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Agriculture-aquaculture mix boosts productivity - Diverse and productive agro-aquaculture systems to enhance food production and livelihoods opportunities for poorer households |
AFGP04 |
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Growing crops and fish together raises productivity and helps relieve pressure on land and water resources. This could help many developing countries where land and water are under extreme pressure. Simple forms of community management make good use of water and nutrients and boost harvests of fish from rice fields, ponds and traps. Community groups successfully manage integrated systems in Central Bangladesh, southeast Cambodia and northeast Thailand. Integrating water use in aquaculture and agriculture is now spreading throughout South and Southeast Asia. In northwest Bangladesh around 30,000 households already produce fry and fingerlings in rice fields. These integrated systems have great potential for improving livelihoods and nutrition for millions of the rural poor. |
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Combating fish diseases improves farmers returns - Aquatic animal health for production, environment and livelihoods |
AFGP05 |
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Practical and cost-effective methods are now available to help farmers detect fish-borne diseases quickly and accurately. Severe disease epidemics threaten aquaculture, particularly smallholder production. The new methods - and simple management improvements - lower the costs of treating disease and give farmers higher yields of better quality fish. These easy-to-use practices for safe and healthy production of catfish and shrimp are already widely used in Vietnam, Thailand and India. Six Asian governments are also taking up these methods to improve fish health management services. Because people are becoming more aware of the need for better fish disease control in aquaculture these techniques could have a major impact. |
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Fish genetic networks boost production - Networks for genetic management for biodiversity and production gain to meet food supply and environmental quality goals in aquaculture and stocked fisheries |
AFGP09 |
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Networks to promote high-quality breeding fish are the key to profitable aquaculture, especially for poor producers. In some countries breeding fish for aquaculture is managed so poorly that farmers produce less and less. Breeding quality fish for aquaculture can be highly successful but still has a long way to go in many developing countries. Networks to improve fish genetics - and thus production - bring together government, university and private organisations locally, nationally and internationally. They are already thriving and, in some cases, expanding in South Africa, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India and Thailand. The various mixes of public, private commercial, NGO and poor producers in these networks show great promise as models for improving not only fish production but also other commodities. |
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Floating traps help small fishers catch large fish - Fish agregating devices (FADs) for enhancing coastal artisanal fisheries |
FMSP11 |
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High-value ocean fish such as tuna have previously been difficult or impossible for Pacific, Indian Ocean and Caribbean islanders and coastal fishermen to catch. But the near-shore reef fisheries on which these fishers depend are overexploited. Now, floating traps help them catch deep-sea fish and tap into under- or less-exploited resources. The traps withstand strong ocean currents and are widely used in the South Pacific, East Africa, Seychelles, Comoros, Mauritius and Reunion. Governments in several South Pacific states and Zanzibar, and development agencies in Tanzania now include these traps in their development plans. Sport fishing and organic trade organisations have also shown interest, and the use of traps is expected to spread, potentially benefiting many more fishers and coastal communities. |
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Foods from water bodies improve life for the very poor - Introducing short-crop aquatic production into agro-aquatic farming systems to increase and diversify output, reduce vulnerability and improve livelihoods |
AFGP02 |
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Simple new ways of managing wild and cultured fish in paddy fields, ponds and lakes mean that people have more reliable supplies of food, better diets and better nutrition. For centuries, the rural poor have relied on wild fish, plants, snails and other foods. But these are fast disappearing because of over-exploitation, dwindling flood plains and more intensive farming. People-especially the poorest-in Northeast Thailand, lowland Cambodia and Bangladesh are already reaping the benefits of these systems and they are being strongly promoted in Vietnam, India, Indonesia and Lao PDR. There is also great potential in hilly agricultural and tropical forest systems where rainfall is seasonal. |
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Household hatcheries are a major breakthrough in small-scale fish farming - Partnerships in aquatic seed: Developing quality seed networks for diversified and profitable aquaculture |
AFGP01 |
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Low-cost household hatcheries for carp and tilapia are helping farmers take up small-scale aquaculture. Previously, the supply of good quality fish fingerlings was a major hurdle. Central hatcheries couldn't cater to far-flung customers. Now, with just a little training, rural households can learn to raise good quality fish fingerlings. As well as stocking their own paddies and ponds, farmers have young fish to eat or sell. In Bangladesh and the hilly regions of northern Vietnam, these decentralised household hatcheries have led thousands of rural poor to start small-scale aquaculture in fields, ditches or ponds. The potential for household hatcheries for other species, both freshwater and marine, and for all regions where there are small water bodies, is enormous. |
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Lessening risks for fishers in climate-change hot spots - Vulnerability of fisheries and fisher communities to climate variation: adaptation and policy responses
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FMSP03 |
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A new approach pinpoints places where climate change is likely to affect fisheries most. As well as fishers' lives, climate change will affect trade, economies and jobs. 'Vulnerability mapping', as it is called, alerts people to climate-change hot spots where action is urgently needed. Communities can use this approach to help prepare for climate change. Fishing groups in Malawi have now included migration and other ways to adapt to climate change in their plans. Benin, Malawi, South Africa, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brazil, Chile, Italy, Finland and the UK are also using vulnerability mapping. It has great potential for lessening the risks of climate change throughout Central and West Africa, tropical coastal areas in South America and South East Asia. |
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Opportunities in sustainable coastal aquaculture for the very poor - Promoting opportunities for sustainable coastal aquaculture |
AFGP10 |
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Easy, low-cost methods for adding value to sea foods - fattening low-value soft-shell crabs into high-value hard-shell crabs, producing good quality dried fish, molluscs and seaweed - help the coastal poor enter local markets. The lives of many poor people in coastal areas who traditionally depended on fishing and foraging are seriously threatened. Now, small-scale producers with very modest assets and skills can produce less familiar but high-value sea foods for both local and export markets. The very poor in coastal areas in Bangladesh, and also in Vietnam and the Philippines are already seeing quick returns on their investments using these methods. Such ventures have great potential for improving livelihoods in almost all Asian coastal regions. |
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Best practices for fisheries - Improving policy for fishery management: maximising potential for economic growth and poverty reduction |
FMSP02 |
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Decision makers responsible for fisheries now have best practices to help them change fisheries policies and regulations for the better. Competing demands, environmental degradation and climate change mean that fisheries are among the most difficult resources to manage. The best practices help planners to realise the potential of fisheries to reduce poverty while maximising economic benefits in the long term. Many problems with fisheries have non-fisheries causes - social and policy issues need to be taken into account along with resource concerns. Drawing together best practices is strengthening the growing global call for better fisheries management and influencing policy change throughout East Africa and South East Asia. Already, planners have used these practices to revive fisheries in post-tsunami India and develop fisheries in Sierra Leone. |
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Computer game strengthens control of foreign fishing - Optimal control of foreign fishing through improved fisheries governance |
FMSP08 |
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A new computer game is helping fisheries managers learn how to control foreign ships fishing in their exclusive economic zones. The game lets them experiment with control measures such as licence fees, fines for illegal fishing and the costs of law enforcement, to get the maximum social and economic benefits from the fishery. Many less-developed coastal countries have little expertise in these areas and this game helps fisheries managers and policy makers understand the issues they need to address. The model underlying the game has been tested in the Seychelles and Indian Ocean where it helped decision-making on fishing licence fees and fishing legislation. It has great potential for helping managers select and apply suitable tools to control foreign fishing. |
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Helping fishers make smarter decisions - Market information systems for aquaculture to improve revenue for small-scale producers |
AFGP07 |
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Market information systems, often based on simple mobile phone and local-centre web access, help poorer groups make smarter decisions. Although market intelligence systems are widespread globally, they mostly serve large companies in developed countries. Flexible local networks connecting producers, traders, NGOs, the public sector and consumers help them quickly find and use the information they need. Artisanal fishers have rapidly caught on to using mobile phones to find out where they can get the best prices for their catch. 'One Stop Shops' in Bangladesh, and similar networks in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, also offer fishers cheap local access to market information. These simple systems could have a major impact, particularly in countries where aquaculture is booming. |
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Huge potential for safe fish and vegetable production in urban areas - Local aquatic food for cities |
AFGP03 |
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Agriculture and aquaculture in and around cities creates jobs, and can improve the environment, reduce waste and provide good cheap food. Previously, the risk of contamination from poor quality and waste water posed dangers. But safe ways of producing fish and growing water vegetables around cities are now available. Techniques for aquaculture and horticulture have been tested near Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Blantyre in Malawi, Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Bangkok in Thailand, Yaoundé in Cameroon, Dhaka and Mymensingh in Bangladesh and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. The potential for raising fish and growing vegetables to supply booming urban markets in developing countries is enormous and could have a major impact on improving incomes, food and nutrition. |
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Knowledge brings opportunities in emerging domestic fish markets - Strategies and approaches for meeting demand for aquaculture and aquatic products in domestic markets |
AFGP08 |
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Small producers and cooperatives can take advantage of emerging domestic markets when they know how they work and what consumers want. Helping producers learn about consumer preferences and the options for selling, processing, transporting and marketing their fish lowers their costs and helps them get better prices. Producers in Vietnam were able to reorient their products very quickly to the emerging domestic market when the bottom dropped out of the US market for catfish. In Thailand, fish production for the domestic market has nearly doubled over the last decade. Helping producers learn about market chains and domestic demand for fish could have a huge impact wherever there are growing urban centres in Asia and Africa. |
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Learning-by-doing in fisheries management - Adaptive co-management: Supporting co-managed fisheries |
FMSP07 |
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Collective learning is helping communities make the most of small fisheries. Often, these fisheries are open to all and so, ideally, all stakeholders need to be involved in managing them. But stakeholders often don't understand all the issues that need to be considered and how changes in the way they do things - new technologies or management strategies - will benefit them. The learning-by-doing approach helps those with interests in the fishery share information, plan, manage, adapt and reap the benefits of working together. Co-management and learning-by-doing approaches have already proven successful in rice-fish systems in India and Southeast Asia. They could have a major impact on poor producers' livelihoods - benefiting not only fishers but also those depending on other common-pool resources. |
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Quality networks open markets for fish - Promoting domestic and international networks for market quality in aquaculture to improve and widen livelihood benefits for aquaculture producers and consumers in developing countries |
AFGP06 |
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Networks connecting producers, dealers, technical specialists, NGOs, public officials and consumers along fish market chains help people understand the need for quality products and set quality standards. Without quality standards for products, access to growing national and export markets may be blocked and producers denied higher prices. The network approach was successfully tested in Vietnam and Bangladesh. In Vietnam, companies processing fish for export set up the market quality network. This involved all those along the market chain working together to improve fish for export. Marketing networks to improve product quality have great potential not only for fish but for a large range of other products too. Not least, poor producers stand to benefit from better prices. |
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Opening the doors to markets and credit for poor fishers - A guide to the analysis of fish marketing systems using a combination of sub-sector analysis and the sustainable livelihoods approach |
PHF04 |
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Better information about how to sell their catches and where and how to borrow money is improving fishers' livelihoods. When they know how market chains and fish distribution work they have better chances of getting good prices for their catches. It's also very helpful for them to know where they can borrow money at reasonable rates. Participatory methods of collecting data have already proved useful in understanding markets and distribution chains for fish in Bangladesh. Governments not only in Bangladesh, but also in Cambodia and West Africa, and international development agencies are adopting these techniques to review and plan fisheries development. Fishing communities in South Asia, and East and West Africa stand to benefit particularly from better information on markets and credit. |
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Weighing up costs and benefits in fish factories - Cleanse it, Ice it and Log it |
PHF13 |
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Simple software helps managers in fish factories in developing countries record and analyse data. Collecting data is the first step towards weighing up costs and benefits. Using ice, disinfecting machinery and constructing better containers all cost money. The software helps managers decide the most cost-effective ways to improve production. Tested in Uganda and Ghana, the software has helped cost the benefits of using ice, and provides information for a booklet on sanitation in factories and for designing fish containers and holds. A prototype hold improved returns by at least 15%. Use of the software is spreading to Pakistan and Morocco, and there is already interest in Namibia, Denmark and India. |
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Getting to grips with fish losses - Fishloss: Electronic tools for fish loss assessment and reduction |
PHF09 |
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People can now use a new computer programme to enter local data and work out how best to prevent losses in a particular fish market chain. They can also see the effects of steps that could be taken to reduce losses. Most small fishers cannot freeze or chill the fish they catch. This means it soon spoils and fetches lower prices than fresh fish. Smoking, drying or salting preserves fish for longer but even then it's often damaged by poor processing, storage or transport. Tested in Ghana, India and Uganda, the programme has been used in Cote d'Ivoire and Tanzania and is now spreading in the Philippines. The potential impact on livelihoods is large as returns per 100 kilograms of fish can rise by US$5-6. |
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Saving fish from flies and beetles - A review of insect infestation of traditionally cured fish in the Tropics |
PHF12 |
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Insects - flies and beetles - destroy vast amounts of fish in developing countries while it is being processed or stored. This means less fish for food, poorer nutrition, and lower incomes. Attempts to control insects have met with mixed success, mainly because people don't understand how, where and when insects infest fish. A study bringing together all that's known about insects that damage fish vastly improves understanding. Now that processors are learning what to do to keep pests away from fish they are benefiting from fewer losses, better prices and lower costs. The reference on insects is being widely referred to by development and extension staff in Southern India, Africa, Uganda and Tanzania, as well as by NGOs and processors. |
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Understanding the blowfly life cycle helps promote hygienic fish processing - Guidelines on using a systems based approach to control blowfly infestation of traditionally processed fish |
PHF11 |
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Understanding the blowfly lifecycle is helping village fish processors raise the quality of their products. Traditional methods of smoking, drying and salting fish in the tropics are often very unhygienic and between 25% and 90% go bad. Previously, processors were slow to adopt simple hygienic measures, such as disposing of waste, making sure the fish and utensils are clean, preparing brines properly, and drying fish on frames rather than on the ground. But when they understand that maggots in their fish come from blowflies they are quickly converted. The guide to help fisheries authorities and NGOs teach processors how to keep their products safe from blowfly maggots is being widely used in Africa, South Asia and South East Asia. |
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