PROCEEDINGS OF THE FAO WORLD SYMPOSIUM ON WARM-WATER POND FISH CULTURE C O N T E N T S

Rome, Italy, 18–25 May 1966

Edited by

T.V.R. Pillay
Chief, Fish Culture Section
Inland Fishery Branch

VOLUME I - REPORT

PREPARATION OF THIS REPORT

This volume contains the report of the Symposium prepared on the basis of the Summary Report distributed to the participants at the end of the meetings. The subsequent volumes of the Proceedings will contain the regional and country reports, and review, experience and working papers contributed to the Symposium. The three species synopses presented at the Symposium will be published in their definitive form in the FAO Fisheries Synopses Series.

The views expressed in the papers and reports are those of the contributors and participants and not necessarily of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Mr. Wm. A. Dill, Chief, Inland Fishery Branch, Department of Fisheries, FAO, helped in the editing of this report.

F O R E W O R D

A bas-relief from the tomb of Thebaine in Egypt shows tilapia being taken from an artificial pond some time before 2,000 B.C. Records of fish fry collection and transport in China date from 1,639 B.C., and what is assumed to be the first book on fish culture was published by Fan Li in 475 B.C. Clearly then, pond fish culture has been known to man for many centuries, and it is now practised, with varying degrees of sophistication and success, on every continent. The FAO World Symposium on Warm-water Pond Fish Culture was, however, the first gathering - in the more than 3,000 years of the history of fish culture - of workers in this field for discussion on a global basis. The Symposium was organized in response to a request by the Conference, the governing body of FAO, to convene such an international meeting; the request itself was based on repeated appeals from fishery workers of Member Nations of the Organization who felt the need to pool their resources of knowledge and experience for common benefit.

It was most opportune to hold the Symposium at this time, for there has been considerable rethinking of late of the exact role of fish culture in food production. There is a most pressing need in the developing countries to increase the supply of animal protein, and it is well known that fish is one of its best sources. However, there are certain difficulties in increasing the supply of fish from capture fisheries. Many of the most extensive inland fisheries for wild stocks have declined as a result of changed ecological conditions - particularly those brought about by the diversion of water from streams, drainage of swamps and overflow areas, erection of barriers to fish migration, and degradation of the aquatic environment by water pollution. In the face of such decline, fish culture, with its ability to carefully husband small supplies of water and to control the spawning, feeding and harvesting of a domestic stock, can well serve as replacement for a once abundant aquatic resource.

Furthermore, as was evidenced at the Symposium, intensive culture can produce yields of fish which, either on the basis of unit area of pond or unit of water flow, are far higher than those of any natural fishery. Nevertheless, and as was also noted at the Symposium, unwitting faith in the efficacy of pond culture may actually handicap its development. The tone of the Symposium was therefore set as one of rigorous appraisal of the present shortcomings of pond fish culture followed by vigorous development of all its potentialities.

As with several other fishery meetings convened by FAO, the Symposium was organized so that each basic topic was covered by review papers prepared on assignment by men knowledgeable in that field, and the unsolicited experience papers were required to relate to the major subjects discussed. The papers were distributed to participants in advance of the session and none were “read” verbatim. Throughout the meetings, emphasis was placed on full discussion and free exchange of ideas.

This first volume of the Proceedings describes in detail the background and organization of the Symposium, presents the opening addresses, discusses the results, and lists the recommendations. Subsequent volumes contain the presented papers.

It is hoped that their wide dissemination will aid in the development of a more complete science of warm-water pond fish culture - one which can do much to improve the economy of any country and alleviate the hunger and malnutrition of the developing ones.

FAO FISHERIES REPORTS

A series of reports of conferences, commissions, working parties, surveys and other activities of the FAO Department of Fisheries.

Reports issued since 1 January 1966

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Rome, April 1967

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C O N T E N T S

1   ORIGIN, OBJECTIVES AND ORGANIZATION

2   AGENDA

3   OPENING ADDRESS BY B.R. SEN, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, FAO OF THE UNITED NATIONS

4   CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS - THE FUTURE OF POND FISH CULTURE BY H.S. SWINGLE, AUBURN UNIVERSITY, AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, AUBURN, ALABAMA, U.S.A.

5   ADDRESS BY ROY I. JACKSON, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR-GENERAL (FISHERIES), FAO OF THE UNITED NATIONS

6   GENERAL RESULTS OF THE SYMPOSIUM

7   RECOMMENDATIONS

8   MEETING REPORTS

• REPORT OF MEETING I
  Progress of Fish Culture Development

• REPORT OF MEETING II
  Fertilization and Role of Soil in Fish Pond Productivity

• REPORT OF MEETING III
  Feeds and Feeding

• REPORT OF MEETING IV
  Breeding and Selection

• REPORT OF MEETING V
  Biological and Other Methods of Increasing Production

• REPORT OF MEETING VI
  Standardization of Research Techniques

• REPORT OF MEETING VII
  Weed Control

• REPORT OF MEETING VIII
  New Systems and New Fishes for Culture

• REPORT OF MEETING IX
  Diseases and Parasites

9   OFFICERS OF THE SYMPOSIUM

10   LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

11   LIST OF DOCUMENTS