Habitat Conservation and Resources Enchancement in Seagrass Beds in Sriboya Island, Krabi Province, Thailand

The project on 'Rehabilitation of Fisheries Resources and Habitat/Fishing Grounds through Resources Enhancement', has been undertaken by Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center/Training Department (SEAFDEC/TD) since 2010 to identify appropriate resource enhancement tools, develop strategies and guidelines for resources enhancement for various types of aquatic habitats, and support capacity building for the ASEAN Member States in the implementation of their respective resource enhancement programs. The activities pursued with local communities in sites selected as critical fishing grounds in marine habitats, included conservation and rehabilitation measures that had been conducted. A deteriorated seagrass bed area in Sriboya Island, Krabi Province, Thailand was selected as one of the pilot sites to mitigate the depleted stocks of a species of an edible sea snail, the dog conch (Strombus canarium) which is commonly harvested by fishers and local communities by hand and/or labor-saving equipment as motorized boats, dredges and diving with air pump supply. However, such massive collection methods of harvesting easily led to drastic degradation of the seagrass bed habitats as well as deterioration of the dog conch population. TD therefore promoted the conservation and optimum utilization of dog conch through public awareness activities. The workshops on Andaman Sea Province Dog Conch Shell Resource Management Measures on August 2013 and 2014 in Krabi Province, Thailand, which was participated in by local stakeholders in Krabi and nearby provinces, led to an agreement and subsequent implementation of several management schemes, such as restrictions on dog conch harvestable size (<6 cm) and types of fishing gear (dredges), as well as banning the use of motorized boats. Furthermore, several types of media that support awareness building, such as posters, stickers, brochures and banners were produced and distributed to several provinces along the Andaman Sea coast. Through such activities, permanent dog conch conservation areas were established by local fishing communities at Sriboya Island in Krabi Province, and Muk Island in Trang Province. Demarcation of conservation areas at Sarai Island in Satun Province and some other areas had been proposed and under consideration by their respective local fishing community

Quantitative Trait Locus Mapping of Growth‐related Traits in Inter‐specific F1 Hybrid Grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus x E. lanceolatus) in a Tropical Climate

Growth‐related traits are the main target of genetic breeding programmes in grouper aquaculture. We constructed genetic linkage maps for tiger grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus) and giant grouper (E. lanceolatus) using 399 simple sequence repeat markers and performed a quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis to identify the genomic regions responsible for growth‐related traits in F1 hybrid grouper (E. fuscoguttatus × E. lanceolatus). The tiger grouper (female) linkage map contained 330 markers assigned to 24 linkage groups (LGs) and spanned 1,202.0 cM. The giant grouper (male) linkage map contained 231 markers distributed in 24 LGs and spanned 953.7 cM. Six QTLs affecting growth‐related traits with 5% genome‐wide significance were detected on different LGs. Four QTLs were identified for total length and body weight on Efu_LG8, 10, 13 and 19 on the tiger grouper map, which explained 6.6%–12.0% of the phenotypic variance. An epistatic QTL with a reciprocal association was observed between Efu_LG8 and 10. Two QTLs were identified for body weight on Ela_LG3 and 10 on the giant grouper map, which explained 6.9% of the phenotypic variance. Two‐way analysis of variance indicated that the QTL on Efu_LG13 interacts with the QTLs on Ela_LG3 and 10 with large effects on body weight. Furthermore, these six QTLs showed different features among the winter, summer and rainy seasons, suggesting that environmental factors and fish age affected these QTLs. These findings will be useful to understand the genetic structure of growth and conduct genetic breeding in grouper species.This research was supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency/Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (JST/JICA, SATREPS)