Video recordings and the report of the webinar are now available. The International Artemia Aquaculture Consortium (IAAC) hosted a webinar on Management of the Artemia Resources of the Great Salt Lake, 5 May 2022, at 14:00 UTC. The purpose of the webinar was to familiarise participants with recent international developments in Artemia research cooperation, and to examine the Great Salt Lake as a case study in successful management of Artemia resources in a multi-stakeholder environment.
Video recordings and the report of the webinar are now available. The webinar, held on 4 May 2022, was necessitated by the fact that Artemia production has been ongoing on the continent for more than four decades, similar to Asia, but without any distinctive levels of success. Diverse levels of Artemia activities in different African countries were presented, to take stock of where the continent is, explore opportunities and address the various challenges impeding the production and utilisation of Artemia for improved livelihoods and overall aquaculture development in Africa.
Artemia remains a critical feed source for larval fish and crustaceans, underpinning the hatchery production phase for around 10 million tonnes of aquaculture. Yet around 90 percent of current Artemia cysts are wild harvested from salt lakes. There is a need to assure the sustainable supply of Artemia cysts to support hatchery production, from both wild and farmed sources. The International Artemia Aquaculture Consortium has been establihed to explore opportunities in the conservation of Artemia biodiversity, the development of science-based protocols for sustainable harvesting of wild sources, strain selection and selective breeding. NACA will host the consortium.
Annual consumption of Artemia is now estimated at 3,500 – 4,000 tonnes, underpinning the production of over 900 billion crustacean post larvae and fish fry. With approximately 90 percent of the current Artemia production harvested from inland salt lakes, the future of the hatchery industry could be at risk and requires urgent attention. The purpose of the workshop was to explore needs and opportunities for a new international initiative to guarantee a more sustainable provision of Artemia, both from natural sources and from controlled extractive Artemia farming integrated with salt production and other fish/crustacean aquaculture.
