Update (Dec 2010) – sadly, the Native Fish Conservancy seems to have met an untimely end. The above link is via the Internet Archive. If any of the former webmaster/site managers are out there please feel free to make contact.

From the introduction:

This work is meant to provide a guide to the freshwater fishes of Iran. There are no modern keys to this fauna, some available books are incomplete or cursory treatments or outdated, and the detailed and diverse scientific literature is widely scattered in time, languages and journals. Iran lies at a region of major zoogeographical interchange and has a diverse and interesting ichthyofauna about which comparatively little is known. An accurate identification is a pre-requisite for further scientific studies and this website aims to serve that purpose and to be an introductory guide to the fishes. The guide is aimed at a mixed audience, including scientists familiar with ichthyology to whom some introductory sections of this work will be superfluous, and those whose knowledge of fishes is embryonic or who may have limited access to literature sources.

This work has been carried out over a period of over 30 years from my first arrival in Iran in January 1976. In that year, 7 articles were published strictly on Iranian fishes (3 on parasites, 1 on pesticides, 1 on fisheries, 1 describing the blind white fish and 1 a summary of the latter; 2 were in Farsi). In 2006, 160 articles on Iranian fishes appeared, along with many relevant works from neighbouring countries, works on the aquatic environment in Iran and works on taxonomy and systematics relevant to Iran. The study of fishes is now a very active field within Iran and the Middle East. Accordingly, 2006 is the last year that this work was updated although some systematic and taxonomic studies may still be incorporated.

This multidisciplinary glossary has been prepared by the Inland Water Resources and Aquaculture Service (FIRI) of FAO Fisheries Department, under the coordination of Valerio Crespi.

The primary objectives of this glossary are

1. to serve as a reference to fish farmers, consultants, administrators, policy makers, developers, engineers, agriculturists, economists, environmentalists and anybody interested in aquaculture; and
2. to facilitate communication among experts and scientists involved in aquaculture research and development.

U.S. tilapia imports surged to over 297 million pounds in 2005, up 19 percent from 2004 and 233 percent higher than in 2000. The value of tilapia imports rose even faster, climbing to $393 million in 2005, 32 percent higher than the previous year and 288 percent higher than in 2000.

One short ton = 2,000 pounds, therefore 297 million pounds = 148,500 short tons; according to Google.

If you are considering exporting aquacultural and related products to the USA, this report represents critical business information. You can subscribe to the Aquaculture Outlook (for free). Outlook examines the U.S. aquaculture industry, including production, inventory, sales, prices, inputs, and trade of catfish, trout, tilapia, salmon, mollusks, crawfish, shrimp, ornamental fish and new species.

From their introduction:

In Virginia and throughout the United States, interest in fish farming for profit or as a hobby has increased in the past few years. Encouraged by the success of trout farmers in western states and catfish farmers in southern states, prospective fish farmers question if similar opportunities exist in Virginia’s fresh waters.

The prospects for fish farming in Virginia range from very good to poor depending on the objectives (commercial or noncommercial), the economic and water resources available, and the type of fish selected for growing. In this publication we present basic information on fish farming and discuss some of the opportunities and problems involved with growing certain freshwater fish and other aquatic animals in Virginia.

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).

The book is subtitled: ‘An introduction to the study of zoology’. I particularly enjoy the ‘kinder, gentler’ writing style and it feels (or perhaps more accurately – reads) as though Huxley is very attuned to a more holistic approach to describing the crayfish.

The online version is supported by the original elegant woodblock illustrations and, as well, Rich has created a glossary (which was not part of the orginial edition).

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 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.

The main idea behind the programme was that while magur (African catfish, Clarias gariepinus) is a good fish to be grown, because of its high growth rate, disease resistance, ability to take up oxygen from the air, etc., most local people were not aware of the potential of this fish. A few households in the CPP area had already been growing magur on their homesteads. This method proved to be successful, so CPP has taken up the task to spread this local knowledge among other households with emphasis on professional fishermen, landless, and other poor people. Initially 200 households joined the Chari in the Bari programme.

According to tve.org the African catfish Clarias gariepinus is one of the most suitable species for aquaculture in Africa. Since the 1970s it has been considered to hold great promise for fish farming in Africa. The African catfish has a high growth rate, is very resistant to handling and stress, and is very well appreciated in a wide number of African countries, including Nigeria (where it is often referred to as lungfish).

The FAO have produced a free document Artificial Reproduction and Pond Rearing of the African Catfish Clarias Gariepinus in Sub-Saharan Africa – A Handbook, edited by Gertjan de Graaf and Hans Janssen, from the Nefisco Foundation mentioned above.

Research has also been conducted in Brazil – Dietary canitine maintains energy reserves and delays fatigue of exercised african catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fed high fat diets effectively exploring better diets – which should lead to better growth patterns.

Rhodes University offer a free, online Clarias husbandry manual. They observe:

The African sharptooth catfish, Clarias gariepinus, is undoubtedly a remarkable and fascinating beast. Biologically it has all the attributes of a premier aquaculture species. Its biology, ecology and life history is well known and documented. From a teaching point of view this makes it an ideal species, allowing students to obtain an insight into how natural history information can be used for the development of culture technologies. Despite the technological know-how, total production of clariid catfish in Africa in 1993 has been estimated at a mere ca. 4500 tons. Despite the fact that there may be a considerable margin of error in the reported production figures, the farming of catfish in Africa is still a marginal activity. The reasons for this are manifold and can be primarily pinned on market forces, inadequate regional infrastructures, production costs, the socio-economics of fish farming and the underlying philosophy upon which aquaculture development in Africa is still largely based. Nevertheless the future potential for the farming of Clarias gariepinus throughout its distributional range is immense.