The Government of Peru, assisted by the United Nations Development Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations are engaged in a project whose main purpose is to assist in developing and utilizing fishery resources of inland waters, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations under the United Nations Development Programme (Technical Assistance Sector) appointed Mr. Roland Schulz as a Fish Culturist. Mr. Schulz served in Peru from 20 July 1972 to 26 July 1973.
The expert's services were requested to evaluate the fish cultural work currently in progress in Peru. This evaluation was accomplished in conjunction with a reconnaissance survey of inland waters which was conducted by Mr. Homer Campbell.
In addition to evaluating fish cultural activities now in progress in Peru, the expert assisted personnel of the Peru Ministry of Fisheries in selecting sites suitable for the establishment of fish culture programmes. The expert's terms of reference were: (1) to evaluate the work done to date; (2) in conjunction with the Inland Fishery Biologist (Biology), conduct a reconnaissance survey of the inland waters with respect to their potential for fish culture development; (3) select suitable sites for the establishment of fish culture programmes; (4) formulate a programme of fish culture development, including research and training of personnel. The expert's work was facilitated by the advance planning and work which had been accomplished by Mr. Campbell. This planning made it possible to begin a survey of fishery installations immediately upon arrival in Peru.
(a) Huaraz Trout Hatchery-Department of Ancash
This trout hatchery is located at the edge of the city of Huaraz and has an excellent water supply originating in the surrounding mountains. Some of these are more than 6 500 m altitude near Huaraz. The severe earthquake of 1970 was centred near Huaraz and several of the hatchery ponds and buildings were damaged. Water for operating this hatchery is obtained from a small river originating in the mountains above Huaraz. Melting snows keep water temperatures in the 7°C–12°C range.
Rainbow and brook trout produced at this hatchery are fed a diet of slaughterhouse waste (liver, spleens and blood) mixed with wheat middlings and fish meal. Cottonseed meal has been used as feed in past years and this possibly contributed to hepatoma in the older fish. Diets consisting of different percentages of the feed ingredients were being tested to obtain a more efficient diet. Pelleted trout feed, available at this hatchery for the first time (1972) was also being evaluated. A system of inventorying the weight and number of trout in each pond had been put into effect at the time of the expert's inspection of the hatchery in September 1972. The expert assisted the hatchery manager in utilizing feeding charts to find the most efficient feeding rate. Methods for keeping a running weight inventory based on known water temperature and rate of gain were discussed.
There appears to be no serious trout diseases at the Huaraz hatchery except for what appeared to be goitre symptoms in the brook trout along with some fin damage probably caused by overcrowding or underfeeding. Other diseases were not apparent.
A programme of construction of trout rearing ponds in conjunction with agricultural cooperatives in the Department of Ancash was being carried out by the Ministry of Fisheries in the Department of Ancash. The fish on hand in some of these small spring-fed ponds were examined and there was evidence of overfeeding in some instances. Feed from the hatchery was being supplied for these cooperative ponds and efforts were being made to develop more efficient feeding practices. As the number of these cooperative ponds increases it will be necessary to utilize pelleted feeds if they are to be profitable.
Construction of a new trout farm to be located on the Macara River immediately above its confluence with the Santa River about 10 km below Huaraz has been initiated. The Macara River water is of good quality and temperature (10°C–14°C, 7.3 pH and total hardness of 75–80 ppm). A minimum of 4 m3 is available for trout production purposes. This stream has remained cloudy with fine silt and sand since the 1970 earthquake, however, it is expected to eventually become clear. One of the major problems connected with the site is poor transportation facilities because of the very difficult mountain roads. This will make both marketing of fish and delivery of feed to the farm quite difficult. Production capacity of this facility is estimated at 300 000 kg annually.
(b) Cajamarca Trout Hatchery
The Cajamarca trout hatchery is located on the outskirts of Cajamarca and obtains its water supply from a small stream near the city of Cajamarca. Facilities at this hatchery consist of tanks and race-ways and three large earthen ponds. Water temperatures at this hatchery are near the upper limits for trout (18°C–19°C) and during the expert's inspection of the station there was evidence of both gill disease and fin rot in the rainbow trout. Personnel at the station stated that about 50percent losses were sustained from the egg to fingerling stage. Samples of the affected fish have been sent to a fish disease laboratory for identification of the causative organisms, but the results were not available. Because of the unfavourable water temperatures and possible presence of serious diseases, relocation of this facility to a site with a more favourable water supply is recommended.
(c) Santa Eulalia Trout Hatchery
This hatchery is located about 30 km from Lima. The land area and amount of water available are both very limited precluding further development or improvement. In recent years a high percentage of the trout have died. Mine pollution is the probable cause of these losses and since it would be expensive to filter the water supply it is recommended that the hatchery be closed at least until measures can be taken to improve the water quality. Tentative plans have been made to develop this station into a research facility in conjunction with national university programmes, however, the poor quality of the water supply will make it difficult to carry out meaningful research programmes.
(d) Ingenio Trout Farm - Huancayo
This trout farm is designed for commercial trout production and when construction is completed annual capacity will be 300 000 to 400 000 kg of market size trout. The water supply, a spring fed stream with minimum flows of 3 m3/sec with a constant temperature of 11°C.
Present production (1972) schedules are only a small percentage of the potential for this site since there have been problems in obtaining adequate amounts of trout feed. The diet used at this station includes beef liver and other slaughterhouse wastes mixed with pelleted dry feed supplied by a feed mill in Lima. The pelleted feed was being used for the first time in 1972, and has proved to be generally satisfactory. High prices for important items such as the vitamin pre-mix made it necessary to feed meat by-products in addition to the pellets. As production schedules increase it will be necessary to rely more heavily on complete dry feeds because slaughterhouse products probably will not be avaiable in the large amounts needed.
Testing of trout feeds for the necessary amino acids and other components, now being carried out by the Ministry of Fisheries Quality Control Laboratories, should return high dividends and will make it possible to develop a reasonably priced trout feed consisting of materials produced in Peru. Since fish meal is produced in large quantities in Peru, it will be possible to produce a competitively priced feed which can be converted into trout for domestic and foreign market. The possibility of producing trout feeds for foreign markets should also be investigated.
Development of a market for trout must necessarily parallel the production of trout in Peru. This market research is being carried out by EPSEP the Government Agency concerned with fish marketing.
(e) Chucuito Trout Hatchery - Lake Titicaca
This hatchery located on a small spring-fed stream adjacent to Lake Titicaca was constructed in the 1940's to provide small trout for stocking Lake Titicaca and other waters of the area. Most of these introductions have been very successful. Periodic restocking of lakes is required since there is very little if any reproduction in these lakes. During recent years the commercial harvest of rainbow trout from Lake Titicaca has fallen from nearly 400 000 kg in 1965 to no commercial harvest at present (1973). Many possible reasons for this rapid decline have been postulated. Included in these are: indiscriminate use of gillnets both in the Lake and its main tributaries, competition from other species (pejerrey and brown trout), a decline in water level of the Lake, the greater use of pesticides on crops in the Lake's watershed, and a decline in the numbers of trout stocked. A larger research effort is needed to determine more exactly the causes of the very rapid decline in commercial trout production and to establish a programme whereby a sustained annual harvest can be achieved. Recommendations for such a research programme are contained in Mr. Campbell's report.
(f) Cabanillas Trout - Farm Juliaca
The Cabanillas trout farm near Juliaca is located near the Cabanillas River and obtains its water from a small tributary stream of the main river. Some problems in connexion with this site are the lack of sufficient gradient making it impossible to drain the ponds quickly and the tendency for the water supply to become very muddy during the rainy season. The water temperature is variable with the seasons with resultant slow growth during the cold and rainy periods. Ground water is available in this area and is of ideal temperature (12°–13°C) for trout production. It would be advantageous to develop a well water supply for supplemental use during periods when the hatchery water supply is too cold (below 8°C) or too turbid for good hatchery production and growth.
(a) Use of irrigation waters for trout production
Since the greatest need for stocking of rainbow trout appears to be in the Lake Titicaca area, all practical means of increasing trout production in this area should be explored. Best prospects for establishing trout farms in the Lake Titicaca basin would be to combine such an operation with irrigation projects that pump large amounts of water from the Lake or projects using gravity flow water from streams flowing into Lake Titicaca. Trout production could be an additional use of this water and need not interfere with irrigation uses. Ground water is available near Juliaca. This appears to be of excellent quality and temperature for producing trout. A comprehensive survey of this resource is needed before recommendations can be made regarding the feasibility of pumping water for trout production.
(b) Trout feed development
The Ministry of Fisheries Programme of testing trout feeds (pellets) for protein content along with analyses for amino-acid content has proved effective in maintaining high quality feeds. These feeds produced by Peruvian mills are necessary for obtaining planned increases in production of rainbow trout for marketing.
Supplies of slaughterhouse wastes such as spleens and livers not fit for human consumption probably will not be available in sufficient quantities to supply the needs of the large new trout farms, several of which are scheduled for construction in three to six years. Therefore, it will be necessary to rely on complete dry feeds containing all of the necessary vitamins and other nutrients. Because fish meal is available in Peru along with most of the other necessary ingredients with the exception of the vitamin mix, Peru is in an advantageous position as regards costs for commercial production of trout feeds. It is likely that an export market for trout feeds might be developed because of Peru's favourable position in the fish meal industry.
The feeding of fishes other than trout has not been attempted on a large scale in Peru, but several research stations are testing available feedstuffs locally. At the Medio Mundo Station near Huacho, mullets are being fed on a mixture of scrap ocean fish and restaurant wastes. This mixture while variable in content has yielded encouraging results under both carp and mullet.
In the Amazon area both the Iquitos Station near Lake Quistacocha and the experimental fisheries centre located on the Institute for Veterinary Investigations of the Tropics and Altiplano (IVITA) near Pucallpa are testing various feeds for tropical species such as sabaki Brycon sp., boquichico Prochilodus nigricans, acarahuazu Astronotus ocellatus, tucanare Cichlaocellaris sp., gamitana Colossoma bidens, paco Myletes sp. and carchama Pterygoplichthys multiradiatus. The National University of the Amazon at Iquitos is carrying out research on the various Amazon fishes with a view to growing these fishes under controlled conditions. Various locally available foods will be tested at this institution. At present, slaughter-house wastes combined with wheat middlings are being fed to sabalo and gamitana with good results. However, as in the case of trout the limited amounts of slaughterhouse waste makes it necessary to find other feed ingredients.
(c) Introduction of other species
Because of the large number of native fishes in Peru, great care should be exercised in regard to introduction of exotic species. The few exotic species which have been introduced have been generally beneficial. This is particularly true of rainbow trout introductions into mountain streams and lakes. Tilapia, Tilapia rendalli have been introduced into the warmer waters areas, but this species appears to be little utilized at present. Possibilities for developing production of tilapia in ponds are now under investigation and because of its herbivorous food habits and excellent flavour tilapia is expected to be one of the most valuable species for pond rearing.
Possibilities for new introductions might include salmon species for pen-rearing in the colder coastal water areas and/or mountain lakes. However, since Peru appears to be generally free of the major trout diseases in the mountain areas and in a favourable position to develop an export market for trout, any salmonid introductions should be restricted to eggs from certified disease-free stock.
(d) Training of personnel for aquaculture enterprises
Several universities in Peru provide basic instruction in fishery biology, zoology and oceanography. The national universities at Arequipa, Puno, Huancayo, Cuzco, La Molina and Iquitos offer courses in aquaculture or fish farming. Cooperation between the universities and the Ministry of Fisheries is excellent and many recent university graduates are employed in the Ministry of Fisheries Programmes.
In addition to the training in aquaculture provided by the universities, the research stations at Medio Mundo near Huacho and at Puerto Pizarro near Tumbes provide practical training in aquaculture of salt-water species. Oysters and shrimp are produced experimentally at Puerto Pizarro. Mullet and prawns are produced at Medio Mundo. At present there is only very limited aquaculture production of marine and brackishwater species in Peru, consequently there is a very limited area of employment for persons trained in this field of endeavour.
There is a growing need for personnel trained in modern trout culture methods at the various levels of responsibility. As construction of the planned government fish farms progresses, more trained personnel will be required. As a first step in a training programme for trout farm personnel it is recommended that the Ingenio Trout Farm near Huancayo be utilized as a training centre for tour farm personnel. This facility is well-suited for such a programme since it is a modern facility where conditions are similar to those which will be encountered on the seven or eight new trout farms now under construction or planned for development in the next few years.
In the sierra regions of Peru the Ministry of Fisheries has also initiated programmes for constructing community trout rearing ponds. These ponds, although generally quite small because of the limited availability of spring water, have provided an additional source of high quality protein for the people of the mountain villages. Hatchery managers at the government hatcheries are providing a valuable service by instructing the farmers in the proper feeding techniques. If this programme continues as planned it is recommended that each government hatchery should have one or more persons available for giving practical advice in the feeding of trout and other management procedures such as establishing proper stocking rates and most advantageous periods for harvesting.
Recent improvements in air and land transportation in eastern Peru plus the expected growth of the petroleum and lumber industries have given this region new importance in the future of Peru. The fishery of this area consists of many species ranging in size from the small ornamentals to the Paiche and large catfishes. The research facility and experimental ponds scheduled for construction near Iquitos will make it possible to better inventory and evaluate the fishery. Collection and marketing of ornamental fishes in the Amazon River area of Iquitos and Pucallpa is a thriving business. It is conservatively estimated that more than 15 million ornamental fish are exported from Iquitos annually.
