Marine Aquaculture Development in Egypt
Italian Egyptian Debt SWAP Program
Technical Report
Marine Aquaculture Development in Egypt
Best Management Practice for Cage Farming
May15.2012, Alexandria, Egypt.
Introduction
Pond Aquaculture and Environment
Ponds are by far the most common production system used in Egypt aquaculture. From the standpoint of aquatic animal production, ponds can be operationally defined as confined bodies of standing water that are managed to produce a crop of the target aquatic organism. Ponds are usually envisioned as being constructed entirely of soil, but that is not a necessary part of the definition. Some ponds, for example, may be lined with plastic to reduce seepage.
With respect to possible environmental effects of pond aquaculture, ponds can be functionally defined as aquatic systems where, by virtue of long hydraulic residence times, suitable water quality for animal production is primarily controlled by natural physical, chemical, and biological processes. In contrast, suitable water quality is maintained by water exchange in flow-through and net-pen systems.
This is an important distinction because it suggests that effluent volume from most ponds is relatively low and that much of the waste loading to the system is removed before water is discharged.
Most pond culture systems discharge water intermittently (only after heavy rains or when ponds are drained) and effluent quality varies widely over time and among individual ponds. When discharge occurs, the volume may be relatively large for a brief period. This is a difficult engineering problem because the system must be designed to rapidly treat a large volume of dilute wastewater. The intermittent nature of pond effluent discharge also makes it extremely difficult to assess the performance of waste treatment technology by simply monitoring waste concentration.
Overall, adoption of management practices that minimize environmental impacts will be a more effective mean to implement environmental management for the pond aquaculture than monitoring and post-discharge treatment. These practices, taken as a whole, will optimize mass discharge by reducing effluent volume or by improving nutrient utilization within ponds.
Certain environmental management practices may also have collateral economic benefits by improving operational efficiency. For example, improving feeding practices will reduce waste loading to ponds, thereby improving water quality, and will increase the efficiency of feed utilization, thereby improving economic performance.
This document provides a list of options that can be used to improve the performance of pond aquaculture.
The diversity of species and culture methods employed in pond aquaculture makes the development of generic management practices particularly challenging.
Contents
1 - Introduction
2 - Site Selection
3 - Water Quality
4 - Buying Fingerlings
5 - Feed Management
6 - Management of Escapees
7 - Mortality Removal and Disposal
8 - Facility Operation and Maintenance
9 - Harvesting
10 - Fish Storage
11 - Traceability
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