aimed at a total targeted annual production of over 1.5 million tons at the end of a ten-year period as follows:
|
Country |
Tons |
|
Brazil |
685000 |
|
Chile |
173290 |
|
Colombia |
27000 |
|
Costa Rica |
5200 |
|
Cuba |
30000 |
|
Ecuador |
4830 |
|
El Salvador |
26000 |
|
Guyana |
3000 |
|
Mexico |
527000 |
|
Paraguay |
761 |
|
Peru |
3600 |
|
Uruguay |
20300 |
|
Venezuela |
39000 |
|
Total |
1544981 |
