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Requirements For Live Reef Food Fish Aquaculture

The document uses the aquaculture definition used by FAO for statistical purposes, ie

"Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Farming implies some sort of intervention in the rearing process to enhance production, such as regular stocking, feeding, protection from predators, etc. Farming also implies individual or corporate ownership of the stock being cultivated. For statistical purposes, aquatic organisms which are harvested by an individual or corporate body which has owned them throughout their rearing period contribute to aquaculture while aquatic organisms which are exploitable by the public as a common property resource, with or without appropriate licences, are the harvest of fisheries."

The demand for, and value of, live reef fish for food, particularly groupers, has grown markedly in the last two decades in parts of Southeast Asia. The growing trade in live reef food fish has raised a number of environmental and social concerns including: overfishing of target species; the use of destructive fishing practices, especially cyanide, that threaten habitats on which reef-associated species live and the health and well-being of coastal communities dependent on fishing for food and livelihood. There is a need to develop alternative sources of grouper to take pressure off wild stocks, especially the capture of juveniles and reproductively immature fish for growout.

These requirements recognise that coastal aquaculture has brought significant economic and employment benefits to both national economies and coastal people throughout the world but also the need to observe and respect the long-term interests of people dependent on fishing for food and livelihood. The requirements also recognises the importance of aquaculture operations being conducted in a manner consistent with established local, national, and international rules and standards as well as in compliance with the Standard.

This section addresses the requirements for the aquaculture of live reef food fish and is divided into two (2) parts.

Part 1: Management Requirements recognise the link between management of wild-caught fisheries and aquaculture and the need to examine current mariculture practices in terms of capture of juveniles and production, trade and utilization of grouper seed for use in mariculture grow-out

Part 2: Operational Requirements addresses the operational behaviour of the aquaculture participants (hatcheries, nurseries, grow-out farms) in terms capture and post-capture handling, feed supply management, fish health management and chemical and drug use. It also addresses the potential for aquaculture farms, if poorly managed to be both susceptible to a cause of pollution or the spread of disease. These requirements promote efforts to improve site selection and waste control and effluent management and food quality and safety.