aquaculture

The Catalog of Fishes is searchable, for free, online; courtesy of the California Academy of Sciences. It is also available as three, hardbound books.

The catalog covers more than 53,000 species and subspecies, over 10,000 genera and subgenera, and includes in excess of 16,000 bibliographic references. Entries for species, for example, consist of species/subspecies name, genus, author, date, publication, pages, figures, type locality, location of type specimen(s), current status (with references), family/subfamily, and important publication, taxonomic, or nomenclatural notes. Nearly all original descriptions have been examined, and much effort has gone into determining the location of type specimens.

The Genera are updated from Eschmeyer’s 1990 Genera of Recent Fishes. Both genera and species are listed in a classification using recent taxonomic schemes. Also included are a lengthy list of museum acronyms, an interpretation of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, and Opinions of the International Commission involving fishes.

The Catalog of Fishes consists of three hardbound volumes of 900-1000 pages each, along with a CD-ROM (not sold seperately). This work is an essential reference for taxonomists, scientific historians, and for any specialist dealing with fishes.

The guide disappeared offline for a while and I was worried that the online draft guide to learning and teaching ichthyology was lost and gone forever. But it’s back.

This online course is free, and uses the FishBase.org data sets. There’s probably not a more comprehensive ichthyology course available online, and being available for free makes it a real treasure. It’s self-paced – you work through, use the FishBase data for reference, makes some notes and reflect, and all for free – a generous gift by the authors.

The guide provides a structure and case study material for a computer-based course in ichthyology for upper undergraduate and graduates students in biology or environmental science.

The key resource made accessible through this guide is FishBase, a large database on the biology of fish, available on CD-ROM (for the Windows operating system) and on the Internet (www.fishbase.org/search.cfm).

In May, 1993, Eileen M. McVey produced a revised edition of Aquaculture for Youth and Youth Educators, National Agricultural Library Aquaculture Information Center. The document – a curriculum and teacher resource – is hosted by cyfernet.org.

This revision of the original Aqua-Topic, titled _Aquaculture for Youth and Youth Educators_, was created in response to continued demand from teachers, youth leaders, and students who are interested in receiving information and ideas on aquaculture for projects and study. The information which follows is for students at upper elementary through high school learning levels. Recommended activities at the end of the text are organized by level of difficulty; Level I being the least difficult and Level III being the most difficult. The activities can be modified depending on geographic area and availability of resources. A glossary is also included at the end of the text for those students who need assistance with vocabulary. Words that are marked by asterisks in the text can be found in the glossary. Bibliographies are also included at the end for both students and teachers.

The Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has produced a brief overview of aquaculture and a checklist of questions to ask yourself before getting starting in an aquaculture venture.

The focus is on starting an aquaculture enterprise in an Australian-type of context – i.e. where an investment of millions of dollars is required, rather than a backyard type of operation where the goal is to raise fish for yourself, or perhaps a small local market. The information is still valuable, with the checklist covering site, species etc being relevant to fish farming everywhere.

Setting up in aquaculture can be an expensive exercise and is not for the faint-hearted. First you need to acknowledge that this represents a significant business decision and requires a serious commitment.

Just like any other business venture, aquaculture requires a detailed feasibility study before investment decisions are made. Anything less than that puts you in the category of hobby farming, which is an excellent lifestyle choice but may not earn income.

The perception of aquaculture as an appealing lifestyle choice is a commonly held belief in Australia, possibly fuelled by our by our preference for coastal living. This has led on occasions to emotional rather than hard economic reasons driving what can be a ‘make or break’ financial decision. In retrospect, it appears that there are a number of conceptual hurdles at which the prospective aquaculturist may stumble. They are:

• a too ready acceptance of new or untried technology
• ignorance of the fact that aquaculture is a farming/business enterprise
• under capitalisation
• lack of market intelligence
• failure to understand that the product is a living organism with special requirements, because of its specific water quality requirements.

According to a speech presented at Aquavision 2002, the profile of the salmon industry in Chile is extensive:

• Modern salmon aquaculture first appeared in Chile around 1980 and has been developed in the southern Regions.

• Today, aquaculture is Chile’s fourth largest exporter, making Chile the world’s leading trout farming country and world number two in salmon farming. In 2001, the Chilean salmon industry exports were worth close to US $964 millions.

• Chile offers optimal environmental conditions: the temperature of the water, the quality of the water, geography, availability of fishmeal, and availability of suitable production sites.

• Aquaculture has a huge potential for development in Chile and investigations are progressing with several new species.

• The success of salmon farming has led to a number of social and economic effects. The southern regions now have some of the highest levels of employment in the country; currently 40,000 direct and indirect jobs result from the industry. These developments have also led to cultural changes as aquaculture requires trained people, at all levels.

The School of Aquaculture of the Catholic University of Temuco has hatchery and fish farming facilities, and offers aquaculture technician and degree courses. The web site offers content in spanish and english.

The FAO has published a profile of fisheries in Chile, (2000) which includes aquaculture. The FOA observe:

In Chile, this sector has been characterized for being one with bigger dynamics and importance of the national fishing sector, and for having reached a high development which began in the 80’s, mainly based in the culture of salmonoids and, at a lower level, molluscs, clams and seaweeds.