Report on a Regional Study and Workshop on the Environmental Assessment and Management of Aquaculture Development
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Report on a Regional Study and Workshop on the Environmental Assessment and Management of Aquaculture Development |
(TCP/RAS/2253)
The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, or the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific, concerning the legal status of any country, teritory, city or area of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
This volume contains the study report and proceedings of the Regional Workshop on the Environmental Assessment and Management of Aquaculture Development, which was held in Bangkok, Thailand from 21 to 26 February 1994. The Workshop was held under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Which provided financial support through their Technical Co-operation Programme (TCP/RAS/2253), and the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA), which provided financial assistance and implemented the project. The government representatives who submitted country reports spoke as official representatives of their respective governments. The views contained in this publication do not necessarily represent those of FAO or NACA.
Reference: FAO/NACA (1995). Regional Study and Workshop on the Environmental Assessment and Management of Aquaculture Development (TCP/RAS/2253). NACA Environment and Aquaculture Development Series No. 1. Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand.
It is a pleasure for me to bring to the attention of governments, non-government organisations, international and regional agencies, farmers and farmer-support groups, the results of this Regional Study and Workshop on the Environmental Assessment and Management of Aquaculture Development. The one-year study provides an assessment of the environmental problems affecting aquaculture in the Asian-region, including those created by aquaculture operations on the surrounding environment. It recommends a set of actions - addressed to governments, farmers and farmers support groups, and regional and international organisations, institutions and agencies - to combat the environmental constraints to sustainable aquaculture development in the region. Seventeen countries and territories co-operated in the study. The conclusions and recommendations were distilled in a well-attended regional workshop in which 30 government officers, from 16 countries in the region, participated. Forty representatives of national, regional and international organisations and the private sector, also attended.
Three sets of information comprised the input to the workshop: (i) the detailed country study reports of the National Environment Co-ordinators, which included case studies that illustrated the interactions between aquaculture and the environment; (ii) the regional analysis made by the Project Team composed of a socio-economist, an environmental management specialist and a legal expert; and (iii) technical reviews, presented by invited specialists, related to farm management, socio-economics, aquaculture law, coastal resources management, inland fisheries, public health aspects of aquaculture and conservation of biodiversity. This information was presented to the workshop for discussion and potential methods for managing environmental impacts were identified. Steps which should be taken to introduce these methods were then recommended to farmers, governments and international organisations.
NACA is grateful for the collaborative assistance of FAO in this study, which is one of a variety of projects under NACA's holistic Regional Programme on Environment and Aquaculture Development. The programme now includes regional and national activities. This particular study was intended to provide the catalytic force to generate and analyse the baseline information required by NACA to meet the needs of governments in developing (and operating) sustainable aquaculture industries. Previous regional projects (including research on Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome under the NACA Project, the UNDP/FAO Seafarming Development Project and the NACA-ADB Regional Study and Workshop on Fish Disease and Fish Health Management) revealed a scenario of growing environment-linked disease problems, product contamination, environmental impacts on aquaculture farms and vice versa, and conflicts between farmers and other common resource users, which have caused severe economic losses to aquaculture.
The picture that emerged from these various activities prompted the NACA Governing Council, in 1991, to request FAO for urgent support (through its Technical Co-operation Programme) to carry out an assessment of the environmental problems threatening aquaculture in the region. This request was in recognition of the support and collaboration of FAO with the Asian governments in establishing the NACA Organisation in 1990, as an effective regional mechanism for aquaculture development.
As this publication goes to print, governments have already initiated activities in line with some of the workshop recommendations. NACA, with the collaboration of concerned organisations, has also formulated projects to tackle important aspects of the problems identified by the study and is continuing to strengthen its support of regional and national activities in aquaculture and the environment.
The immediate, and subsequent, follow-up efforts constitute both an expression of gratitude and an assurance by the NACA organisation that results from collaborative activities will be translated into sustained aquaculture development.
Dr Banchong Tiensongrusmee
NACA Co-ordinator
Food and Agriculture Organization (of the United Nations)
Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific
Bangkok, Thailand
April 1995
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Part I Workshop background and organisation
Part III Technical presentations, working group sessions and general discussions
Part IV Recommendations for follow-up action
Annex I-1 List of participants
Annex I-2 Speech - Dr Banchong Tiensongrusmee
Annex I-3 Keynote address - Dr Plodprasop Suraswadi
Annex I-4 Workshop programme
Annex II-1 Bangladesh
Annex II-2 Cambodia
Annex II-3 Peoples Republic of China
Annex II-4 Hong Kong
Annex II-5 India
Annex II-6 Indonesia
Annex II-7 Iran
Annex II-8 Korea (Republic of)
Annex II-9 Lao (PDR)
Annex II-10 Malaysia
Annex II-11 Myanmar
Annex II-12 Nepal
Annex II-13 Pakistan
Annex II-14 Philippines
Annex II-15 Sri Lanka
Annex II-16 Thailand
Annex II-17 Vietnam
Annex III Workshop presentations
Annex III-1 Environmental aspects: regional overview
Annex III-2 Coastal zone management
Annex III-3 Public health aspects of aquaculture development
Annex III-4 Environmental assessment and management of aquaculture development: An industry perspective
Annex III-5 Culture-based fisheries in inland water bodies
Annex III-6 Fundamental techniques of environmental law and aquaculture law
Annex III-7 The essentials of aquaculture regulation
Annex III-8 Environmental management of aquaculture: issues seen from the persepective of an economist
Annex III-9 Economics of planning for multiple coastal and marine resource use
Annex III-10 Working group reports: environmental management options.