Asia leads the world in terms of gross aquaculture production (quantity and value), producing the majority of the worlds cultured carps, shrimps and molluscs. China, India, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia are the world's top 5 aquaculture producers in terms of quantity, with a combined production of more than 80 % of the world's total.
Disease has a major impact on the production of aquaculture species in the region. Improved disease resistance would reduce production costs and have positive effects on the local environment and human health by reducing the use of antibiotics and other chemical treatments. However,
- effective and specific methods and technology are needed
- competence needs to be developed to apply such methods
- improved stock needs to be distributed effectively in order to achieve a large beneficial impact.
Nofima's project work in Asia is extending our knowledge and expertise to help improve the efficiency and sustainable development of aquaculture production in the region.
India
Nofima target diseases in Indian aquaculture from two angles: through vaccine development and through selective breeding. Major threats, such as White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) in shrimp and bacterial diseases in carp, cause very large production and economic losses every year.
By developing molecular methods to use in breeding programs for tiger shrimp and rohu carp, diseases can be effectively fought by selecting the genetically superior resistant individuals as parents for the following generations. The Indian and Norwegian scientists will also find solutions to assure that this benefit quickly flows on to production sites all over India.
In cooperation with a wide range of research institutions and industry partners in Norway and India, Nofima aims to identify and characterise antigenes in important disease-producing organisms (bacteria and viruses) in fish and shrimp and to develop effective preventive treatments for them. The project expects to supply new vaccine concepts for both the Norwegian and Indian aquaculture industries.
Philippines
In 1988, a project of huge impact called Genetic Improvement of Farmed Tilapia (GIFT) commenced in the Philippines, with Nofima (at the time Akvaforsk) as the lead research organisation. A major aim was to show that selective breeding could be efficient in tropical species, despite the lack of success that had been achieved up to then. GIFT was led by ICLARM (Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management) and funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Asian Development Bank.
Wild tilapia were gathered from Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and four local strains in the Philippines. Some of the main findings when the project ended in 1997 were:
- Great variation between the different stocks of Nile tilapia.
- 23 % of the variation in growth was due to genetic variance.
- An 85 % increase in growth rate after five generations of selection!
This work and its follow-up projects received three awards. Today, several commercial breeding programs are based on the GIFT stock.
Vietnam
Nofima has had a long cooperation with Vietnamese partners. Projects in collaboration with RIA 1 (Research Institute for Aquaculture No.1) have aimed to improve the tolerance of GIFT tilapia to low temperatures and improve growth rates through selective breeding. Initial results revealed significant variation in tolerance to low temperatures, and achieved a 9% increase in growth per generation after six generations of selection at low temperatures. The stock of Nile tilapia has formed the basis for corresponding projects in China, Nicaragua and commercial farming in Mexico.
