Owing to the inland location of the Pirassununga Station it would only be possible to carry out work on freshwater aquaculture there. For expanded national or regional research and training activities it is therefore necessary to have a suitable sub-centre for work on coastal farming. The State of Sao Paulo has established a station in Cananeia which conducts coastal farming investigations in the Cananeia Lagoon. The mission held discussions with the Coordinator concerned in the Secretaria da Agricultura and his staff about the possibility of this station serving as a sub-centre of a regional aquaculture centre. They described in some detail the present and future plans of research in Cananeia and expressed keen interest and willingness to participate in the proposed regional activities.
The mission later visited Cananeia and discussed the on-going work with the staff. The station, known as “Centro de Pesquisas Aplicadas de Recursos Naturais”, has two large laboratory buildings which are now nearing completion. Of these, one is entirely meant for aquaculture.
There is also a series of large cement concrete tanks with a controlled supply of air and of fresh and salt water. Though the station's work covers the general field of conservation of natural resources, marine cultivation has assumed considerable importance in its programme. The emphasis at present is on the culture of the local oyster Ostrea brasiliana. Besides conducting some experimental work on the species, the station is also organizing training of selected groups of fishermen in oyster farming.
It is planned to construct an additional large general laboratory in the near future. A series of 12 residential buildings is already under construction. When all the construction work is completed and the laboratories fully equipped, the station will have very impressive facilities for research and training in aquaculture. Additional facilities required will be a series of tidal ponds, which can be constructed on a suitable site not far from the laboratories.
In spite of the remote island location, the mission feels that this facility can very well serve as a marine sub-centre for the Regional Aquaculture Centre for Latin America. As the detailed programme of work of this station is still to be finalized, it should be possible to orient its work to deal with regional problems, and with the provision of appropriate guidance, it may be possible to establish a suitable research programme on marine and brackishwater aquaculture. Arrangements can be made for the trainees from the Regional Centre to spend two or three months at Cananeia to study mariculture techniques and undertake practical work in this field.
