Modern aquaculture practices in Nepal started around the 1950s). Since then, aquaculture has contributed about 1% of GDP. The national average production from pond aquaculture is about 3.6 million tons/ha. However, the range of fish production varies from about few hundred kilograms to 7.0 million tons/hectare depending upon different farming and management system. Aquatic resources located at different altitudes can offer potential for different fisheries and aquaculture activities in Nepal.

Promoting small-scale freshwater fish farming in Côte d’Ivoire was done in two stages. First was awareness and establishment stage (1974-1990) implemented by dense and diverse state support. The second was the professional stage (1992-2002) executed by specific regional projects. Activities targeted small-scale fish farming including promotion of quality amenities, reproducible by the promoters; marketing; and the promotion of research and development focused on the needs of stakeholders.

Fisheries resources play a very important role in Malawi’s national economy, in terms of food and nutritional security of the population. It contributes about 60-70% of annual animal protein supply of the nation. In fact, fish is the readily available source of animal proteins consumed in small amounts among Malawian daily meals, thereby nutritionally supplementing essential amino acids in their diet. Fisheries provides source of employment to over 300,000 people through fishing and associated activities.

The largest percentage of aquaculture production in Zambia comes from small-scale fish farmers. This is mainly because there are many small scale fish farmers compared to other categories. In comparison to small-scale fish farmers, there are very few commercial or large-scale fish farmers. This situation suggests that one of the ways for effectively increasing aquaculture production is to improve fishpond productivity and commercialization of aquaculture production systems. 

Regional workshop on freshwater extension approaches in Africa, held  at the International Symposium on Small-scale Freshwater Aquaculture Extension.

Summary of discussion group 1 findings.

Summary of discussion group 2's findings.

This study was designed to improve our understanding of the main causal pathways for white spot disease (WSD) in a representative, 50-pond shrimp farming system in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The longitudinal observational study focused on recording the occurrence of different genotypes of the causal infectious agent, white spot syndrome virus (WSSV), in selected components of the system across time, and looking for relationships with pond outcomes, particularly WSD occurrence.

Under the ACIAR-funded project Culture-based fisheries development in Lao PDR and Cambodia, a monitoring team recently visited both countries to observe progress by participating community groups and to provide guidance for the next stocking season. The project is working with rural villages to implement culture-based fisheries as a community activity, where the work, management and benefits are shared by local residents.

This report, the 62nd in the series, contains information about the aquatic animal health status of sixteen states in the Asia-Pacific region. The foreword discusses the outcomes of the 12th meeting of the Asia Regional Advisory Group on Aquatic Animal Health.