In March 2024, Professor David Little participated in a workshop on fish seed supply for aquaculture organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations at the Research Institute for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences in Szarvas, Hungary.
Tilapia hatchery technician checking fry in Thailand
Workshop participants were drawn from 13 countries and involved experts from industry, academia and international organisations. Access to high quality seed has frequently been cited as a constraint to the development of the aquaculture sector in many countries, and in general, aquaculture lags far behind terrestrial farming in terms of boosting production through genetic improvement techniques.
In his presentation to the meeting, Prof. Little focused on the need to link hatchery design and management to the specific social, business and development context. This requires a focus on the people who need the juveniles and their current and potential farming systems, and then working backwards to the appropriate hatchery technologies. He discussed several case studies involving institutional and commercial fish seed initiatives in Thailand, Bangladesh, Malawi, Uganda, Kenya and Ghana, which illustrate potential pitfalls and opportunities.
A copy of the presentation slides can be downloaded by clicking on the image below.
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