AQUACULTURE DEPENDENCE ON THE WILD FISH SEED

Over the last 15 years there has been a marked decrease in dependence on wild seed of major carp for aquaculture due to increasing capacity for producing spawn at private and government hatcheries in Bangladesh (see Figure 4). In 1965, induced spawning of major carps was first successfully demonstrated at the Freshwater Fisheries Research Center (FFRC) and in the early 1980s commercial hatchery production of carp fry was initiated at the FFRC. Since then, a rapid proliferation of hatchery spawn production has occurred in both the public and private sectors.

The Fish Seed Multiplication Farms (FSMFs) of the DoF (Department of Fisheries), and some fisheries research and training centers of the DoF, also established large hatcheries in the 1980s and started mass production of major carp spawn, and that of various exotic carps. The successful operations of the government hatcheries created a large market for the induced spawn, and a growing demand for hatchery-produced spawn. The availability of quality spawn for selected species positively impacted the rapid expansion of pond aquaculture all over the country.
However, the growth of the aquaculture industry was so rapid that the government hatcheries could not meet demand, and space was created for the growth of private sector hatcheries. Private entrepreneurs developed innovations in hatchery systems, in their design (e.g. circular, funnel or bottle-type incubators), as well as in the techniques for broodstock and nursery rearing. The BFRSS data shows that in 1985 there were only 69 private hatcheries that collectively produced 3 952 kilograms of carp spawn with an average production of 57 kilograms per hatchery. By 2005, the number of private hatcheries had increased to 731 (Table 5) and they produced 315 892 kilograms of carp spawn, which comprised over 98 percent of the total annual carp spawn production of Bangladesh.