Given the limited resources of the Fisheries Division, the role of externally funded research and development projects is vital to aquaculture development and aquatic resource conservation in Lao PDR. These projects have a three fold function: establish and develop an aquatic resource data base, introduce, adapt and develop aquaculture technologies and train national counterpart staff.
FAO/UNDP projects LAO/82/014 and LAO/89/003 introduced and disseminated polyculture. Training benefitted national, provincial and district government staff and added significantly to the Fisheries Division's extension capabilities. The project demonstrated the validity of the extension model policy of the government and stimulated a rapid expansion of fish culture. Both projects have expired, but further support of fish culture extension is required to place the industry on a self sustaining basis.
The International Development Research Centre of Canada (IDRC) funded the “Indigenous Fishery Development Project.” The project had several components including a study of the migration of Mekong River species in the southern region of the country. Induced breeding and fry production of commercially important indigenous species was developed and staff trained at several provincial fish farms. The project has been completed and the results published.
An on-going activity is the Lao component of the basin-wide MRC project “Managment of Reservoir Fisheries in the Mekong Basin.” The project is developing reservoir management methods using the Nam Ngum reservoir as a study area.
The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) is supporting a community outreach program to promote communal fish ponds and fish breeding among fish farmers in Savannakhet province. The project which began in 1993, will run through next year.
A couple of very important regional projects are on the horizon. The Mekong River Commission will implement a study of the migration and spawning and impact of water management. The project is planned to begin in late 1996. The second project will be aimed at strengthening fisheries information systems in the Mekong Basin. The MRC has also agreed to seek funds to develop a fisheries research laboratory in Lao PDR. Such a laboratory would represent a quantum leap forward for fisheries resource management.
