Current status of farming practices of striped catfish, Pangasianodon hypophthalmus in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Sustainable farming practices of the Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) around Hongze Lake, lower Yangtze River Basin, China

“…Therefore, mitten crab farms around Hongze Lake can be categorized as smallholdings that are clustered together in an area conducive for farming. These observations are in accordance with most other aquatic animal farming sectors in Asia, such as for example shrimp farming in Southeast Asia (Kongkeo 1997), the giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii De Man) farming in Bangladesh (Wahab et al 2012), and striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) farming in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam (Phan et al 2009;De Silva and Phuong 2011).…”

“…The rest of the farms purchased one-year-old crablets from culture operations in the coastal area for growing out. Here again, the trend reflects those of other farming systems in Asia such as striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) farming in the Mekong Delta where the grow-out, nursery and hatchery sectors are often operated as different entities (Phan et al 2009;Bui et al 2010). …”

“…Ackefors and Enell 1994;Guo and Li 2003;Phan et al 2009;De Silva et al 2010). In general, four major methods were adopted to regulate water quality in mitten crab grow-out ponds, including regular water exchange and maintenance of macrophyte(s) that all the farms adopted, application of photosynthetic bacteria (PSB) (44 % of farms) and addition of quicklime (63 % of farms).…”

“…6) In general, however, it should be noted that the FCR for mitten crab, irrespective of the feed type used was considerably higher (therefore, poorer rate of food conversion) than those recorded for finfish farming practices (Lemarié et al 1998;Gross et al 2000;Yi et al 2003;Phan et al 2009;Bunlipatanon et al 2014), and or for shrimp farming practices around the world (Hopkins et al 1993;Briggs and Funge-Smith, 1994;Thakur and Lin, 2003;Sahu et al 2013). It is therefore evident that considerable improvements have to be brought about in commonly used feeds and feed management in mitten crab culture.…”

Farming system transformation yields significant reduction in nutrient loading: Case study of Hongze Lake, Yangtze River Basin, China

“…Nevertheless, this issue of trash fish versus pellet feed in aquaculture practices remains controversial and unresolved at best. In this context it has been suggested that refinement of feed formulations combined with improved feeding strategies may improve the feed conversion rate in mitten crab farming systems and thereby reduce the nutrient loading further as had been demonstrated for other farmed species (Phan et al, 2009;De Silva et al, 2010).…”