SBR- Content.pmd - INBO

7 - Fisheriesculture, rice-fish and other integrated fish/livestock/vegetable culture techniques using variousexotic and indigenous species. Although pond and rice-fish culture makes a limited contributionto total production, small-scale farming provides an important opportunity for poor householdsto improve nutrition and to generate cash income in fish-deficient areas farther from the TonleSap and other major rivers.3.1.4 Lao PDRFish culture in ponds and rice fields is widely practised in Lao PDR, and a variety of systems areused, depending on the agro-climatic characteristics of the area. The attraction of aquaculture torural farmers is most obvious in locations where capture fisheries are inaccessible or requireexcessive effort for a limited catch. There is a small amount of cage culture in reservoirs andrivers, but this system presently makes only a small contribution to national production. Mostponds are hand constructed and shallow, with water depths of less than 50 cm. Low productivityfigures for aquaculture ponds reflect the limited amount of inputs applied, limited stocking offish seed and a short grow-out season. A diverse number of species are cultured, including exoticcarps and indigenous fish.3.2 Factors impacting the sector3.2.1 Availability of seedThe availability of good quality and healthy fishfingerlings is a pre-requisite for the developmentof aquaculture. The supply of seed foraquaculture has increased substantially in thepast 10 years, especially in Thailand andVietnam, where significant hatchery and nurserydevelopment has occurred, involving both thegovernment and private sector. In Cambodia andLao PDR, many ponds are not regularly stocked,one of the reasons being the lack of access oravailability of fish fingerlings, although withincreasing numbers of farmers and infrastructure,the market incentives and supply of seed willincrease. The widespread adoption of the ‘hapa’technology within the basin (the nursing of fryto large fingerling size in small net cages), hascontributed to the availability of largerfingerlings that are less vulnerable to predatorswhen stocked in ponds.There are an estimated 5,000 fish cageoperations in the delta in Viet NamAt least two billion fingerlings are used forproducing around 250,000 tonnes of aquacultureproduct within the basin. 141 For aquaculture togrow, a significant expansion in hatchery andFingerling fish ready for stockingnursing capacity will be required. Thedevelopment of local small-scale hatcheries, “hapa’’ nursing, nursing and trading networks, and onfarmbreeding has proved to be a catalyst for rural, small-scale aquaculture development. Furtherdevelopment of “hapa” nursing and nursing networks will therefore be essential to support123