The Government of Israel assisted by the United Nations Development Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations are engaged in a project whose main purpose is to develop marine farming in Israel; in particular to supply the know-how needed for marine farming enterprises and to guide research in marine farming.
As part of the project operation, FAO assigned Dr. S.P. Meyers, a Consultant, from November to December 1975 with the following terms of references “To advise and assist in the development and formulation of nutritionally complete artificial diets for the rearing of marine fish and their larvae including the survey of locally available feed components, preparation of experimental feeds and provision of specifications for necessary equipment and facilities”.
Effective cultivation of marine fish under technologically sound conditions requires a basis of understanding of the dietary and nutritional requirements of the animals at all stages of their development. In this regard, periods of consultantship were established at the Mariculture Laboratory of the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Ltd. (IOLR) in Elat, Israel.
Two integrated periods of approximately six weeks duration of consultantship were selected as feasible, November–December 1975 and March–April 1976. Specific goals of the initial period are:
Evaluation of existing facilities and equipment at the Mariculture Laboratory in Elat in terms of experiments planned, water system and hatchery, and characteristics of the feed formulation component.
Design of experiments in terms of equipment, both present and projected, for hatchery and post-hatchery phases of the operation.
Evaluation of flake and alginate-base extruded diets in Elat culture systems in terms of buoyancy of particles and relative acceptability to the gilthead bream, Sparus auratus.
Examination of grow-out diets, including existing formulations used as well as suggested improvements for optimisation of food intake and conversion rates. Included are considerations of least-cost preparations for ultimate pond/cage culture use.
Familiarisation with the level of fish farming/feed formulation in Israel, accomplished by site visits to fish farms, experiment stations and feed manufacturers. Analyses include those involving lists of available (indigenous) feed commodities and analytical back up for diet composition study.
In addition to the above, attention was given to personnel and equipment needs, prior history of culture/nutrition work, and pertinent problem areas (such as nutritionally-related pathology). A programme for the Spring of 1976 period of consultantship was achieved. The latter will consist, in the main, in implementation of the proposed experiments with analysis of animal response and data. evaluation. Logistics between both periods are planned to make maximum use of the intensive Spring 1976 experimental programme.
