When people talk about growing fish, many say their biggest problem was getting started. In Delhi in April 2003 farmers and officials met with policy makers and said that one of their most pressing recommendations for change was to the way information is made available. They asked for a single-point, under-one-roof center, near to their place, where they could get much of what they needed.

These guidelines illustrate good practice for broodstock handling and management using practices that are suitable for small-scale operations. This document is also available in Oriya.

Self-recruiting species are defined as aquatic animals that can be harvested from farmer managed aquatic systems without regular stocking. This may include indigenous or introduced, small or larger species. Identified self-recruiting species in the Red River Delta includes exotic species (tilapia), large (snakehead, walking catfish and river catfish) and small (Anabas and Carassius auratus) indigenous fish species and non-fish species (freshwater shrimp and crabs).

Any pond can be used to grow fish, but a pond that is dug specially for fish culture usually has a regular shape, a flat bottom with a slight slope along its length. When deciding where to locate a new pond, you should consider the landscape, land use, soil texture (15% clay is best for pond construction and water holding), water supply (consider quality, quantity and seasonality), security (from theft) and convenience (maybe close to your house).

Fish culture is where people own and look after a stock of fish. This might involve regular stocking, fertilisation and feeding, protection from predators and disease and taking care of the environment.

When selecting a good place for a pond, an engineer may seek advice from local people, a biologist or an economist. It may be difficult to find an ideal site but it is necessary to look at the available sites before the work on pond building begins – so that it holds water, does not collapse or cost too much and will not waste effort and money. There are lots of things to think about before finally recommending a site.

This presentation, delivered at the Sixth Symposium on Diseases in Asian Aquaculture (Sri Lanka, 2005), reviews the strategies adopted to promote a more sustainable approach to shrimp health management. It also presents and compares the experiences gathered to date, with the aim to identify an effective way forward for the sustainable development of the sector, and provides guidance on a way forward to implement better management practices with reference to small-scale producers.

This presentation provides an overview of Vietnamese experience on the implementation of better management Practices (BMPs) and good aquaculture practices (GAP) in shrimp aquaculture. Practices were implemented collectively by encouraging small-scale farmers to form groups that collaborate on issues such as screening seed for disease and improving water quality management. Improvements to crop outcomes were observed. The results presented include the profitability of BMP adopted ponds.

Presentation on a MPEDIA/NACA intiative to implement better management practices for shrimp farming amongst small-scale farmers in India via formation of farmer groups. The practices are based on the International Principles for Responsible Shrimp Farming. Adoption of improved farming practices reduces the incidence of disease and improves crop outcomes for small-scale farmers. This presentation was made at the World Aquaculture Society Conference in Bali, Indonesia, 2005.

Sổ tay nẩy với mục đích giúp đỡ cho cán bộ khuyến ngư hướng dẫn người nông dân kỹ thuật nuôi tôm nhằm mục đích đạt được sản lương và thu nhập ngày càng cao trong hệ thống nuôi kết hơp tôm - rừng ở Đồng bằng Sông Cửu Long. Với những kỹ thuật đơn giản, thông thường giúp cho ngư dân từng bước gia tăng sản lương mà ít bị rủi ro.

This manual has been prepared to assist extension officers to advise farmers on techniques for improving yields and farm income in mixed shrimp farming-mangrove forestry farming systems in the Mekong Delta. It focuses mainly on simple, common sense techniques that will allow farmers to make step-by-step improvements to production without taking unnecessary risks. The manual is based on a 6-year collaborative research and development project between the Governments of Vietnam and Australia.

This manual has been prepared to assist farmers with techniques for improving yields and farm income in mixed shrimp farming-mangrove forestry farming systems in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. It focuses mainly on simple, common sense techniques that will allow farmers to make step-by-step improvements to production without taking unnecessary risks. The techniques and recommendations covered in this manual are based on the experience of a 6-year collaborative research and development project between Vietnam and Australia.

This guide outlines a process for building capacity in participatory livelihoods approaches and carrying out livelihoods analysis. The process is about a way of working that enables development practitioners to better understand how people live and to learn how others understand their own livelihoods. This particular process emerged from experiences of working with government agencies and non-governmental organisations who themselves work with agricultural communities whose members have limited resources, in other words, poor rural fishers and farmers.

The case study for this report was conducted in the coastal village Pematang Pasir, Sumatra, Indonesia. Pematang Pasir hosts a pilot project promoting environmentally and responsible shrimp aquaculture implemented by the Indonesian Coastal Resources Management Project. This paper describes the lessons learned to date and offers strategies for community-based coastal resource management, which can be used in a broader perspective as more general guidelines for community-based and participatory development of shrimp aquaculture in marginalised coastal areas.

Shrimp farming in southern Honduras has generated considerable controversy around the issues of natural resource access and management. This case study reviews the reasons for and history of that controversy. The study relies on an extensive literature review and insights from the author’s previous research trips to southern Honduras between 1991 and 2000. In addition, representatives from several government offices, the shrimp industry, and the primary nongovernmental organisations were interviewed in May 2000.

This case study reviews shrimp aquaculture development in East Africa and the Middle East, as well as the problems and prospects for future development. Given that shrimp aquaculture development has not yet occurred on any significant scale, although increasing, it should be possible to learn the lessons from other parts of the world and apply them in these contexts. The countries in this report are: Egypt, Iran, Mozambique, Madagascar with some information on other countries in both regions.

This workshop report is an output from an additional uptake and promotion activity of the DFID NRSP Project R8363 “Enhancing Development Impact of Process Tools Piloted in Eastern India”, which was extended to the end of August 2005. It describes a Better-Practice Guidelines (BPG) Workshop which was the latest project activity to share process tools for Building Social Capital (Self-Help Groups), Consensus-Building and Information Access Surveys. Since the project began, the BPG genre has expanded from the original three concepts shared, to currently twenty-five BPGs prepared not only by STREAM but also by farmers and fish producers. The genre has also been adopted by other organisations, including the DFID-funded Western Orissa Rural Livelihoods Project to share rural aquaculture techniques, and Stirling University to support the uptake and promotion of their work on Self-Recruiting Species and Local Resource User Groups.

The workshop was attended by STREAM National Coordinators and Communications Hub Managers from Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, and STREAM Regional Office colleagues based in Thailand, Australia and India. The participants reviewed and assessed the BPGs and Policy Briefs in Bahasa Indonesia, Bengali, English, Hindi, Ilongo, Khmer, Myanmar, Nepali, Oriya, Sinhala, Urdu and Vietnamese. They also began to plan how the uptake and promotion of these tools may be specifically supported in each national context as well as planning the development of further BPG and PB topics.

This report provides details of the activities and outcomes of work conducted under the World Bank, NACA, WWF and FAO consortium program on Shrimp Farming and the Environment. The report synthesises the major findings of the consortium program from 1999-2002. It includes the outcome from a stakeholder workshop that discussed the program findings, hosted by the World Bank in Washington DC, in March 2002.

Este reporte da detalles de las actividades y resultados del trabajo conducido bajo el Programa en Consorcio del Banco Mundial, NACA, WWF y FAO sobre “Cultivo de Camarón y el Medio Ambiente”. Este reporte sintetiza los resultados más importantes del programa del consorcio desde 1999 hasta marzo de 2002. Incluye los resultados de los talleres de usuarios que discutieron los resultados del programa, auspiciados por el Banco Mundial en Washington, DC, en marzo de 2002. 

Belize Aquaculture, Ltd., has developed a superintensive shrimp aquaculture system operating in lined ponds with heavy mechanical aeration and water recirculation. The pilot study has been in progress for two years. Shrimp production has ranged from less than 8,000 kg/ha to more than 20,000 kg/ha per crop. Because the Belize Aquaculture, Ltd., production system appears to address a number of the environmental impacts of traditional shrimp aquaculture systems, a case study of this unique system was conducted.