http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12066/967 2026-04-05T18:26:01Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12066/975 Fish for the People Vol.13 No.3 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12066/974 Transforming a coral reef cove into mariculture hub: Igang marine station of SEAFDEC/AQD 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12066/973 Save our eels: Protection or extinction? Arai, Takaomi Freshwater eels of Genus Anguilla are important aquatic species not only because of their unique catadromous life history, i.e. after being hatched in marine habitats, the fish migrate to freshwater areas where they spend the majority of their lives growing and maturing after which the adult fish return to the sea to spawn, but also for their value as food resource. Populations of the European, American and Japanese eels are now considered to be beyond safe biological limits and are seriously threatened with extinction. For such reason, the European eel has recently been categorized as critically endangered by the European Union and the United Nations. The drastic decline in eel populations due to overfishing, has led to increasing demand for cultured eels. As with many other aquatic species, aquaculture of eels still completely depends on wild juveniles since artificial propagation of eels has not yet been successful. Therefore, commercial eel industries are now considering tropical eels as possible replacement for the European and Japanese eels to compensate for the declining stocks. However, useful scientific research and information on the biology and stock assessments of tropical eels are inadequate, a situation which is quite different from that for other temperate freshwater eels, which have been well studied for several decades with trends and recruitment patterns being on record. Nevertheless, the present tropical eel catch has been reported as being less than half that of 20 years ago. The present trends in eel stocks and utilization for human consumption suggest that eel populations will decline to numbers that fall outside safe biological limits and will be seriously threatened with extinction without protection and conservation with strict enforcement of local and international laws. These insights are discussed in the article, where most of the contents were cited and refereed from the latest review regarding the present status of the biology and stocks of freshwater eels by Arai (2014a). 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12066/972 Promoting co-management in inland fisheries: Experience of Lao PDR Phounsavath, Sommano Lao People's Democratic Republic, in short Lao PDR, is a mountainous land-locked country located in the Lower Mekong River Basin in Southeast Asia, and endowed with rich and abundant natural water resources as well as man-made water bodies. These inland water resources have great potentials for the development of capture fisheries and aquaculture if properly managed and developed in a sustainable manner. Of the country's land area of 236,800 km2, about 87.7% or 207,674 km2 drains into the Mekong River contributing about 35.0% of the Lower Mekong River's discharge, while another 12.3% in the north-eastern area drains to the north of Viet Nam into rivers that flow to the Gulf of Tonkin in South China Sea. Against the backdrop of such scenario, the Department of Livestock and Fisheries of Lao PDR with support from development partners started in early 1980s the promotion of communitybased fisheries management, and later on, fisheries comanagement for the different types of water bodies throughout the country, such as rivers, reservoirs, community ponds, and small-scale natural wetlands. The progress of such development is summarized in this article which is based on the paper presented by the author during the Experts Meeting on Cooperation on Fisheries, Aquatic Resources and Wetlands: 20-year Lessons Learnt organized by SEAFDEC in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in November 2014. 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z