It is often easy to oversee the role that small-scale, artisanal aquaculture plays in the world. Those of us who are involved in the high-tech end of aquaculture tend to think that this is where the action is, and this is where it must be. I certainly think like this most of the time.
But then I remember that we will be celebrating the year of small-scale fisheries and aquaculture in 2022. On 5 December 2017, the UN General Assembly declared 2022 as the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture, which will help focus attention on the small-scale fishermen and women who comprise 90 percent of the world's fisheries work force. The General Assembly invited FAO to serve as the lead agency.
Over 20 years ago, I was working in South East Asia to promote Norwegian fish farming technology. I discovered pretty soon that it was perhaps a bit too advanced for most South East Asian fish farmers. Fish farming in the region was mostly done by traditional methods and using primitive, home-made equipment such as small bamboo cages, trash fish as feed, with untrained workers on the farms.
I was contacted one day by a young Singaporean who had started a small fish farm in Indonesia, near the Batam island in the Riau archipelago, very close to Singapore. He was producing high value species like grouper, snapper, coral trout etc., and he was now looking for ways to improve his production - and his profitability.
I introduced him to modern Norwegian salmon technology, floating cages of the Polar Circle type, automatic feeders from AKVA, and other equipment which was advanced for that time.
But my young friend concluded he could not budget to accomodate this high-tech equipment. His production was just a few tonnes per year, and the kind of money he would have to pay for this equipment would never be recovered by his small operation.
So, we started a discussion on what was needed for his fish farm to improve, and I suggested he should look at operations rather than equipment and technology. For Norwegian salmon farming was also about management and operations and having a systematic approach to the task of fish farming.
Together, the young Singaporean and I looked at a number of tasks at his farm, such as feeding, water quality and other parameters, and we came up with a simple method: register everything that goes into the operations, and then take note of the results when these inputs are manipulated.
Read more, HERE.
The Aquaculturists
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