In this issue:

Buffaloes in favour of culture-based fisheries in Sri Lanka. Aquafeeds in Myanmar: A change from farm-made to factory-made feeds. Challenging myths about seed quality and potential benfits to the rural poor. Catfish Clarius batrachus production using low cost hatcheries. Cage fish culture and livelihoods in the mid-hill lakes of Pokhara, Nepal. Marine fish hatchery training. Rabbitfish Siganus guttatus breeding and larval rearing. Vietnamese extension manual on culture-based fisheries.

In this issue:

18th NACA Governing Council held in Bali, Indonesia. Strengthening aquatic animal health capacity and biosecurity in ASEAN - final workshop. Aquatic animal pathology master class. Vietnamese extension manual on culture-based fisheries. New project: Culture-based fisheries development in Lao PDR. Guidelines on digital publishing: a practical approach for small organizations with limited resources. Workshop on understanding and applying risk analysis in aquaculture. GISFish: Remote sensing and mapping for aquaculture and inland fisheries. Online encyclopeadia to list 1.8 m known species. DELTA 2007. NACA/FAO partnership working to establish guidelines for certification of farmed fish. Asia-Pacific Aquaculture 2007, 5-8 August 2007, Vietnam. Skretting sponsorship & scholarships for the Marine Finfish Aquaculture Network. The eleventh regular session on genetic resources for food and agriculture.

These guidelines on digital publishing are targeted primarily at small organisations with limited resources in developing countries, in order to facilitate decision-making on how to publish and disseminate their information, with emphasis on the internet. The Guidelines are based on the years of experience of the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific and its partners. The approach is practical in orientation, covering topics including planning, maintenance, making content accessible and suggested tools.

This report describes a training course on grouper hatchery protocols that was held in Indonesia in 2006. A total of 20 participants from 13 countries attended the training course which was hosted by the Brackishwater Aquaculture Development Centre, Situbondo. Participants came from Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

In this issue:

Cage aquaculture of tilapia in Lake Taal, Philippines. Development and adoption of BMPs by farmer groups. Lotus - an aquatic plant of versatile qualities. Integrated aquaculture-agriculture systems in Bangladesh: Potential for sustainable livelihoods and nutrititional security of the rural poor. Spreadsheet model of the market chain for the live reef food fish trade. Regional Grouper Hatchery Production Training Course. Replacing marine fish oil in aquafeeds with tropical palm oil products. NACA Newsletter.

Shrimp Health Management brochures provide better management practices in a reader friendly format. These brochures were prepared as extension materials through the village based demonstration programme by the Marine Products Export Development Authority of India and NACA. The programme continues building success and involved a total of 29 villages and 29 Aquaclubs in five Indian states (Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Orissa, Gujarat, and Karnataka) in 2006.

In this issue:

International shrimp farming principles welcomed by countries. Discussions on the establishment of a "Mahseer R&D Centre". Microsatellite DNA markers for mahseer are now available. First study on genetic variation of the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish. IMNV found in Asia-Pacific. Thailand and US to jointly install tsunami wave sensors. Co-management in aquaculture explored at APFIC Forum. Virus may control Australia's feral carp problem. A milestone in India's sustainable shrimp farming efforts. Fish introduction in India: Status, challenges and potentials. 8th Asian Fisheries Forum. STREAM Update. Website management training to support Thai Post-tsunami Rehabilitation website.

The practical application of livelihoods approaches is still relatively new in development work and guidance is much sought by field teams. The concept aims to build a comprehensive picture of how people within communities live, rather than approaching development planning from a sectoral perspective such as agriculture, forestry or fisheries, to assist in planning interventions that will benefit present and future generations. This document discusses the concepts of livelihoods and sustainable livelihoods analyses with these objectives in mind.

In this issue:

MPEDA-NACA sustainable shrimp village demonstration programme. Inter-calibration of white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) PCR laboratories in India. Shrimp health management training. Rotary International/NACA meeting facility up at Koh Yao Noi. Tsunami-affected farmers train in marine cage aquaculture. Marine finfish aquaculture network at the APAN meeting in Singapore. Aquatic animal health policy workshops build consensus in ASEAN nations. Aquaculture Compendium released. Developments in establishing a conservation plan for the Mekong giant catfish. ROUNDTABLE: Exploring south-south cooperation opportunities in sustainable shrimp farming in West Africa, Conakry (Guinea). Technical missions to Cambodia and Lao PDR.

This manual provides guidelines for attaining better practices in culture-based fisheries, an emerging practice in rural areas in the Asian region. It deals with the principles of culture-based fishery practices, primarily based on relatively long-term experiences in Sri Lanka and Vietnam. It deals with the gross factors that are applicable to improving fish yields and therefore revenue; and sustaining culture based fisheries as a development activity in the long-term.