Provides a concise introduction to WorldFish. Developed in particular to support approaches to new investors and partners.

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This brochure describes how WorldFish is contributing towards these goals and the valuable role played by fisheries and aquaculture in developing countries.

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This catalog lists publications of the WorldFish Center and papers contributed by the Center's scientists in 2007 with summaries. It reflects the outcomes of research carried out in collaboration with partners from different countries through the generous support from international investors.

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This brief presents a review of lessons learned and best practices in the management of coral reefs based on the analysis of 30 projects funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) related to coral reefs and associated tropical marine ecosystems and 26 non-GEF funded projects.

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This book chapter sets out to test the hypothesis that fisheries production has declined in the Mekong Basin. Despite the lack of clear evidence of a decline in the overall production of the Mekong fish catches in the past, there are such threats as industrial development, upstream damming, disruptive fishing methods and use of highly hazardous chemicals imported from neighbouring countries which may cause the actual decline in fish catch in the future.

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There are concerns about the sustainability of the world’s capture fisheries at the current total level of ~96 million tons per year. The warning signals are an increase in the proportion of depleted or recovering stocks, from about 10% in 1974 to 28% in 2004, and a corresponding decrease of under- to moderately exploited stocks from about 40% to 24%. It is widely acknowledged that reductions in fishing effort and restoration of fish habitats are needed to improve resilience of capture fisheries. Nevertheless, for some coastal fisheries, application of aquaculture technology through restocking, stock enhancement, and sea ranching also promises to help restore lost production and possibly increase harvests beyond historical levels. However, application of this technology still has a long way to go before integrated management systems are in place that successfully address all the biological, ecological, social, cultural, and economic issues. The main challenges include identifying when and where to use the interventions to add value to other forms of management; integrating these initiatives with institutional and fisheries management regimes; monitoring success of the interventions; producing cultured juveniles cost-effectively; and releasing them in the wild so that they survive in high proportions. We summarize progress to date by describing the main lessons learned from 30 years of research into the potential for releasing cultured juveniles into coastal fisheries, and from application of this technology at various scales.We also describe other lessons to be learned from stocking freshwater habitats and other emerging issues for enhanced coastal fisheries, such as market opportunities and the need to develop widely accepted definitions for “restocking,” “stock enhancement,” and “sea ranching.” These definitions are needed so that nations can report and monitor different strategies used to improve productivity of capture fisheries.

Fish is a mainstay of food security for Pacific island countries and territories (PICTs). Recent household income and expenditure surveys, and socio-economic surveys, demonstrate that subsistence fishing still provides the great majority of dietary animal protein in the region. Forecasts of the fish required in 2030 to meet recommended per capita fish consumption, or to maintain current consumption, indicate that even wellmanaged coastal fisheries will only be able to meet the demand in 6 of 22 PICTs. Governments of many PICTs will need to increase local access to tuna, and develop small-pond aquaculture, to provide food security. Diversifying the supply of fish will make rural households in the Pacific more resilient to natural disasters, social and political instability, and the uncertainty of climate change.

The growing number of countries investigating the potential for releasing cultured juveniles to augment coastal fisheries resulted in the First International Symposium on Stock Enhancement and Sea Ranching (ISSESR) in Norway in 1997. The 1st and 2nd ISSESR, in Japan in 2002, were instrumental in developing methods for mass production of environmentally fit juveniles and for releasing them in responsible ways. The 3rd ISSESR, held in the U.S.A. in 2006 (www.SeaRanching.org), ushered the discipline into a new era. The major advances included: (1) definitions of the various objectives for releasing cultured juveniles (restocking, stock enhancement, and sea ranching); (2) a framework for integrating releases within their fisheries management context, including tools for quantitative assessment; (3) a systematic, transparent, and stakeholder participatory planning process to determine whether releases have a cost-effective role to play in managing a fishery; (4) a comprehensive case study (blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay) describing the multi-disciplinary approach needed to evaluate the potential benefits of releases; and (5) a suite of other lessons to guide stakeholders in evaluating the potential for and implementation of releases. The papers in this Special Issue of Reviews in Fisheries Science elaborate how restocking, stock enhancement and sea ranching programs can create synergies between aquaculture and some coastal fisheries to help meet the future demand for seafood and aid in restoring depleted stocks.

A growth trial was conducted to investigate the effect of different dietary protein and feeding times on growth performance and feed utilization of freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii Post-Larvae (PL). The experiment was conducted in outdoor concrete pens (6 m^-3) for 84 days. Post-larvae with an average weight of 20.8±0.17 mg were stocking at 30 PL m^-3 in each pens. Two isocaloric (~15.0 MJ DE kg^-1) test diets were formulated to contain two different dietary protein 35 and 40%. The daily feeding level was divided into equal two amounts and fed twice a day at three different feeding times (9:00; 12:00 h); (9:00; 15:00 h) and (9:00; 18:00 h). The highest survival rate, weight gain and specific growth rate (p<=0.05) were observed for PL fed diet with 35% CP. The same trend was observed for PL fed with feeding time 9:00, 15:00 h. The PL fed diet containing 35% protein showed the highest (p<=0.05) protein efficiency ratio, protein productive value, fat retention, energy retention and the better feed conversion ratio. Meanwhile, the PL fed at feeding time 9:00, 18:00 h recorded the better feed conversion ratio. No significant difference was showed for the effect of dietary protein on whole body moisture and protein contents. The highest whole body contents of crude fat and gross energy were observed for prawn fed the diet with 35% CP. However, PL fed at 9:00, 15:00 h had the highest whole body protein and lower fat contents (p<=0.05). Irrespective of dietary proteins or feeding times, M. rosenbergii male recorded the better growth performance and feed utilization than female in all scenarios. The obtained findings revealed that M. rosenbergii PL fed the diet containing 35% CP at feeding time 9:00; 15:00 h is recommended to obtain optimum growth performance and feed utilization.

Genetic change in the Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (GIFT) Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) was estimated by comparing the performance of the progeny produced from cryopreserved spermatozoa from the base population with that produced by freshly collected spermatozoa from the ninth generation. The comparison involved artificial fertilization of 13 males from each generation (base and ninth) with a random sample of 18 female brood stock. The progeny produced went through a 120 day grow-out period, after which live weight, standard length, body depth and survival were recorded. The estimated total genetic change in live weight was 64% over nine generations, or 7.1% generation. The genetic change was lower than the estimate reported by Eknath et al. [Eknath, A.E., Dey, M.M., Rye, M., Gjerde, B., Abella, T.A., Sevilleja, R., Tayamen, M.M., Reyes, R.A., Bentsen, H.B., 1998. Selective breeding of Nile tilapia for Asia. 6th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (vol. 27). University of New England, Armidale, Australia, pp 89–96.], but in the present experiment the time span included generations in which there was no selection. We conclude that GIFT is a superior Nile tilapia strain, from which farmers can benefit due to its fast growth rate. The improvement in the latter trait was achieved without any deterioration in survival rate, which has remained high.