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.

The National Aquaculture Development Authority of Sri Lanka (NAQDA) took several steps to regularise collectors of Penaeus monodon under the restructuring programme of the shrimp aquaculture industry in Sri Lanka. Regularisation of broodstock collectors is very imperative mitigate transmission of white spot disease. NAQDA developed these practices in consultation with the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, shrimp hatchery owners, broodstock suppliers, NARA, Wayamba environmental authority, Sri Lanka aquaculture development alliance and the consortium for shrimp aquaculture development.

A technical mission to Myanmar was undertaken to support development and implementation of national aquatic animal health strategies from 3 - 9 September 2006. The mission was part of the AADCP-RPS project "Strengthening Aquatic Animal Health Capacity and Biosecurity in ASEAN". The mission was coordinated by NACA and worked with stakeholders to develop simple and practical approaches to implement national aquatic animal health strategies in Myanmar.

This is the report of a technical mission to Vietnam from 3 - 9 December 2006, as a part of the project “Strengthening Aquatic Animal Health Capacity and Biosecurity in ASEAN” to assist national authorities in the development and implementation of simple and practical national aquatic animal health management strategies. The objective of the mission was to assist the government to support development of national strategies on aquatic animal health management and develop short and long term plans.

This manual provides a comprehensive practical tool for the generation and analysis of genetic data for subsequent application in aquatic resources management in relation to genetic stock identification in inland fisheries and aquaculture. The material only covers general background on genetics in relation to aquaculture and fisheries resource management, the techniques and relevant methods of data analysis that are commonly used to address questions relating to genetic resource characterisation and population genetic analyses.

This document provides an analysis of the environmental impacts and risks associated with aquaculture development in Viet Nam and guidance on better environmental management and monitoring for its future development. Part 1 provides a summary of the main findings, and guidelines for future development of the aquaculture sector. Part 2 provides the detailed case study findings. The guidelines presented in Part 1 are based on cases studies of all major aquaculture commodities in Viet Nam.

This report is the outcome of a study conducted by NACA to assess the impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and of the introduction of US anti-dumping duties on the shrimp farming sectors of countries in the Asia-Pacific region, with special focus on the effect that these unusual events had on shrimp prices and stakeholders' livelihoods. The assessment was conducted by collecting data from a wide range of stakeholders involved with shrimp farming.

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.

Viet Nam's mangrove forests have been severely impacted by human interventions, with a reduction in forestation from 408,000 ha in 1943 to a low of 150,000 ha in 2000. This study provides an overview of the information needs and communication issues surrounding people living in mangrove regions of Viet Nam. It is hoped that this study will help to raise the awareness of issues surrounding mangrove environments and improve the accessibility to information, for all stakeholders.

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.

This reports describes the status of mangrove ecosystems and associated communities in the Mahakam Delta, Indonesia. It describes historical degradation of the mangrove ecosystems for shrimp farming and land speculation. The report describes the livelihoods of the local communities, their usage and connections with the mangrove forests and farming activities, and socio-economic factors impeding the restoration of mangrove habitats, which are in large part related to poverty. Attempts to replant areas are described.

This paper provides an overview of seafood consumption production in southeast Asia circa 2006. It forecasts a need for aquaculture to expand area under culture and intensity; highlights the potential for fishmeal to constrain growth, and identifies a trend towards cultivation of high-value species. Sources for the review included a regional synthesis of aquaculture developed for a regional workshop in 2005, a review of marine finfish hatchery development and a regional survey of cage fish culture.

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.

Our better-practice guidelines are an attempt to share lessons that are learnt from local practice or from research, with many more people within Asia-Pacific and to enable people, institutions and policy-makers to use new tools and mechanisms which support aquatic resources management in ways that benefit the livelihoods of people who are poor. This publication is also available in Bahasa Indonesia, Bengali, Hindi, Ilonggo, Khmer, Myanmar, Nepali, Oriya, Sinhala, Urdu and Vietnamese.

Self-help groups are a way to start working that helps to build up the social connections which people find useful in support of their livelihoods objectives, helping people to agree on things and to speak together, giving people a stronger voice in decision-making and in negotiating with more powerful forces. This publication is also available in Bahasa Indonesia, Bengali, Hindi, Ilonggo, Khmer, Myanmar, Nepali, Oriya, Sinhala, Urdu and Vietnamese.

An information access survey is a tool that identifies key issues about people and what information needs they have, what media sources are available, what strategies people use to get information and how cost effective they are. It also provides guidance on methods of communication that are useful for poor rural communities that use aquatic resources to improve their livelihoods. This document is also available in Bahasa Indonesia, Bengali, Hindi, Ilonggo, Khmer, Myanmar, Nepal, Oriya, Sinhala, Urdu and Vietnamese.

The stories that fishers and farmers tell us about their lives can give us a deeper understanding of the realities of their experiences. They can help policy-makers to build an understanding of the aspirations and complex livelihood strategies of poor people and disadvantaged or marginalised groups. A consensus-building process is a way of providing a space where people can tell their stories, so that policies can be improved to better support poor people's needs.

These guidelines provide advice on producing fish seed in small-scale hatcheries. This publication is also available in Oriya.

‘Spawn’ is the name for the young fish about three days old that are available from hatcheries. Sometimes these young fish are also called hatchlings. The spawn of catla, rohu and mrigal is about 6-8 mm long. At this stage, the ‘yolk sac’ is absorbed, the mouth opened and the fins fully developed. Spawn are reared intensively, first to the ‘fry’ size and then to the ‘fingerling’ size. All the three stages are marketed and collectively called ‘seed’.

The “fast fingerling system” can produce advanced fingerlings about two months earlier than they are normally available from fish farms.  The farmer uses just one pond for continuous growing until fingerling size is reached, and fewer fish are stocked. A farmer with a small, seasonal pond can produce fingerlings in one month. These can then be sold for a high price because everyone wants fingerlings as early as possible.