Nepad Strategic Seed Supply Report Feb 14 Final Draft

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Partnership for African Fisheries (PAF) Aquaculture Working Group:

Strategic review on sub Saharan African aquaculture seed supply

Author: Ram C. Bhujel

Authors Contact: [email protected]

February 2014

Commercial tilapia fingerling production at last beginning to take off in SS Africa, Benin,

West Africa Photo courtesy of Maurice Danjinou

This report was commissioned by NEPAD through the University of Stirling UK.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.nepad.org/http://www.sarnissa.org/http://www.aqua.stir.ac.uk/http://www.aqua.stir.ac.uk/mailto:[email protected]


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Disclaimer

The information and views set out in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily

reflect the official opinion of NEPAD or the University of Stirling. Neither NEPAD, the University of

Stirling, nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be

made of the information contained therein.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The present study, Strategic review on aquaculture seed supply in the

major countries of Sub-Saharan Africa was carried out to assess the

current situation and study the scope. Information has been compiled from

available published and unpublished literature and also collected via emailcommunications with key professionals in each of the selected countries.

Aquaculture in Africa is in its infancy and, consequently, fish seed

production and supply is at a similar stage, except in some countries such

as Egypt, Nigeria and Uganda. Various species of tilapia dominate

aquaculture production. Tilapia farming has boomed in Egypt mainly

because of success in mass fry production techniques through hormonal

sex-reversal; however, most other countries lag far behind. Similarly,

catfish farming took off in Nigeria because of the mushrooming of small-

scale catfish hatcheries following policy support and encouragement by thegovernment. However, in both the cases, scale and efficiency of seed

production are far below demand. There are very few success stories in

other countries; examples include, Tropo Farm in Ghana, Source of Nile

(SoN) farm in Uganda, Lake Harvest in Zimbabwe, and several farms in

Zambia. However, they mostly produce seed for their own use only and,

more importantly, all currently struggle to maintain seed quality.

Various sources show that around 1.5 billion fish seed are produced in

Africa annually whereas estimated demand is over 10 billion, which reveals

a huge deficit. More importantly, aquaculture is expected to grow by 10%each year. If this is the case, demand for fish seed will double in 8 years

time. Therefore, fish seed can be expected to be the main constraint for

aquaculture development in Africa. Appropriate measures are urgently

needed to implement an expansion in seed supply.

It is recommended to establish at least one model commercial hatchery in

each of the African countries which have the relevant aquaculture

potential. Such model hatcheries can be established through south-south

cooperation for training and technical assistance. Each model hatchery

should be managed as a self-sustaining unit either within the relevantpublic institution or should be managed by a private company


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independently. The model hatcheries should serve as centres of excellence

for hatchery technology where many farmers and their groups can be

trained. Gradually, seed nursery and trading networks should be

established or strengthened so that a large number of farmers get their

services with respect to growing fish in all countries.


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Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge the contributions of the following persons who providedvaluable information during this study; namely:

Prof Charles Ngugi, Kenyatta University in Kenya provided recent literature concerning the fishseed status of his country.

Information provided by Mr Peter Marangu from Kenya, who was in Thailand for training ontilapia hatchery and sex-reversed fry production techniques, has also been valuable in rovidingsome insight into Kenyan fish seed demand and current status.

Dr David Nguenga and Victor Pouomonge from IRAD, Cameroon provided recent literatureabout the fish seed status in Cameroon. Mr Serge CIEWE, Aquaculture consultant based in thecapital of Cameroon.

Austin Mtweda Bunda College, Malawi provided information from Department of Fisheries

Naga Murali from Triton Aquaculture Africa Limited, based in Ghana, provided the latestinformation on fish farms and hatcheries in Ghana.

Shimbetu Mweemba, aquaculture technician with the Department of Fisheries (DoF), Zambia,shared a lot of information during a mission trip recently, which has been used in thecompilation of this report.

Angus McNiven from Farm Aqua, based in Thailand, provided information and pictures of ahatchery in Malawi which was built through his technical assistance.

Mark Woollard, an Intern at AIT from Plymouth University, UK who assisted in collecting someinformation about fish seed in Africa.

The author also expresses gratitude to James Muir and John Bostock from University of Stirlingwho provided this opportunity.

Thanks are also due to the anonymous reviewer who provided constructive suggestions and toTrevor Meyer, John Bostock and Will Leschen for assistance in editing.


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Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 81.1 Background ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 81.2 Goal and objectives ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15

2. OVERVIEW OF THE SEED PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY ---------------------------------- 162.1 Wild seed collection and supply ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 182.2 Tilapia seed production and supply ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 192.2.1 Mixed sex fry production ........................................................... ............................................................ 192.2.2 Hybridization method ............................................................................................................................ 212.2.3 YY-male technology ......................................................... ................................................................. ...... 212.2.4 Hormonal sex-reversal technique ......................................................................................... ................. 222.2.5 Financial aspect ............................................................... ................................................................. ...... 232.2.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................. ................................................. 252.3 Catfish seed production ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 262.3.1 Broodfish preparation ..................................................... ................................................................. ...... 262.3.2 Hormone injection ......................... ................................................................. ....................................... 27

2.3.3 Egg incubation ...................................................... ................................................................. ................. 282.3.4 Larval rearing ........................................................ ................................................................. ................. 282.3.5 Fry nursery rearing ..................................................................................................... ............................ 282.3.6 Financial aspect ............................................................... ................................................................. ...... 292.4 Other species seed production and supply ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 312.4.1 Mullet seed production and supply ................................ ................................................................ ....... 312.4.2 Rain bow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) seed production ................................................................ ...... 322.4.3 Carps seed production and supply ....................................................... .................................................. 35

3. ISSUES IN SEED PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY ----------------------------------------------- 373.1 Seed quality issue ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 373.2 Seed Supply Models ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 383.3 Role of Public and Private Sectors --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 40

4. CURRENT STATUS IN SELECTED AFRICAN COUNTRIES --------------------------------- 414.1 Cameroon ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 424.2 Egypt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 434.3 Ghana----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 444.4 Kenya ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 474.5 Malawi --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 474.6 Nigeria ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 494.7 Tanzania ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 504.8 Uganda --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 514.9 Zambia --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 544.10 Zimbabwe ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 574.11 Summary status --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 58

5. MAJOR CONSTRAINTS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 615.1 Human resource --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 615.2 Water resource ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 615.3 Information gap --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 615.4 Biological factors -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 625.4.1 Wild seed .............................................................. ................................................................. ................. 625.4.2 Used as live-bait and high price ............................................................................................................. 625.4.3 Genetic quality ..................................................... ................................................................. ................. 625.4.4 Low fry survival and quality.................................................................................................................... 635.4.5 Limited alternative species .................................................................. .................................................. 645.5 Socio-economic factors ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 655.5.1 Fear of failure .................................................................................................. ....................................... 65

5.5.2 Over subsidy ......................................................... ................................................................. ................. 655.5.3 Security................................................................................................................................................... 65


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5.5.4 Shortage of private sector investment ............................................................ ....................................... 66

6. RECOMMENDED ACTIONS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 676.1 Establish broodstock development centres (BDC) for African fishes ------------------------------------------ 676.2 Establish a Technical Assistance and Quality Certification (TAQC) Agency ---------------------------------- 686.3 Hands on-training ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 686.4 Establishment of model hatcheries-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 696.5 Farmers groups / clusters / cooperatives ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 706.6 Regulate collection of wild seed resources --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 706.7 Upgrade existing hatcheries ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 706.8 Technical assistance and certification of existing hatcheries ---------------------------------------------------- 726.9 The promotion of contract farming ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 726.10 Extension services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 736.11 Establish/strengthen seed supply Networks ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 736.12 Loans and micro-finance ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 746.13 Institutional capacity development ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 746.14 Human resource development ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 756.15 South-South cooperation --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 756.16 Database and reporting of seed production and supply ---------------------------------------------------------- 75

6.17 Dissemination of technology / models --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 766.18 Accessory and input supply systems ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 76

7. REFERENCES --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 78


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List of TablesTable 1 Aquaculture production (tonnes) in Africa by country in 2009 (FAO, 2011) ............................................. 9

Table 2 Aquaculture production in Africa by species (FAO FishStat+).................................................................. 10

Table 3 Production of Nile tilapia (tonnees) in Africa 2009 (FAO FishStat+) ........................................................ 11

Table 4 African catfish production (tonnes) in 2009 (FAO FishStat+) ......................................................... .......... 11

Table 5 Trend of wild seed production of mullet in Egypt (Saleh, 2008) .............................................................. 18Table 6 Capital and operating costs of a typical sex-reversal tilapia hatchery ..................................................... 24

Table 7 Capital and operating costs of a typical catfish hatchery in Thailand ...................................................... 30

Table 8 Cost benefit analysis of a private trout farm in Nepal with 8 tanks and Area = 215 m2) ......................... 34

Table 9 Collection of catfish juveniles from the wild (Dec 200 5 - Mar 2006) ...................................................... 43

Table 10 Tilapia hatcheries in Ghana ............................................................... ..................................................... 45

Table 11 Catfish fingerling producers in Ghana ......................................................... ........................................... 46

Table 12 List of fish hatcheries in Uganda ............................................................................................................ 53

Table 13 Summary of seed demand in major African countries adapted from FAO (2007) incorporating recent

information from various sources given in Section 4 of this study .............................................................. 59

Table 14 Summary of seed resources in Africa (modified from FAO, 2007)......................................................... 60

List of FiguresFigure 1 Annual imports of fishery products to Africa (US$ millions) during 2006 - 2008 (FAO 2010) .................. 9

Figure 2 Egg collection (left), larval rearing trays (middle) and sex-reversal hapas (right) ........................ .......... 23

Figure 3 Egg collection (left) and incubation (right) in Bangladesh ............................................................ .......... 25

Figure 4 Stripping of catfish eggs for fertilization ................................................................. ................................ 29

Figure 5 Mature female trout (left) and milt mixing with eggs (right) ................................................................. 35

Figure 6 Fish seed supply model ........................................................... ................................................................ 39

Figure 7 Tilapia production boom in Egypt ........................................................................................................... 44

Figure 8 A newly established hatchery in Malawi with the assistance from Thailand (From Angus McNiven) ... 48

Figure 9 Aquaculture production in Nigeria (FAO, 2010) ..................................................................................... 49

Figure 10 Tilapia production boom in Uganda ..................................................................................................... 52

Figure 11 Harvesting O. andersoniibroods and sampling for DNA analysis ......................................................... 55

Figure 12 Testing a new plastic jar and tray at Rivendell Hatchery, Zambia ........................................................ 56

Figure 13 A hatchery with broodstock hapas, Savanna Stream, Zambia ............................................................. 56

Figure 14 Tilapia egg harvest, incubation and final fish harvest in Zambia .......................................................... 57

Figure 15 General model of fish seed production and supply in Africa ................................................................ 59

Figure 16 Factors affecting survival of catfish fry (Young-Sulem et al., 2007) ...................................................... 63

Figure 17 Recommended actions in brief ........................................................................................................... .. 67

Figure 18 Model hatcheries and seed supply network ......................................................... ................................ 69

List of Case studiesCase Study 1 AIT Hatchery, Thailand .................................................................................... ................................ 23

Case Study 2 Quality Breeders, Bangladesh ............................................................................................... .......... 25

Case Study 3 Phesthong Phan Pla - Catfish Hatchery, Thailand ...................................................... ..................... 29

Case Study 4 Grey Mullet (Mugil cephalus) seed production and supply ....................................... ..................... 32

Case Study 5 Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykis) .................................................. ........................................... 34

Case Study 6 Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) seed production and supply ................................... ..................... 36

Case Study 7 Savanna Stream, Zambia ............................................................................................ ..................... 56

Case Study 8 Aqua Farms, Zambia ........................................................ ................................................................ 57


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1. Introduction

1.1 Background

Promotion of aquaculture in Africa started in the 1960s; at around the same time as in Asia. The

continent received more than one-third of the sectoral development funding compared to Asia

and the Pacific (US$72.5 vs US$171.3) during the initial phase of aquaculture development

(1978 and 1984); however, annual aquaculture production has reached hardly one-tenth of that

in Asia (Lazard, et al., 1991 cited in Brummett et. al., 2008). Most African countries have relied

mainly on capture fisheries, both inland (lakes and rivers) and marine. Despite the application

of new fishing technologies and some promotional activities for aquaculture the per capita fish

supply has not increased for the last three decades in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (FAO, 2010).

Recently, data has shown alarming signs of decline. For example, in Kenya, per capita supply of

fish declined by more than half in six years, from 6.1 kg/year in 1999 to a mere 2.8 kg/year in

2005. Similarly, in Malawi, the per capita supply of fish has sharply declined from 12.9 kg in

1976 to 7.9 kg in the 1990s and then to 3.6 kg in 2001. Zambians used to consume 16.5 kg per

capita up to the early 1970s but this declined to 6.2 kg by 2000 (Bhujel, 2011b). A similar

situation is likely to happen in most of the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa; namely, Malawi,

Congo, Uganda, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Cameroon, Nigeria,

Angola, Cote d Ivoire and Senegal where fish still accounts for more than 30% of the animal

protein (Brummett et al., 2008). This indicates that almost all African countries now have far

less than the 13-15 kg per capita fish consumption recommended by the World Health

Organization (WHO). This shows a real threat to food and nutrition security in African

countries.

An increase in population, a decline in natural fish production and limited aquaculture

production are the reasons for the observed decline in fish consumption. As a result, fishery

products are being imported in large quantities from other countries, costing over US$2 billion a

year (Fig 1). Various workers have pointed out several reasons, including socio-economic

factors, cultural background, geo-physical conditions (e.g. dry climates or shortage of water)

and technological shortcomings. One of the main reasons is the shortage of quality seed when

and where it is required. A number of factors are directly associated with this problem including

production technology, lack of human resources and lack of government focus and appropriate

policies. In African countries, aquaculture was not considered a priority until they faced the

problem of declines in wild catch, alarmingly despite the fact that the concept of farming fish

was introduced as early as 1950s.

FAO data for aquaculture production shows Egypt, Nigeria, and Uganda are the leading

countries (Table 1). African governments have now recognized the value of aquaculture. Some

governments e.g. that of Kenya, are even announcing an unexpected level of investment as a

reaction. Similarly, various African states and their various consortia are projecting that they

need to promote aquaculture to be able to meet the projected demand of 3 million mt annually,

for which aquaculture production has to grow by 10% annually in the next 15 years from its

current level of production of about 1 million mt per year. The first and foremost important pre-

requisite for any food production sector such as aquaculture to grow at such a rate is the supply


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of quality seed which has to be available whenever and wherever is necessary. Availability of

fish seed stimulates the expansion of aquaculture (AOP, 1999b).

Figure 1Annual imports of fishery products to Africa (US$ millions) during 2006 - 2008 (FAO 2010)

Table 1Aquaculture production (tonnes) in Africa by country in 2009 (FAO, 2011)

Countries Total Per cent

Egypt 705,500 71.4

Nigeria 152,796 15.5

Uganda 76,654 7.8

Madagascar 6,091 0.6Zambia 8,505 0.9

Ghana 6,854 0.7

Tanzania 202 0.0

South Africa 3,415 0.3

Kenya 3,848 0.4

Tunisia 4,167 0.4

DR Congo 2,960 0.3

Zimbabwe 2,652 0.3

Sudan 2,200 0.2

Algeria 2,116 0.2Malawi 1,620 0.2

Morocco 1,403 0.1

Cte d'Ivoire 1,290 0.1

Others 5,615 0.6

Total 987,888 100

Africa has over 7,500 freshwater fish species distributed in the natural water bodies of 48

countries, which makes up the worlds largest repository of freshwater fish species (Gupta et al.,

2004). Over 130 species have also been introduced into 42 African countries; almost 80% of

which are finfish. The latest FAO (2011) database has listed about 50 African countries which


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have registered their aquaculture production. Aquaculture species of importance by volume

(Table 2) in Africa include:

a) Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus),

b) Flathead grey mullet (Mugil cephalus),

c) African catfishes (Clarias gariepinus,Burchell, 1882) and (Clarias anguillaris, L. 1758)

d) Native carps / cyprinidse) Native tilapias

Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is the most widely cultured and leading species in terms of

production in Africa (Table 3). It is produced in over 20 countries. For many African countries,

especially in southern Africa, Nile tilapia is considered an exotic species; therefore they may

have restrictions for its introduction and culture (Mapfumo, 2010). There are several species of

native tilapias which are native to certain countries and river basins, such as three spotted

tilapia mainly in Zambia, O. shiranus, & O. karangein Malawi, O. andersoniiin Zambia, O. rendalli

in other countries, and so on. Nigeria produces the largest quantity, close to 10,000 tonnes,

followed by DR Congo (2,960 tons) and Zimbabwe (2,650 tons).

Table 2Aquaculture production in Africa by species (FAO FishStat+)

Fish species Production (tons) Per cent

Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) 434,135 43.9

Flathead grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) 210,388 21.3

Africa catfish (Clarias gariepinus, C. anguillaris) 164,319 16.6

Native cyprinids (Labeosp, Barbussp., etc.) 78,700 8.0

Native tilapias (O. shiranus, O. rendaili O. andersonii), 17,941 1.8

Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) 16,089 1.6

Nile perch (Lates niloticus) 9,993 1.0

Reticulate knifefish (Papyrocranus afer) 7,204 0.7

European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) 6,995 0.7

Gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) 6,821 0.7

Others (Eels, Pike, Prawn, shrimp etc.) 35,302 3.6

Total 987,888 100

Among the other species, grey mullet comes second; however, its production is mainly confined

to Egypt alone (240,000 ton). Spiny eucheuma,a Seaweed is produced in considerable volumes

i.e. 102,000 tonnes, but it is only in Zanzibar. Production of African catfishes ( Clarias gariepinus,C. anguillarisand others), reached over 160,000 tons (Table 4). Among African countries Nigeria

(89,193 tonnes), Uganda (54,956 tonnes) and Egypt (18,000 tonnes) produce more than 99% of

the total.

Native cyprinids are produced mainly in Egypt (62,000 tonnes) followed by Nigeria (15,737

tonnes). FAO data also shows that common carp is cultured mainly in Egypt (12,000 tonnes)

followed by Madagascar (2,800 tonnes). Nile perch is cultured in Nigeria, with a production of

close to 10,000 tons in 2009. Crustaceans and molluscs each constitute less than 10% of total

production (Bartley and Martin, 2004).


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Table 3Production of Nile tilapia (mt) in Africa 2009 (FAO FishStat+)

Countries Nile tilapia Per cent

Egypt 390,300 89.9

Uganda 21,445 4.9

Ghana 6,676 1.5

Kenya 3,424 0.8

Zambia 3,419 0.8

Nigeria 3,314 0.8

Sudan 2,000 0.5

Others 3557 0.8

Total 434,135 100

Nigeria leads in the production of African catfish (C. gariepinus), which is widely cultured (Table

4). However, its farming has not expanded into other African countries mainly because of a

shortage of fingerlings. Induced spawning techniques in controlled environments and rearingmethods for C. gariepinuslarvae have been developed. If the African catfish is to be selected by a

particular country to use as a species of choice, the application of a reliable and established

method of hatchery and fry / fingerling nursing systems is needed.

Table 4African catfish production (tonnes) in 2009 (FAO FishStat+)

Countries African catfish Per cent

Nigeria 89,193 54.8

Uganda 54,956 33.8

Egypt 18,000 11.1

Mali 300 0.2

Malawi 80 0.0

Rwanda 60 0.0

South Africa 50 0.0

Other 27 0.0

Angola 10 0.0

Togo 10 0.0

Zimbabwe 2 0.0

Total 162,688 100

Production distribution shows that Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) has been farmed in more

than 20 countries of Africa. African catfish (Clarias sp.) are grown in more than 10 countries.

Although grey mullet ranks second in production volume, its production is confined to Egypt.

Therefore, tilapias and catfishes are the most commonly farmed species in Africa. Freshwater

fish species dominate the aquaculture production in Africa; over 1/3 of which is attributable to

tilapias, especially Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) (Williams and Brummett, 2000).

Although, information is limited, Nile tilapia introductions have been reported to be responsible

for considerable socio-economic benefits as compared to suspected adverse ecological impacts

in Africa (Bartley and Martin, 2004).


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In general, catfish and tilapias are the most preferred fish species in Africa and are considered

most suitable for culture (Ngugi et. al., 2007). They can be grown either separately or in

combination. In some cases, with other locally available species, the fingerlings are obtained

mostly from the wild (Ponzani and Nguyen, 2008). For aquaculture development, a country may

focus on one species based on climatic, geographical and other reasons. However, most

aquaculturally developed countries tend to have a choice of many species to grow and they mayeven accept exotic species with less disease and environmental resistance, from such countries

as Bangladesh and Vietnam. African countries are quite strict in this regard. It can be asked if

indigenous species of fish may be the best candidates for aquaculture development. Are African

catfish and tilapia adequate? If not, what other species might be?

Estimates based on the research carried out for this study through available literature and

various other sources suggeststhat current fish seed production in Africa is at least 1 billion per

year, whereas estimated demand stands at around 10 billion (Table 11). This indicates a huge

deficit. Furthermore, aquaculture has been expected to grow by 10% each year. If that is

realised, demand for fish seed will double within 8 years. It clearly shows that fish seed is andwill be the main hurdle for aquaculture development in Africa, unless appropriate plans are

implemented in advance.

In the past, the majority of fish farmers in Africa used wild-caught juveniles to stock their ponds.

Even now, fingerlings of many species, for example Heterotis niloticus and Chrysichthys

nigrodigitatus, are captured from the wild; however, wild captured fingerlings tend to be

seasonal in their availability, have limited growth, and are usually made up of different strains

which may be difficult to separate. There is therefore no alternative to hatchery-reared

fingerling if control over parental history is required (Anetekhai et al., 2004).

A rapid decline in wild catch, increased public awareness and priority given by the government

indicate that aquaculture may take off very soon, as in other countries. Promoters of

aquaculture in Africa are indeed expecting a big jump in new technologies without undergoing

through the slow path of development as information on the latest technologies developed

elsewhere are readily available. Domestic as well as foreign investors can select and apply

appropriate technologies and take advantage of abundant land, labour and water resources,

wherever available. Data show that exponential growth is already occurring in some African,

Egypt and Nigeria for example. If that happens in other African countries, demand for fish seed

could be unpredictably high. Fish seed industry leaders need to think ahead for such a possible

scenario so that fish seed would not represent a main constraint to this expansion.

Wild fish seed availability is typically seasonal. Farmers want to stock their ponds when they

have water but production of seed sometimes cannot be geared up immediately. Therefore, one

of the major constraints of aquaculture development in Africa is inadequate fry and fingerling

supply as and when needed. Although, several functional hatcheries as well as wild seed

collection centres (e.g. Egypt and other countries) are active in some countries, fingerling supply

remains a chronic problem (Yapi-Gnaor et al., 2004). This problem is compounded by poor

infrastructure, which makes seed supply difficult and costly. In addition, the lack of juvenile

rearing techniques, systems and/or facilities can lead to mortality occurring before stocking

into the grow-out systems and during the grow-out period.


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The quality of seed currently available in various parts of Africa has been questioned by

aquaculture producers as typically fish do not grow satisfactorily. Poor-quality seed affects the

livelihoods of poor farmers and the entire aquaculture industry. High quality fish seed has been

always in high in demand. However, where there are few hatcheries producing high quality

seed, seed costs may be very high due to lack of competition. Frequently the majority farmers

cannot afford this. Therefore, more hatcheries are required in those areas. At the same time,efforts are necessary to upgrade the existing hatcheries, so that they can produce seed of

premium quality on a mass scale. For example, at least 4-5 tilapia hatcheries in Zambia could be

upgraded (Bhujel, 2011a) in a number of ways, such as by the provision of direct technical

assistance. In addition to strengthening existing hatcheries, there is a need to establish new

hatcheries and seed supply systems in most African countries. Encouraging farmers to vertically

integrate their farms by producing fish seed by themselves, process fish themselves and supply

to the market can be one of the ways to improve seed supply. On the other hand, there is a

possibility of establishing hatcheries producing seed only as a stand-alone business as in Asia. In

many parts of Asia where aquaculture has taken off, fish hatcheries can be found in clusters

(AOP, 1999a,b,c); fewer hatcheries are located in isolated places. This should be consideredwhile planning for fish seed production for African countries for the later stages when

aquaculture takes off and many farmers commence production. One may ask whether, due to

the limited development of transportation systems in certain parts of Africa, hatcheries should

be spread to each aquaculture location or area rather than being concentrated in one cluster

which can be far from remote rural farmers.

In Africa, large hatchery facilities with concrete tanks and raceways have often been built within

universities and government institutions as a part of aquaculture development programmes

initiated during early 1950s. However, due to lack of long-term sustainability planning, most

hatcheries remained unused or under-utilised. Experience from Asia has shown that publicentities (universities, research stations and extension offices) have initially been targeted for

technology transfer. It has been effective to a certain extent to provide information to farmers,

especially those operating at subsistence level. It has also created awareness. However, in order

for the aquaculture sector to further develop commercially, technology has to be taken up by

the private sector. Farms or hatcheries run by private companies typically have more flexibility

in hiring and firing of their staff, in providing incentives to hard working staff, fixing seed prices,

paying compensation for losses and so on (AOP, 1999c). However, in order to go for

privatization, the private sector has to be mature enough to take responsibility. At the same

time, the aquaculture businesses have to be competitive to be chosen as an option for profit

making by the private sector. Experience shows that some of the aquaculture activities,especially fish seed production and fry nursing businesses, are highly competitive. However, in

many countries or locations, technology transfer has to be coordinated through the public

sector with full support in the form of grants, partial supports or subsidies. The main question is

whether the programs established and implemented with grants and subsidies are sustainable

in the long-term. The majority of such programs have been found to be unsustainable.

Therefore, a clear exit strategy has to be included in the plan. The only way is to manage the

project to generate income. Fish hatcheries and nursery businesses may be very profitable in

that case. However, careful planning and implementation is necessary.

Obviously, the requirement for, and the success, of hatcheries will depend on the degree and theform of overall success of aquaculture development in general. Small-scale aquaculture is


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carried out mainly for family consumption, is very important and is the main focus for those

countries which have malnutrition or food security problems, whereas large-scale commercial

farming is carried out to produce more fish for the domestic as well as international markets to

earn foreign currencies. In rural areas where resources are limited, one of the few options

available is to start from small-scale subsistence level, providing technical assistance to improve

management, so that it can be expected that some move on to profit oriented farming gradually.In such a case support from aid agencies would be a necessity. Utilizing their funds to set up

sustainable aquaculture development programs should be a target policy. However, care must

be taken to ensure that the local communities do not expect such support as granted and

become dependants. So far, most donor-funded aquaculture programs have been designed to

develop small-scale family-level subsistence aquaculture. However, questions have been raised

whether these donor-funded programs have any tangible impacts at macro level with respect to

objectives in producing adequate volumes of fish to avoid imports and the generation of

adequate income and employment for people, especially in Africa. The outcome is normally very

little. It is true in Asia as well as in Africa. Therefore, even donor agencies are emphasizing large

volume production and commercial farming through the involvement or support of the privatesector. However, private investors will be attracted to invest on large-scale commercial farming

if they see the scope or a high demand / market. For them the business environment and other

factors may play decisive roles. Despite having a very good location for aquaculture production,

many commercial ventures have failed because of lack of understanding of the nature of

markets, due to lack of supporting infrastructure, inputs, materials and socio-economic and

political conditions of the location. In many countries, aquaculture farming may receive

subsidies as it falls within the agriculture policy; however, in case of commercial farming, if

initial profitability mainly depends on subsidy, then there is a risk that it may fail at any time

because subsidy depends on government policy which can be changed with the change in

political situation. In many developing countries, political stability is often an issue and thecommitment of one government may not remain at the same level and in the same form.

Very careful selection of strategy is needed to meet the demand of fish seed for the expected

rapid development of aquaculture in Africa. Using experience of technology transfer to Africa,

by carrying out a literature review and gathering information from various sources including

direct personal communications with the prominent experts involved in Africa, conclusions

have been drawn and recommendations have been made.


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1.2 Goal and objectives

The main goal of the present study is to review the status of, and recommend plans for theproduction and supply of, adequate and high quality seed in Africa.

The specific objectives of this review are to: study the current status of seed production, demand and supply in Africa study the status of technological development in terms of seed production and supply recommend immediate actions and long-term policies and plans for seed production

and supply develop a concept note and a logical frame for national and sub-regional projects which

shall be submitted for funding


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2. Overview of the seed production and supply

Aquaculture has its traditional roots in Asia, where saying goes: there is rice in the field and fish

in the water. Asian society, especially south-east Asian, is called rice-fish society. Farming of

fish might have started from trap ponds and holding of wild fish caught from rice fields andnatural water bodies for short periods in small pits or cloth enclosures such as mosquito nets.

Although there is no written evidence, people may have started culturing fish when they had

small fish caught in excess from the wild with the purpose of holding them for a while and

realizing that they grow bigger. Although aquaculture has advanced greatly, farming of many

aquaculture species still depends on the collection from the wild of various stages of fish seeds

(larvae, juveniles, fry and fingerlings). Breeding techniques have been developed for only about

100 species. The production of indigenous species of fish found in different localities is still

often dependent on wild seed supply because there is a lack of understanding about their

breeding. In some areas, people, especially children and women, may collect fry / fingerlings to

sell to the grow-out farmers.

As the quality and quantity of fish seed from the wild varies widely, farmers might have started

to think about producing fingerlings by themselves so that they do not need to depend on

others. In areas of less aquaculture development, farmers tend to establish vertically integrated

fish farms that include production of their own fingerlings in addition to grow-out farming. In

countries where hatchery-reared fish seed is available easily and reasonably cheaply, grow-out

farmers may rely on specialized hatcheries for their stock of fingerlings.

Availability of seed was for long been recognised as one of the pre-requisite for aquaculture

development. Consequently the construction of fish hatcheries has been considered the mostimportant form of donor assistance to developing countries towards achieving the goal of

aquaculture development. Therefore, public entities such as universities, research institutions

and government establishments have received technological and financial support for hatchery

construction in almost all the developing countries since the early stage of aquaculture

development, which started in the early 1950s and 1960s. Most of these organizations often

consist large concrete structures, most of which have not been used due to lack of maintenance

costs, expertise and other reasons. Earlier, fish seed supply was considered the responsibility of

the government probably because of specialized technology needed, especially carps, catfishes

and others. Direct technological assistance and training of human resources were major forms

of secondary assistance.

Although, public organizations continue to produce and supply fish seed, the role of the private

sector has been emphasized since the early 1980s. As a result, private hatcheries started to

emerge in most of the developing countries. The share of fish seed supplied by the private

sector gradually increased and the dependency for fish seed on public establishments gradually

reduced. Currently the private sector produces and supplies up to 90% of the fish seed in most

Asian countries, which is considered a remarkable success. The underlying reasons of this

success are mainly attributable to the policies enforced by government, technological support to

private individuals (e.g. farmers training) and high profitability of the seed production and

supply businesses, with profitability being the most important factor. As hatchery businessrequires specialized knowledge and management techniques, few farmers can understand and


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run it successfully. High capital investment as compared to the grow-out farming is another

obstacle. Therefore, relatively richer and better educated farmers invest in the hatchery

business. When the number of grow-out farmers has gradually increased in each of the

developing countries, the demand for fish seed has increased, often dramatically.

In recent years, aquaculture has become a series of specialized activities. For example, nurseryproduction has been included as part of hatchery production, but in many areas it started to

become a separate activity. Individual farmers, groups often organized as networks (e.g.

Bangladesh) or lead farmers of particular areas may ascertain fry demand in their areas, place

orders and purchase from specialized hatcheries, rear in nurseries and then supply to grow-out

farmers. Nursery production of fish fry requires from 1-3 months and is often seen as a good

business, giving a quick return as compared to grow-out farming that requires farmers to invest

at least 6 months and up to a year or even more. In some parts of Asia a technique of advanced

nursery production of fry /fingerlings involving stunting has evolved, either intentionally or

unintentionally. There is a seasonal demand for fish seed - a high demand during the rainy

season and no or low demand during drought. Hatcheries struggle to match their productionwith seasonal demand which is extremely difficult especially when their broodstock are

continuously producing eggs, such as is the case with tilapia. Hatchery operators keep their fry

at high density in hapas or ponds with limited feeding and wait until demand increases. This has

actually benefits to the hatchery operators as they can sell larger fingerlings at higher prices.

Farmers on the other hand can achieve higher survival when they stock larger fingerlings. As

fish has compensatory growth, stunted fish can catch up their growth potential when they get

favourable environmental conditions and adequate food. This technique has been used by many

farmers in Andhra Pradesh, India for carps e.g. Labeo rohita.

In terms of seed production and supply, the aquaculture sector in Asia is relatively advanced.The type and size of hatcheries vary widely depending upon the species, objectives, capital

investment and level of management employed. There are backyard hatcheries selling a couple

of thousand fry a month to their neighbours and relatives in rural areas, whereas some

specialized hatcheries in Thailand produce and sell millions of fry per month. For example, a

hatchery operated by Nam Sai Farms, located in Prachinburi, which was established with the

technical assistance of AIT, produces up to 20 million mono-sex tilapia fry per month (Bhujel,

2011c). Another hatchery produces even more. Similarly, a catfish hatchery operated by

Phesthong PhanPla (Case Study 3), located in Central Thailand, produces up to 5 million catfish

fry per day and has a capacity of producing up to 10 million fry per day. All these levels of

production are possible due to the development of the aquaculture activities as commercialbusinesses which have relatively high profitability compared to other agriculture sectors in

most of these countries. In this section, brief descriptions are provided as to how tilapia and

catfish hatcheries have evolved. In addition, some species which have scope are also described

as case studies e.g. mullet, trout and carp hatcheries.


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2.1 Wild seed collection and supply

The collection of fry and fingerlings from the wild to stock in ponds and lakes is a traditional

practice. Artificial breeding through hormone injection in many species has allowed a

breakthrough in aquaculture development. However, there are still many species which cannotbe bred using hormone injection. Farming of those species entirely depends on wild-caught

seed. In some other species artificial breeding is possible but not cost effective, such as with

grey mullet in Egypt. Culture of some higher-value marine species, such as still entirely depends

on fry collected from the wild because the survival of hatchery-reared fry is very low during

larval and swim-up stages, resulting in high cost compared to wild-caught seed. In general,

farmers perceive the quality of wild seed as better. However, wild seed collection or fishing for

aquaculture may be a controversial issue from an environmental and long-term sustainability

point of view.

Environmentalists claim that wild seed collection will reduce stock recruitment whileaquaculturists have argued that the number of collected fry will have a negligible effect on the

wild population. The grey mullet, for example, has a very high fecundity (up to 2 million eggs

per female) and the number of collected fry for aquaculture is a very small fraction of the total

seeds produced. It is also believed that the fry loss collected as seed for aquaculture is

considerably less than that from natural predation. However, there is little scientific proof either

against or for the sustainable collection of wild seed. Some countries have banned the collection

of seed from natural water bodies, while others are still undecided. Nevertheless, the main point

is how to bring about a balance so that wild stock is not affected due to excessive collection of

wild seed and there will be no shortage of fish seed for aquaculture purposes.

Cost-effective mass fry production technologies are available for tilapia and catfish whereas

technologies are yet to be developed for most indigenous species of interest. Countries have to

invest time, effort and funding if they prefer the promotion of indigenous species. In the case of

mullet and some other high values species, technologies have to be fine-tuned so that the cost of

seed production can be reduced drastically. In Egypt, the cost of hatchery-reared seed of mullet,

sea bream, sea bass and shrimp was found to be higher than that of wild-caught fry. Therefore,

those African countries facing declines in wild stocks should impose complete or partial bans on

wild seed collection and promote hatchery-produced seed. Those countries which still have

abundant wild stocks may continue to allow wild fry collection. However, the declining trend

(Table 5) of the wild fry supply of mullet in Egypt showed that, sooner or later, wild seed isgoing to be depleted, and a policy has to be in place to make a gradual shift.

Table 5 Trend of wild seed production of mullet in Egypt (Saleh, 2008)

Year Liza ramada Mugil cephalus Valamugil sehli Total (millions)

Fry (million) % Fry (million) % Fry (million) %

2001 78.9 58.9 40.6 30.3 14.5 10.8 134

2002 101.5 74.6 15.4 11.3 19.3 14.2 136

2003 76.0 69.7 20.9 19.2 12.1 11.1 109

2004 66.6 69.8 12.8 13.4 16.0 16.8 95.42005 55.1 79.4 8.0 11.5 6.3 9.1 69.4


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2.2 Tilapia seed production and supply

Tilapias are native to Africa; however, their culture started in Asia during the early 1950s with

the introduction of O. mossambicus, often referred as Java tilapia, as it first appeared in Java,

Indonesia. However, because of prolific breeding in culture systems and early maturation, fishdidnt grow as expected and also dominated other species once introduced to the natural

environment, thus becoming a problem. As result, tilapia has had a bad image in Asia.

Fortunately, another wave of tilapia introduction started when Nile tilapia was introduced to

Thailand in 1965 as a gift to the King of Thailand from the Emperor of Japan. They were kept in

a cemented pond in a Royal Palace called Chitralada Palace; therefore, the descendants of these

fish are known as the Chitraladastrain. After the Thai Department of Fisheries received the fish

from the Royal Palace to carry out research and distribute to the farmers, it gradually became

popular and was able to overcome the bad image of O. mossambicus. Although it was an

introduced species, native of Africa, the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) became very

common. Afterwards, it was introduced to many countries in Asia and around the world. Mostimportantly, a number of genetic improvements and crossbreeding programs started due to its

potential and popularity. Recently red varieties produced by crossing between Nile tilapia (O.

niloticus) and the Java tilapia (O. mossambicus)has becoming popular in Southeast Asia. On the

other hand, Nile-Blue cross (O. niloticus x O. aureus) has become dominant in China as it can

tolerate low temperature and produces a relatively higher percentage of males which is not

adequate to stop recruitment production in grow-out systems.

Although there are a number of methods of tilapia seed production used by the farmers in

different parts of the world, there are four main techniques that have been important for the

commercial application. They are described in this section with a view to provide some insightto the potential users so that they can make an informed decision in choosing a suitable method.

2.2.1 Mixed sex fry production

Fry are produced by stocking males and females in the same culture system, as tilapia can

naturally breed in confinement without any hormonal injection or environmental manipulation.

With a view to taking advantage of the ease of breeding, O. mossambicuswas introduced to Asia

for culture in the early 1950s. This technique still exists in many parts of Asia even with Nile

tilapia (O. niloticus) which replaced the O. mossambicus, especially in rural areas where smallfish are also accepted. Normally, fry are collected from the edge of breeding ponds or from

hapas.

Natural breeding of tilapia in open ponds is the simplest method of seed production which is

still common in many parts of the world including Africa. Spawning and fry rearing take place in

the pond. According to Ngugi et. al., (2007), broodfish are stocked at the rate of 100 to 200 kg

brood stock per hectare and maintaining a sex ratio of 1:3 or 1:4 (males to females). Fry are

harvested from the pond every 15-21 days but more often if the average temperature is above

25C. A female of 100-300 g spawns about 500 eggs per spawning, producing 6-15

fry/m2/month or 35-100 fry/female/month. The same brood fish can be used for up to 3-5

years. Using larger broodfish (~1 kg) and harvesting fry weekly or more often can increase seed


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production to 45 fry/m2/month or 380 fry/female/month. Fry can also be collected by hand

nets from along the edges of the pond on a daily basis to further enhance productivity and avoid

loss of fry.

Broodstock can also be stocked in hapas, usually made up of fine nylon, plastic mosquito nets or

cotton mesh which make fry collection easier. They can be rectangular or square net enclosureswhich are installed in ponds, lakes, or along river banks with slow moving current. Hapas

measuring 5, 10, 20, 40, 60 or even 120 m2 in surface area and normally 1.5 m deep are in use

in various parts of the world. In hapas, broodfish of 100 to 200 g each are stocked at a ratio of

about 1:5 - 1:7 (males to females) and the density of 4-5 brooders/m2. Fry are collected daily

after about 1 or 2 weeks after the stocking of breeders using fine-mesh dip-net by scooping out

fry. Fry productivity ranges from 150 fry/m2/month or 50 fry/female/month to over 880

fry/m2/month or 300-400 fry/female/month. Feeding of broodstock is necessary in hapas on

daily basis. Collected fry should also be fed daily with a diet in powdered form at the rate of 5-

10% biomass. Feeding should be done four times a day until they reach to a marketable size of 5

g. Breeding in hapas gives higher productivities compared to open pond system. Hapas make iteasier to collect fry and increase recovery of fry and also help maintain purity of broodstock.

They also make it easier to catch broodfish. However, hapas are relatively costly. Fish in hapas

are easily stolen by poachers, sometimes damaged by storms and fouling may occur which clogs

the net and restricts dissolved oxygen circulation. There is also a periodic cleaning cost

involved.

Tanks can also be used for breeding tilapias. Although they are relatively expensive to build,

managing broodfish and egg collection is easy. According to Ngugi et al., (2007), circular tanks

of 1-6 m diameter containing 0.5-0.7m of water are used, depending on the scale of operation.

Broodstock weighing 100-200g are stocked at 5-10 per m2 at a sex ratio of 1 male to 2-5females. Broodstock are fed with a 30-35% crude protein diet at a rate of about 1.5-2% body

weight/day. Fry are collected once every 5 -15 days. Seed yields of up to 400-3,000

fry/m2/month or 200-1,500 fry/female/month can be achieved by this method.

Most farmers in Asia use mix-sex tilapia fry stocked with carnivorous fish such as catfish,

snakeheads and others. According to De Graaf (1996), the recruitment of Oreochromis niloticus

(stocked at 20,000-22,000/ha) can be completely controlled by stocking large African catfish,

Clarias gariepinus (6.8-130 g) and large Snakehead, Ophiocephalus obscuris (75-206 g) at

stocking densities of 8,300/ha or 725 snakeheads respectively when tilapia start producing fry.

Instinctive natural breeding behaviour of tilapia was considered the main advantage of tilapiaover other species but as farming became more commercialized, the need for the production of

large and uniform-sized fish increased. This created high demand for good quality all-male fry,

as males grow faster than females and there is no lost growth caused by reproduction when

stocked without females. It is almost impossible for the traditional mix-sex hatchery operators

to produce and supply a large quantity of fry using traditional methods of fry collection from

ponds due to the low number of eggs per spawn and asynchronous spawning which makes the

production of millions of fry unfeasible. Producing a sufficiently large quantity of good quality

seed as required by the aquaculture industry was a big problem in Thailand in the early 1980s.


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2.2.2 Hybridization method

Hybridization is a commercial application in place in different parts of the world and has met

varying degrees of success. This practice has been very common in China. Chinese producers

cross two species of tilapias - female Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and male blue tilapia (O.

aureus) to produce Nile-Blue hybrid tilapia, which are reared in ponds (Qiuming and Yi, 2004).

This method produces a highly skewed ratio of males (up to 90%) in the offspring. Normally

small-scale farmers collect them from the grow-out ponds, nurse them to larger sizes (30-50 g

in size) in separate nursery ponds, select male fingerlings for grow-out, and sell female

fingerlings for poultry feed. As the percentage of males can be quite low, such as 85%, the

quality of fingerlings is sometimes considered poor. The results may even worse if the parent

stocks are not pure. This method is not adequate to support large scale commercial farming.

Therefore, several specialized hatcheries acquiring and maintaining pure stocks have emerged,

especially in Guangdong and Hainan provinces, producing over a billion hybrid tilapia seed

annually.

According to Qiuming and Yi, (2004), most hatcheries stock breeders at 1 fish/m2 density at the

ratio of 3:1 (females Nile tilapia and male blue tilapia). Pond size ranged from 1,200-2,500 m2 in

surface area with shallow water i.e. 100-120 cm in depth. Feeding is done with an artificial diet

(32-38% crude protein) twice daily (1100 and 1700 h) at 0.5-1.0% biomass/day. Fry can be

seen and harvested a few days later using fine mesh nets. The fry are then nursed to 2-3 cm

long, and sold to farmers. As the industry grew, the demand for high quality fry increased.

Tilapia fry of higher percentage males is the main criteria. Therefore, some hatcheries started

using male hormone (17-methyltestosterone, MT) through feed, (38-40% crude protein; 50

mg MT/kg feed) which is used to increase the male percentage up to 98-100%. For this purpose,

swim-ups are harvested as early as possible and stocked at 4,000/m2in outdoor cement tanksof 20-50 m2 in surface area and 100-120 cm in water depth. Continuous aeration is supplied to

maintain the concentration of dissolved oxygen (DO) above 2.5 mg/L. The fry are fed MT-feed 4

times daily (0700, 1200, 1800 and 2200 h) at 10-15% body weight per day for 15-18 days.

When fry reach 2.5 cm long, they are transferred to hapas suspended in earthen ponds for

nursing for another 4-5 days before sale. From this method, survival of the juveniles normally

ranges from 90% to 95%.

Considering the huge potential, tilapia could be produced in much higher quantities than the

present production in China, had high quality fry been produced on the massive scale reached in

Thailand, where 4-5 large hatcheries produce over 10 million fry per month. Establishingseveral such hatcheries would solve the problem of shortages of quality tilapia seed which has

been the limiting factor (Bhujel, 2011).

2.2.3 YY-male technology

This is a chromosome manipulation technique in which males with YY chromosomes, often

called super males, are produced by crossing hormonally sex-reversed females (genotypic

males) with normal males. The YY-males can then cross with any females to produce all-male

fry, in principle. However, the results have not been consistent in different environments (Phamet al., 1998). There might be other factors, including environmental factors, in determining the


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sex. This technology, and farmers using fish from the technology, occurs only sporadically in

various parts of the world, and most farmers are not confident enough in this technology. The

tendency is that farmers with limited knowledge are attracted towards it because of its

attractive name such as super-males and most farmers who purchase are mostly first timers,

especially for testing purposes. Attempts to promote this technology in Thailand failed after the

farmers were found to be unsatisfied with the results. The main reason is that the high qualitytilapia seeds (over 99% male) of fast growing well established Thai Chitralada and GIFT strains

were already available for highly commercialized tilapia farming in Thailand. It has been noted

that some hatcheries in Zambia and other countries of Africa have purchased YY-males but have

achieved little success. It is important to provide relevant information to farmers and to ensure

that they be made aware of the facts concerning this technology.

2.2.4 Hormonal sex-reversal technique

Hormonal sex-reversal has proved itself as the most commercially viable solution in producing

all-male fry required by the sector. The technique, developed at the Asian Institute ofTechnology (AIT), involves not only simple sex conversion but also management of broodfish in

hapas, collection of fertilized eggs, artificial incubation in a clean and controlled system, then

feeding fry with methyl-testosterone (MT) mixed with high quality feed as early as possible

(Case Study 1). All of these practices are carried out precisely to ensure that over 99% of the fry

population are males. While developing this system, various containers were tried such as

simple coke bottles and water bottles; however, locally-made semi-transparent fibre-glass jars

were found to be the most suitable, with high hatching rates (80%). The larger sized incubators

can accommodate about 0.2-0.3 million eggs. Recently, simple plastic jars or jugs have been

used as they are cheap, easily available and more transparent so that the hatchery operators can

see the egg movement easily and they are also lighter and easier to handle. As tilapia eggs areheavy and remain at the bottom, they need to be moved gently so that they would not get

injured and stay at the bottom without getting adequate oxygen. To prevent this from

happening downward welling water flows into the jars and keeps the eggs suspended in the

water. Considerable efforts are needed to achieve overall survival from eggs to SRT fry (>60%)

and male percentage (>99%). These included determining the optimum dose of methyl-

testosterone in feed, frequency and length of feeding period and so on. As a result a high percent

of males (100% or close to) have been consistently achieved. As demand for fry is seasonal, a

method of delaying growth can be applied when they need to be kept for longer period (Little et.

al, 2003).

The question of how to produce large quantities of high quality fry has been solved after

developing and testing the technology on a commercial level. The only remaining challenge is to

disseminate it to make it as widely available as possible. Major strategies should include:

1. Inclusion of tilapia breeding techniques in education programmes / curriculae.

2. The running of a hatchery as a commercial unit for use as a demonstration site (Case

Study 1)

3. Organizing training and hosting interns

4. Providing consultancy services as a package (Case Study 2)

5. Further research and development, publication and promotion of the technology


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Case Study 1 AIT Hatchery, Thailand

AIT Hatchery is located in the Pathumthani province of central Thailand, 42 km north of Bangkok. The

hatchery is run as a commercial operation within the campus of AIT, a not-for-profit organization which

offers post-graduate education. It was established as a part of research program using aid from the EU

and DFID. Mono-sex fry production technology was developed through a series of research trials.Exploiting the results, a technology package was developed and commercialized. The hatchery serves as

a demonstration and training site and the site for post-graduate research. The hatchery produces on

average 0.5 million sex-reversed tilapia fry per month using about 10,000 broodstock (50% males and

50% females). All broodstock are maintained in hapas of 60 m2at a density of 6 fish / m2. Broodfish are

stocked in the hapas for breeding when they reach 100 200 g and are replaced after 2-3 years. Feeding

is 0.8 1% biomass daily. Egg incubation is carried out in fibre-glass jars (4-6 litre volume) and/or

smaller glass jars. Yolk-sac larvae are reared in trays (Fig 2). Methyl-testosterone hormone is fed mixed

with feed for sex-reversal using the hapa-in-pond system. Feeding period is 21 days which starts

immediately after swim-up fry are transferred to hapas. After growing the fry for an additional 2-3 weeks,

they are graded and transferred to holding or conditioning tanks. These tanks are supplied with oxygen

using air stones which receive oxygen from an aerator. Water is filtered using gravel and slow sand filters.Filtered water is sent to the top of the header tank. 2 pipe size and a 0.5 HP pump is adequate to send the

water up to that height.

Figure 2 Egg collection (left), larval rearing trays (middle) and sex-reversal hapas (right)

2.2.5 Financial aspect

Table 6 shows the capital investment and operational costs required to run a typical sex-

reversed hatchery based on an assumption of costs in Thailand.


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Table 6 Capital and operating costs of a typical sex-reversal tilapia hatchery

SN Equipment/materials Unit rate Units Total (US$)

1 Standby generator (in case electric failure) 700 1 700

2 Pump for incubation system (3.5 - 5 HP) 200 1 200

3 Pump for tray system (4 HP) 200 1 200

4 Air-pump, air stones etc. 600 2 1,200

5 Pick-up truck (1) 40,000 1 40,000

6 Refrigerator 600 2 1,200

7 DO Meter (DO, Temp & PH) 1,111 1 1,111

8 Microscope (to check quality) 500 1 500

9 MT-Hormone (kg) 600 1 600

10 Alcohol for MT-mixed feed (US$/month) + 1,000 12 12,000

11 Fish meal for MT-mixed feed (US$/m) + 600 12 7,200

12 Hapas (sizes 5, 20, 120 m2) * -

13 - Sex-reversal (5 m2) 15 100 1,500

14 - Nursing (40 m2) 40 30 1,200

15 - Broodstock (60 m2) 75 100 7,500

16 Scoop net - sets 18 6 108

17 Fry graders (3 sizes) 90 3 270

18 Egg incubator jars 25 20 500

19 Aluminium trays 8 100 800

20 Oxygen tanks 600 3 1,800

21 Plastic bowls 3 20 60

22 Plastic bags for packing 100 1,000 100,000

23 Water taps 3 100 300

Sub-total 178,949

SRT Hatchery operation costs (average costs in US$)

Unit cost /

month

Unit rate / m Total Remarks

1 PersonnelHatchery manager 1 600 600Broodstock manager 1 400 400Seed harvest staff 4 300 1,200SRT and Nursing technicians (2) 2 400 800Hatchery technician 1 400 400

2 SRT Hormone (g) 58 3 1463 Alcohol (L) 33 1 334 Nursing feed (kg): fish meal, vitamin, pellet 0.83 890 7425 Broodstock feed (kg) 0.43 500 2176 Electricity cost n/a n/a n/a7 Communication costs 25 2 508 Office cost (papers, printing etc) 4 1 4

9 Fuel costs (car & grass cutters) 267 1 26710 Water n/a n/a n/a11 packing supplies (plastic bags,O2,boxes) 73 1 73

12 Field supplies (fertilizer, lime, rope etc.) 107 1 107

13 Formalin (L) 0.93 33 3114 Maintenance (pvc, pumps etc.) 50 1 5015 Miscellaneous costs 50 1 5016 Field materials (bowl, swing net, gloves) 40 1 40Total 5,208


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Case Study 2 Quality Breeders, Bangladesh

This farm (Fig 3) is located in Bogra, approx. 200 km west of Dhaka. It was established 2 years ago).

Production capacity is about 50 million sex-reversed tilapia fry per year. Two managers from the company

were trained. A total of 100,000 broodstock (50% males and 50% females) were purchased from Thailand.

The farm was completely owned by Quality Feed Company. Land was purchased. Broodstock are

maintained in hapas of 60 m2at the density of 6 fish / m 2. Broodfish are stocked in hapas for breeding whenthey reach 100 200 g and are replaced after 1.5 years. Feeding is 0.8 1% biomass daily. The number of

incubator jar (4 litres in size) used is about 50 and trays over 100. Methyl-testosterone hormone is used for

sex-reversal which was also purchased from Thailand. The hormone is mixed with fish meal. Sex-reversal is

done by feeding the MT mixed feed fed 5 times daily for 21 days. Fry are either sold immediately or after 1-2

weeks of nursery rearing at the same hatchery. Fry are sold through network of feed dealers. As the parent

company has a country-wide network, it has been very easy to get customers. The price per 100 fry is

US$1.1 whereas other hatcheries sell at only US$0.9. There are so many customers that demand outstrips

supply. The company has invested nearly US$0.5 million in this hatchery business seeing that there is the

possibility of obtaining a profit from the second year.

Figure 3 Egg collection (left) and incubation (right) in Bangladesh

2.2.6 Conclusion

A female tilapia produces about 1,000 eggs per spawning but matures early (within 3 months)

and repeatedly breeds without interruption, presumably once a month until it dies. When

mixed-fry are stocked into a pond, it becomes overcrowded and then fish do not grow andbecome stunted. Cage culture prevents overcrowding, as the females cannot recover the eggs for


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oral incubation. However, energy is wasted for reproduction as egg production occurs

repeatedly by females which are then wasted. Therefore, cage culture of mix-sex tilapia is not

very efficient in terms of energy conversion. On the other hand, some fertilized eggs may

develop as fry outside the cage in the lake or reservoir. All male culture prevents spawning and

also gives a better yield and growth uniformity as males grow around 30-40% faster compared

to females, and attain larger sizes. All-male seed can be produced by manual sexing; however, itis very laborious and difficult when they are still small for stocking into the grow-out system.

Hybridisation has been the most common method used commercially in China. However, results

are still not promising unless pure lines are crossed. Another technique, YY male technology or

genetically male tilapia (GMT), is supposed to produce all male progeny in principle but it has

not giving consistent results at the farm level due to the same reason as hybridization. The most

promising and consistent results have been obtained by hormonal sex-reversal. The use of

steroid male hormone i.e. 17- methyl-testosterone (MT) has become the norm for intensive

commercial production in most part of Asia, achieving 99-100% male fry if managed efficiently

following the proper technical guidelines. Managing a large number of adult broodstock

compared to other aquaculture species allows the production of millions of tilapia fry of highquality (Bhujel, 2008; 2009). Some environmentalists question the use of steroids. However, the

US Food and Drug Agency (FDA) have approved it as the hormone is used when the fish are very

small and all the hormone is released into the water within a week after stopping the hormone

feeding. At the same time, the hormone in the water and sediment degenerates within a month

without any detectable harmful impacts. Therefore, the hormonal sex-reversal technology has

been widely accepted in many countries. There are now hundreds of private and public

hatcheries in Thailand, where the technology was first commercialized (Little et. al., 1997;

Bhujel, 2008). Recently, it has boomed in Bangladesh. More than 300 hatcheries are currently

using the method (Bhujel, 2008). Other countries such as Brazil, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia,

Mexico, Colombia, Zambia, Malawi, have already started and more are emerging.

2.3 Catfish seed production

The African catfish, Clarias gariepinus, is the second most important aquaculture species after

Tilapia in Africa. Most countries have its culture at various stages of development. Although

grey mullet is second in production volume, its culture is mainly restricted to Egypt. For African

catfish production, Nigeria is far ahead of all other African countries. It has been popular due to

its air-breathing nature which allows farmers to culture at high densities even in poor quality

water. Catfish ponds and farms can be found as small as 1 m2size in Nepal (Bhujel and Nepal,

2008) to as large as a hectare in Thailand. With a view to providing required information, the

method of catfish seed production is described in this section.

2.3.1 Broodfish preparation

Under pond conditions catfish mature after 7-10 months when they reach a weight of 200 to

500 g. Spawning does not normally occur in ponds because the final stimulus associated with a

rise in water level and inundation of marginal areas does not occur. However, catfish can beinduced to spawn by hormonal injection using pituitary glands from donor fish. Catfish raised


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from egg to maturity in a hatchery remain mature all year round and regression of the gonads

does not occur. This means adequate supplies of fry can be obtained throughout the year.

According to Ngugi, (2007), 200 - 300 brooders (1:1 sex ratio) are raised in a fertilized pond

(100-200 m2) at depths ranging from 1.0 to 1.5 m. The conditioning pond is stocked at a density

of 10-20 brooders per m2. Feeding is carried out with feed containing 40% crude protein, fedthree times a day at 1% of biomass. Some tilapia can be stocked so that they produce fry which

serve as supplementary food.

To prepare for spawning, feeding has to be stopped one day prior to stripping. A seine net is

used to gently capture the broodfish. After collection of the fish from the conditioning pond, fish

are dipped into a formalin bath to prevent the transfer of pathogens from fish to eggs and fry.

Fish are separated by sex by gently pressing the abdomen with the thumb - fecund females

release shiny greenish eggs. Mature males cannot be stripped and are selected by their size.

Females of about 0.5 to 1.0 kg have a substantial quantity of eggs and are easier to handle than

larger fish. But in some countries, such as Thailand, most hatcheries use smaller sizes (200 - 300g).

2.3.2 Hormone injection

Hormone injection can be done using pituitary gland or synthetic hormones. For pituitary gland

use, either male or female catfish brooders are held without food for 24-36 hours in a container

at 25-30C prior to injection with pituitary. Pituitary of other fish species e.g. common, Indian

and Chinese carps can also be used. For each female spawner, two pituitary donors of 500 g

average weight are used. When using fresh pituitary, donor fish should be killed and

decapitated less than an hour before planned injection. The pituitary gland is collected from the

donor and placed in a mortar containing 2 ml of physiological salt solution (9 g salt in 1 litre

water). Pituitary is ground and mixed with the saline solution. Alternatively, pituitary can be

stored for several months in 1 ml acetone in a cool dry place to be used later.

Synthetic hormone such as Luteinizing Hormone Releasing Hormone Analogue (LHRH-a) is

used in combination with Domperidone (commonly known as motilium). The rate for the first

injection is 10-30 g with 3-5 mg per kg of broodstock respectively. The second injection is

normally after 6 hours and after about 10 hours they are ready for egg stripping.

For the injection of pituitary extract, a syringe with a needle 2.5 to 3.0 cm long and diameter of

0.7 mm is used to draw the pituitary suspension. The head of the fish should be covered with a

hand towel before inserting the needle at an angle of 45 degrees in the dorsal muscle. After

injection, rubbing is carried out with fingers on the intramuscular area to distribute the

suspension evenly. The fish is then release back into the tank. The second injection is given after

6 hours. Eggs are stripped gently from the female into a dry bowl and the number of eggs are

estimated (1 g = approx. 600-700 eggs). Male gonads are removed and macerated, squeezed and

immediately mixed with eggs distributing the milt evenly with the help of a feather. Clean water

is added to the bowl to facilitate mixing of eggs with the sperm by gentle swirling of the bowland moving with the feather.


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2.3.3 Egg incubation

The fertilized eggs are poured into an incubating tray in a single layer. Within a few minutes

after fertilization, the eggs will absorb water and sticky attachment discs will develop. Eggs are

often incubated in flowing water with a gentle flow-through rate of 1-3 litres per minute. Dead

eggs, normally white in colour, are removed immediately. Eggs hatch within 20-57 hours

depending on ambient water temperature. Hatchlings must be separated from the egg shells to

avoid infections that can lead to mortality. At this stage of development, the hatching rate will

be about 50-60%.

Hatched fry are 5-7 mm in length and weigh about 1.2-3.0 mg. Due to the weight of the yolk-sac,

hatchlings will fall to the bottom of the container. They will cluster together in dark places in

the tank and will require a cover and aeration. Within 3 days the yolk sac will be absorbed and

the swim-up fry will start to search for food. With good management, 90-95% of the larvae will

survive and develop into fry. The fry are then transferred in buckets to weaning tanks or

nursery ponds (weaning tanks preferred).

2.3.4 Larval rearing

As larvae are very delicate, they need very good environmental conditions, especially in tanks

with a good water supply without chlorine. Stocking density should be around 100 larvae per

litre to get the best growth and survival. They are fed with rotifers or Artemia for the first 10-14

days. Fry can then be transferred to hapas or ponds and feed well with live and artificial feeds,

or to well-prepared (zooplankton-rich) nursery ponds. Water should be maintained at a

temperature of around 28C. Catfish larvae normally begin feeding on the second or third day

after hatching, before the yolk sac is completely absorbed. Manufactured dry feeds should be

supplemented with Artemia nauplii or rotifers, and 10 to 12 daily feeding rations should be

provided for first three to four days of feeding. Feeding with live feeds has advantages over dry

feed. Artemia nauplii or rotifer feeding is stopped on the second or third day after the start of

external feeding. The larvae should then grow very rapidly after the start of feeding (up to

100% body weight/day).

2.3.5 Fry nursery rearing

During nursery rearing, tadpoles are serious predators that are abundant in ponds. Other

predators include backswimmers, insect larvae and copepods, Predation may commonly result

in up to 100% mortality during the yolk-sac stage but decreases gradually with an increase in

size and age of the fry. Fry of 14 days old are transferred to ponds previously well-prepared by

complete draining, drying, liming when needed, and proper fertilization to develop abundant

supplies of natural foods. Use of hapas in ponds can tremendously improve survival of fry.

Hapas should be covered with some shading materials to protect from the sun as well as from

predation by birds.


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Case Study 3 Phesthong Phan Pla - Catfish Hatchery, Thailand

This hatchery (Fig 4) is located in Nongsue, Pathumthani Province, Thailand. It was established about 20

years ago. The farm has a production capacity of about 5 million fry daily. Fry are sold when they are 7-da

Documents

Nepad Strategic Seed Supply Report Feb 14 Final Draft