The paper discusses the shrimp culture practices of Thailand, the top producing country of cultured shrimp. These shrimp culture techniques include the use of reservoirs for better waste management, utilization of undiluted seawater for culture, low-cost pumping systems, measures to neutralize acid sulfate soils, proper treatment of pond bottom, and solutions to disease problems.

The article presents a two-part guideline in mangrove reforestation. The first part is zonation, which is the process of determining what species are particularly suited to plant in a particular site. While, plantation establishment is the second part, it includes guides in the identification of species, selection of planting site, preparation of the planting sites, seed collection, handling and transporting of seeds, and planting.

The paper discusses the impacts of shrimp culture to the environment in some countries in Asia. Specifically, it highlights the land requirements suitable for shrimp farming and the impacts of shrimp culture on mangroves. The positive effects of mangroves such as its filtering capacity and as a protective buffer are also discussed.

The paper documents the community fishery resources management activities of Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC/AQD) in Malalison Island, Antique, Philippines.

This study demonstrates the potential of low-cost production substrates in mass producing the Schizochytrium sp. LEY7 for maximum DHA production. High biomass yield was achieved by optimizing the culture conditions particularly the incubation temperature and salinity levels. Preliminary data on feeding trials have shown promising results and therefore confirmatory experiments need to be conducted to verify the results obtained.

The objectives of this study were to compare the performance of a Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Centre (SEAFDEC) formulated diet with a commercial feed for growout culture of grouper and to transfer technology on grouper diet developed at SEAFDEC to the industry. In the tank study, Epinephelus coioides juveniles were reared in 12 units of 150-litre tanks at 15 fish/tank with 4 replicates per treatment. Fish were fed the diets at a feeding rate of 5-6% of body weight (BW) and trash fish at 10-12% BW per day for 60 days. In the feeding trial, treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with size groups as block. 36 fish were stocked per size group. Formulated feeds were given twice a day for 120 days. In the tank study, the commercial feed resulted to significantly lower growth, survival and food conversion ratio (FCR) compared with the SEAFDEC diet and trash fish control. Results of the field trials at growout ponds did not show significant differences in growth performance, survival and FCR of grouper juveniles fed with the diets. Both the SEAFDEC diet and commercial feed conformed to the established protein requirement of juvenile grouper. In tank trials, the poor performance of commercial feed was attributed to the low protein content and deficiencies in essential amino acids as confirmed by analysis of the amino acid composition. Improvement in growth performance of fish given the commercial feed was achieved in field trials by increasing the dietary protein level and improving the amino acid composition to match that of the grouper juveniles.

This study was undertaken to determine the nutritive value of some of the more widely available protein sources in the diets for grouper juveniles, based on apparent digestibility coefficients for dry matter (ADMD) and crude protein (APD), feed conversion ratio (FCR), specific growth rate (SGR) and survival. A series of feeding experiments were conducted to determine the growth performance of grouper juveniles. Test diets were formulated for growth (4 replications/treatment) and digestibility experiments (3 replications/treatment). Each diet contained a test ingredient: white fish meal, white cowpea meal and ipil-ipil leaf meal (experiment 1); local meat and bone meal, soya protein concentrates and meat solubles (experiment 2); and imported meal and bone meal, blood meal and maize gluten meal (experiment 3). A feeding trial for each experiment was conducted for 85 days in a flow-through system with filtered and aerated seawater. 10 and 20 juveniles were stocked in each of 60- and 250-litre fibreglass tanks, respectively. White cowpea meal (20.5% incorporation), local (16% incorporation) and imported (19% incorporation) meat and bone meals could partially replace fish meal in the diets for grouper juveniles without affecting their growth. Low ADMD and APD values for the processed feed ingredients (meat and bone meal, soya protein concentrates and blood meal-based diets) could be associated with the processing methods used in its preparation, which could damage the amino acids and contribute to low nitrogen digestibility. Apparent digestibility coefficients and growth could be used as indicators of the nutritional value of the feed ingredients. However, the availability and optimal balance of amino acids must also be considered.

This study was conducted to improve the hatchery survival of Epinephelus coioides by verifying and incorporating laboratory-scale experimental results to a hatchery-scale operation. Nine units of 200 m² ponds were used to verify mass culture techniques for zooplankton. Three fertilization schemes were tested with 3 replicate ponds per fertilization treatment. To test copepod production in tanks, adults and copepodids were transferred into 6 production tanks at a density of 60 individuals/litre. Zooplankton in 3 of the tanks were fed daily with Nannochloropsis sp., Tetraselmis sp. and Chaetoceros sp., whereas zooplankton in the remaining 3 tanks were fed daily with half the amount of the mixture of algae and bread yeast. Larval rearing runs were performed from 2000-2002 to verify earlier experimental results. To propagate copepod nauplii in larval tanks, Acartia were inoculated in 4 larval rearing tanks, 2-3 days before stocking of grouper eggs or newly hatched larvae. Brachionus were added daily from day 2 to 18 at increasing densities. Artemia nauplii and metanauplii were fed to satiation from day 15 until metamorphosis. Pond-grown zooplankton was added in separate tanks from day 15 onwards as a supplement to Artemia. The population of copepods in ponds fertilized with various combinations of organic and inorganic fertilizers increased a week after flooding of ponds and fertilization. Zooplankton compositions in the treatments were Apocyclops, Oithona sp., Brachionus rotundiformis, Penilia and Pseudodiaptomus sp. Copepodids and adults of Acartia tsuensis fed a mixture of algae alone or in combination with bread yeast seemed to propagate well in tank conditions. Results suggested that bread yeast could be used in combination with algae for nauplii production of Acartia in tanks. Verification runs indicated that pond-grown copepods could be used as a supplement to Artemia. Larvae fed copepods and Artemia showed similar survival rates to those fed only with Artemia. Larval survival from days 5-15 was higher in larvae reared in 20-25 ppt compared to those reared in normal seawater. 39 out of 71 tanks were discarded in 2000, whereas 3 out of 12 and 8 out of 26 production runs were aborted in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Mean survival at harvest increased from 3.06% in 2000 to 5.33 and 10.39% in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Larvae in discarded or aborted tanks were positive for viral nervous necrosis (VNN).

The main objectives of this project were to study the lipid chain transfer from the egg stage through hatching and the patterns of lipid conservation or loss during starvation and feeding of larvae in order to elucidate the lipid metabolism of grouper (Phase 1); to determine the fatty acid composition of highly unsaturated fatty acid (HUFA) boosters and enriched live food organisms to enable the possibility of choosing food organisms that provide various dietary levels and ratios of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and arachidonic acid (ARA, Phase 2); and to determine the effect of Brachionus and Artemia, containing different levels and ratios of DHA:EPA:ARA, on the growth and survival of grouper larvae (Phase 3). Total lipids (TL) of samples were extracted and separated into neutral (NL) and polar lipids (PL). The samples collected in Phase 1 were floating neurula eggs, newly hatched (NHL) and unfed 4-day larvae; larvae fed with live food organisms for 25 and 35 days or starved for 3 days; and wild-sourced larvae starved for a week. In Phase 2, the samples collected were phytoplanktons, Brachionus cultured in phytoplankton for 4 days, Diaphanosoma celebensis and Pseudodiaptomus annandalei. In phase 3, larvae were fed Brachionus until day 14 and at day 25 with Artemia. E. coioides eggs contained high DHA, EPA and ARA, demonstrating their importance in larval development. Larvae primarily spent NL as energy, whereas PL was generally conserved. Wild grouper larvae had higher levels of PL than NL, whereas hatchery-sourced eggs and larvae contained higher levels of NL than PL. Based on the lipid content of wild larvae, high phospholipid diets were essential for larvae survival and normal development. A variety of products were effective in enriching the HUFA content (particularly ratios of DHA, EPA and ARA) of live food organisms. HUFA-enriched live food organisms enhanced the growth, survival and pigmentation in grouper larvae.