ATTI DEL XV CONVEGNO NAZIONALE SIPI Società Italiana di ...

Abstract Workshop
LEGISLATION AND HEALTH MANAGEMENT AQUACULTURE IN ISRAEL
Angelo COLORNI
National Center for Mariculture of the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research,
Eilat, Israel. Head of the Pathobiology Department.
There is no single aquaculture statute governing fish farming in Israel. However, general
regulations, standards, codes of practice and policies aimed at minimizing pollution of
rivers, lakes, reservoirs, aquifers, and the sea - under the jurisdiction of the Israeli Ministry
for Environmental Protection - all apply. Fish farmers frequently apply to the Fishery
Department of the Ministry of Agriculture for permission to introduce new species or
genetically improved species, to increase production, satisfy market demand and generate
export options. A special Introduction Committee (under the patronage of the Dept. of
Fisheries & Aquaculture – Min. Agriculture) issues the permit for a particular introduction
or vetoes it whenever there is concern that the species in question may adversely affect
local ecosystems (Lake Kinneret and the Gulf of Eilat in particular).
Predation, competition, genetic impoverishment and disease are the parameters considered
for ecological impact.
The aquaculture industry in Israel is highly developed (20,000 tons of fish - approximately
one third of the fish consumed in the country - are produced annually in ponds and
reservoirs over a total area of 3000 hectares) and is based almost entirely on science-linked
technologies. A two-way flow of information between researchers and farmers exists, with
Government agencies, academic institutions, industry and cooperative bodies working
together to seek solutions and meet new challenges. Through a network of extension
services, problems in the field are brought directly to the researchers for solutions, and
scientific results are quickly transmitted to the field for trial adaptation and
implementation. Diaminostilbene derivatives, used as fluorescent whitening agents in the
textile industry, were found to be therapeutically effective and environment-friendly in the
control of Saprolegnia, an opportunistic saprotrophic aquatic mold and a constant concern
in freshwater ponds in the north of the country during winter, while Prymnesium parvum,
an ichthyotoxic flagellated microalga that recently re-appeared in Israel in closed
circulation systems in the south, is controlled by ammonium sulfate.
Despite the strong support received by the Government, after an expansion peak in the
1970s fish farming sharply declined as a consequence of the chronic shortage of fresh
water in the country. In addition, following a decade-long controversy, the Government
ruled to discontinue fish farming in the Red Sea near the southern city of Eilat by 2008
because it was deemed damaging to nearby coral reefs. Attempts are being made to
compensate for this situation by developing technologically advanced, storm-resistant
submersible cages in the Mediterranean Sea, expanding brackish water aquaculture,
investigating the suitability of geothermal water to aquaculture, encouraging the practice of
polyculture, and employing closed systems of recirculated water.
The Government decision not to allow sea-cage farming in the Red Sea has led to intensive
R&D of inland recirculation and integrated marine systems. The margins of flexibility in
these systems are extremely narrow and the consequence of errors is usually catastrophic.
Disease control also becomes problematic. Two parasitoses, sustained by Amyloodinium
ocellatum, a dinoflagellate protophyton highly adapted to parasitism, and Cryptocaryon
irritans, a ciliate protozoan found in marine fishes in tropical, subtropical and temperate
seas, appear to be the main hazard to fish health in these systems.
Fish farming in the desert may at first sound like an anomaly, but the belief that arid land is
unproductive and non-fertile is wrong: throughout the arid Negev and Arava regions,
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