Aquaculture in the Middle East and North Africa : status and research needs

335 Pages·2012·13.99 MB·English

by  Azad Ismail Saheb

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

A
QUACULTURE IN THE
M E N A
IDDLE AST AND ORTH FRICA

STATUS AND RESEARCH NEEDS

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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

A
QUACULTURE IN THE
M E N A
IDDLE AST AND ORTH FRICA

STATUS AND RESEARCH NEEDS

AZAD ISMAIL SAHEB
AND
SALAM AL-ABLANI
EDITORS

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Aquaculture in the Middle East and North Africa : status and research needs
editors, Azad Ismail Saheb and Salam Al-Ablani.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-62081-718-6 (eBook)
1. Aquaculture--Research--Middle East. 2. Aquaculture--Research--Africa,
North. I. Saheb, Azad Ismail. II. Al-Ablani, Salam.
SH125.A354A78 2011
639.8072--dc22
2011005657

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. † New York
CONTENTS

Preface vii 
Chapter 1 Fish Diseases in Israeli Mariculture:
New Research Challenges 1 
Angelo Colorni and Arik Diamant 
Chapter 2 Parasitic Protozoans – Increasing Menace in Mariculture
Facilities and Marine Aquarium in Kuwait 11 
I. S. Azad and Ahmed Al-Marzouk 
Chapter 3 Status of Aquaculture Health Management
in the Islamic Republic of Iran 19 
Mehdi Soltani 
Chapter 4 Diseases in Wild and Cultured Fish in Turkey 31 
Ercument Genc  
Chapter 5 Principle Fish Pathogens in Tunisian Aquaculture 41 
Cherif Nadia and Hammami Salah  
Chapter 6 Breeding the Silver Pomfret, Pampus Argenteus (Euphrasen),
for Aquaculture: Achievements and Challenges 49 
Sulaiman M. Almatar and Charles M. James 
Chapter 7 Some Metocean Aspects for the Selection of Suitable
Mariculture Sites in the Arabian Gulf 87 
S. Neelamani 
Chapter 8 Industry Perspective of Aquaculture in the Middle East –
Status and Issues 103 
C. Regunathan 
Chapter 9 Aquaculture in Israel: Current Status and
Innovative Approaches 155 
W. M. Koven, S. Harpaz, J. Van Rijn and N. Mozes
vi Contents
Chapter 10 Aquaculture Status and Needs in the Islamic
Republic of Iran 191 
Mehdi Soltani 
Chapter 11 Review of Moroccan Aquaculture 209 
Abdellatif Orbi, Hassan Nhhala and Mohamed Id Halla 
Chapter 12 Aquaculture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia:
Growth, Prospects and Problems 257 
Feisal Bukhari 
Chapter 13 Aquaculture in Turkey – Status and Needs 275 
Hayri Deniz 
Index 319
PREFACE

World population at present stands at approximately 7 billion and is expected to cross the
9 billion mark by the middle of this century. Though, food for the growing population is
believed to be adequately produced the quality of food remains a question. Food quality
depends on the quality of protein, and the aquatic food, especially the fish, has to be ensured
to improve the quality of living. The harvest from the seas and fishable waters has been on the
decline. Aquaculture, whether through traditional practices or through high technology
industries, has provided practical and economically feasible solutions to rescue the declining
wild catches of food fish . Currently, the aquaculture industry contributes to over 50% of the
fish landed in the market on a global scale. Interestingly, Asia holds the lion’s share by
contributing more than 77% of the world fish production. However, contribution to
aquaculture by the Middle East and North Africa, popularly known as the MENA region, is
not so encouraging as only five countries; Egypt, Iran, Israel, Nigeria and Iraq and Turkey
have a traditional inclination to aquaculture. The remaining countries in the MENA contribute
to less than 1% of the world aquaculture production. Research in the field of aquaculture has
been a traditional strong hold in Israel, Kuwait, Iran, Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.
The challenges in the path of developing aquaculture as a food production sector have to be
addressed by the experts in the region. An account of aquaculture status and research needs in
the Middle East and North Africa is presented here with several renowned aquaculture
experts of the region contributing either detailed chapters, or expert commentaries on
aquaculture health.
Expert commentaries in this book are devoted to a special topic of aquaculture health,
thus emphasizing the importance of health of cultured aquatic species in an intensive
congregated holding facility.
Israel is one of the countries in the region with considerable aquaculture
accomplishments both in the productivity and research related fields. Aquaculture of the gilt-
head seabream, Sparus aurata, European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), the white grouper
(Epinephelus aeneus), the grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) and the bluefin tuna (Thunnus
thynnus) during the last 30 years has contributed significantly to the progress achieved by
Israel in this sector. Diseases have been seen as the stumbling blocks in the path of
aquaculture and recent efforts have been aimed at obtaining the best protection for farmed
fish and shellfish. This expert commentary gives an account of the disease condition and
related interventions carried out in Israel.
The commentary on ciliated protozoans in mariculture and aquarium facilities in Kuwait
gives an over view of the increasing menace caused by this important group of parasites
viii Preface
which is assuming an alarming proportions in aquarium facilities. A special mention is made
in the commentary of the silver pomfret (Pampus argenteus) as a new host for the
scuticociliate, Uornema spp. Also, various host manifestations in the case of some of the
important protozoan infections and future directions in the field of health management
research are discussed.
Iran is one of the important countries in the Middle East with considerable tradition of
aquaculture and contribution to aquaculture in the MENA region. The expert commentary
discusses aspects of health management of important aquaculture species in Iran which covers
freshwater and marine fish and shellfish species. Poor environmental conditions,
inappropriate health management strategies and outbreaks by some devastating infectious
diseases such as WSD, IHN, IPN and streptococcosis are the major constraints that cause
severe losses each year. Although both veterinary and fishery organizations approved some
rules and legislations to improve health management criteria, there is a risk of exotic and
economically important diseases that can be imported through the importation of eyed-eggs,
larvae, brood stock and ornamental species into the country. However, some viral diseases
including IHN, IPN and WSD have become a part of the endemic disease spectrum in the
aquaculture sector.
Followed by, is the commentary on aquaculture health in Turkey. Contribution by Turkey
to the global aquaculture production and to that of the MENA region is note worthy. Cage
culture of important sea fishes has flourished in Turkey in the recent past. Out of a current
production of 780, 000 tonnes about a fifth comes from aquaculture. Currently, many
researchers focus their efforts on new trends in fish health. One of them is eco-parasitology
which discusses the recently described phenomenon of conspicuous metal accumulation by
parasites and how this might be applied to environmental monitoring. They also suggest how
environmental science and parasitology might profit from each other in the near future.
The commentary on the health aspects in Tunisian aquaculture explains the recent
problems faced by the sector in that country. This chapter takes note of the problems
encountered by the Tunisian aquaculture sector due to the rapid extension of the rearing
activity in some Tunisian regions, particularly in the field of pathology. This specialized
database specifically describes some of the viral, bacterial and parasitic disease-related
information and focuses on the available data of these pathogens which have either
devastating effects on fish production in terms of high mortalities or reduction in growth of
farmed fish. Focusing on studies related to improving diagnostic technique, the record
provided the opportunity to have comprehensive information on the isolated and identified
microorganisms.
Eight full-length chapters were contributed by experts from different countries in the
MENA region. Each of these chapters provides valuable information on the status and
challenges faced by the aquaculture sector in the region.
The first chapter deals with the fast depleting wild fish species, silver pomfret (Pampus
argenteus), and gives full details of the successful attempt of captive breeding and larval
rearing of the species. The Mariculture and Fisheries Department of Kuwait Institute for
Scientific Research (KISR) provided a significant break-through in breeding and larval
rearing of the very valued and fancied fish species not only in the region but also a widely
liked species in the Asian countries. KISR succeeded, for the first time in 1998, in the larval
rearing and grow-out culture of silver pomfret based on eggs collected from the wild. The egg
collection trips from the wild enabled to study extensively the spawning frequency, fecundity,
Preface ix
type of spawning and availability of gravid fish in Kuwait waters. Over the years research has
focused on refinements in hatchery larval rearing and grow-out production.
Aquaculture site selection for marine fish farming is a challenging task. The chapter on
“Some metocean aspects of site selection for cage culture in the Arabian Gulf” gives a newer
dimension to the array topics selected for this book. The site selection is based on many
aspects like the waves, climate, current intensity, tidal variation, quality of marine water,
possibility for better flushing of the ambient water, water temperature and salinity, influence
of the discharges from power stations, desalination and municipal wastes, ease of accessibility
of the aquaculture cage site, ease and availability of suitable manpower, machines, materials,
electric power etc. Developments of Mariculture in the Arabian Gulf may reduce the
dependency on the imports of fish varieties. Mariculture must be economically feasible,
efficient and pollution free. Thus, it is essential to select suitable sites from the view of
different influencing environmental aspects.
Information on aquaculture in the perspective of private entrepreneurs is lacking. This
chapter on the status of aquaculture in the Gulf region on a private sector perspective desribes
the aspects that a private sector looks at when it come to commercialization of aquaculture
technologies The chapter deals with various aspects of financial supports, research back-up,
interests of the private sector to take up aquaculture as a business venture etc., in the light of
information on the policies and the regulations governing the activities in different countries.
In Israel the aquaculture production technologies and the extensive research outputs have
contributed tremendously to the rapid growth of aquaculture not only in the freshwater but
also in the marine sectors. This chapter brings out an array of information on various aspects
of aquaculture in Israel and discusses the problems. In Israel, water and land scarcity as well
as potential environmental damage associated with the marine fish cage culture have been the
driving forces behind the development of recirculation systems. A low-head recirculation
concept was developed to produce the Mega-Flow system. This approach is based on
providing water circulation and water aeration by means of airlifts.
Iran has long been one of the traditionally aquaculture-oriented countries in the Middle
East, where it has made tremendous progress in the field of aquaculture in the last 2-3
decades. Artificial propagation of sturgeon (Acipenseridae) fingerlings for restocking the
Caspian Sea, aquaculture of species such as Rutilus frisii kutum, Caspian trout (Salmo trutta
caspius), bream (Abramis brama), pike-perch (Stizostedion lucioperca), rainbow trout
(Oncorhynchus mykiss) and four cyprinids species for restocking other suitable inland water
bodies by the Iranian Fishery Organization (Shilat) were the major Fishery and aquaculture
related developments. This chapter explains the recent trends and research developments in
the field.
Morocco is one of the few countries in North Africa that has forged ahead in the
aquaculture sector. Freshwater aquaculture in Morocco started in 1924 through restocking of
hatchery-produced juveniles of ecologically and socio-economically valued fishes. After the
90's, the private sector, with the support of the HCEFLCD, exhibited limited aquaculture
investment in small areas. Marine aquaculture began in Morocco in the 50's and oyster
farming was the first marine aquaculture activity. There after the country has witnessed
several revolutionary changes in the field of aquaculture. The chapter on Aquaculture in
Morocco deals with various facets of aquaculture development in the country and the
challenges faced by the production and research wings.