CONCLUSIONS, REFERENCES

CONCLUSIONS

As a contributor to rural livelihoods, particularly those of coastal fishers, grouper aquaculture can generate potentially large financial benefits. The high-value of grouper on the export market ensures that farmers are able to generate a profit even when stocks suffer heavy mortalities.

Despite high initial investment costs, studies have shown that with appropriate support, even the poorest can benefit from grouper culture, with implications for both household well-being and community development. However, based on the information reviewed in this report, capture-based aquaculture may not be the best means to ensure a steady and sustainable supply of grouper for either the live or “non-live” fish trades. This is due to a number of problems including low availability of seed, destructive and wasteful seed collection techniques, removal of large numbers of early life history stages with subsequent impacts on adult populations and conflicts with capture fisheries, and pollution and disease resulting from culture operations.
The obvious solution to some of the problems of CBA is to develop closed-cycle hatchery rearing for all grouper species. Important advances in full-cycle culture have been made for several species, particularly in Taiwan Province of China, and full-cycle culture appears financially feasible given a large enough capital investment.

However, given the financial means of most grouper culturists, and the difficulty in rearing most grouper species, it remains unlikely that many of these species will be hatchery-reared in the near future. It is also likely that hatchery production would undermine the potential contribution of grouper culture in the livelihoods of the poor. Production would most likely be taken out of the hands of small-scale producers. An increase in production if hatchery fry is available would also lead to increased supply and a likely drop in value, and lower profits. The market value of grouper is driven by its relative rarity. On the other hand, poorer farmers would probably continue to fish for grouper fry as they cannot afford to buy fry, and wild capture makes grouper culture less risky and more accessible. In the meantime, steps must be taken to improve the management of both CBA and capture fisheries for grouper. Some countries, such as Palau, have taken strong measures to protect their reef fish populations, including the closure of spawning seasons and spawning aggregation sites, bans on the export of grouper and other vulnerable species, and even complete moratoria on fishing for species in an obvious state of decline (e.g. humphead wrasse, Cheilinus undulates, and bumphead parrotfish, Bolbometopon muricatum). This has effectively stopped the live reef fish trade in Palau. In addition, the government of Palau, in cooperation with the governments of the US and Japan, has developed viable full-cycle culture for at least one commercially important grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus), and experimentation continues with other species.
Similar to export bans on adult grouper fisheries, Sadovy (2001b) suggested that all export of grouper seed should be banned and that grouper should be cultured to market size within their own country. This would allow for more stringent management of grouper CBA, while reducing the transmission of disease via exported seed. Reduction or elimination of the more wasteful and destructive seed collection techniques (e.g. fyke nets and scissor nets) is another appropriate step. Lastly, both CBA and capture fisheries should promote the application of the precautionary principle and adopt the FAO international Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF).

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