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The Herald, August 31, 1981
VENICE, the city of myriad waterways, is an appropriate venue for this year’s World Aquaculture Conference, to be held next month.
Scientist, engineers, industrialists, economics, fish-farmers and even politicians will meet to thrash out the problems, display the successes, and weld the salient points of the mix into a guideline of recommendations for those involved in “the art”.
What in fact is this “art” which seems of sufficient importance today to warrant world conference?
Aquaculture is rapidly growing from an ancient practice into a sophisticated industry, in which oysters, mussels, clams, cockles, prawns, lobsters, eels, catfish, trout, salmon, sea-fishes, warm-water fishes and even frogs, mud-skippers, snails, seaweed, algae and turtles are all cultured artificially, somewhere or other in the world.
The list is unlikely to stop here either. The annual crop grew from one million tonnes in 1966/67 to six million tonnes in 1975 and will reach an estimated 20 million tonnes or more by 2000.
Most aquaculture products are for eating, but products also include sport fish, re-stocking fish, bait, pearls, ornamental fish, cultivation of seaweeds for chemical and fertilisers.
One reason for this revolution is that the world’s “wild” harvest of aquatic products, principally from the oceans, is climbing towards maximum yield, presently about 70 million tonnes annually, and future production must increasingly come from aquaculture sources.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
According to experts, aquaculture today is very broadly split into two groups, the commercially oriented mainly western type, producing essentially luxury type of products; and, the more traditional fish-farmers, growing subsistence or low-priced fish.
The growth of aquaculture stems from greatly increased research activity in systems technology, water purification, nutrition, induced breeding.
The Government of Zimbabwe has since added the fisheries component in the Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement ministry.
Online Reporter