Freshwater fish nursing venture started with Thach Son FA in Loc Dien

In response to the request from Thach Son FA of Loc Dien Commune, IMOLA has been supporting the establishment of freshwater fish nursing venture at the FA since May 2009. The venture is intended to create a new income source for FA operation and administration and to provide a cheaper, good quailty fish fingerlings to the FA members. By providing a sustainale fund source for FA for lagoon management activities, which has been qutie limited to date, and generate practical benefit to the FA members (thus attracting more members), IMOLA expect to strengthen the role and function of the FA in lagoon management.

In preparation for this venture, a training workshop on freshwater fish nursing was orgnized on 12 June 2009 to transfer the technical knowledge and experinece. IMOLA aquaculture specialist has been supporting the entire process of pond selection, training, pond preparation, water quality testing, and fry checking with the farmers before stocking to prepare this venture. 3 ponds were selected jointly by IMOLA and the FA for this venture with the strong commitment from the farmers.

On 3 July, 2 ponds were finally stocked with grass carp fries provided by IMOLA (one more pond to come). The Project also supported a part of the feed, water testing kits, and harvesting nets, which were requited to initiate the nursing venture, while FA members were contributing their labor and some funds. The FA is expected to run this venture continuously from the second cycle relying solely on the income from this initial cycle of production. IMOLA is currently providing a weekly monitoring and extension service to the FA to check the nursing process periodically with the FA farmers.

After several months of operation, the produced fish fingerlings will be sold to the FA members cheaper than the market price. The FA and the farmers also agreed that the net profit of this venture will be divided by 40:60 for FA fund and the culture farmers.