TILAPIA: BOTH FISH AND FOWL?

Tilapia aquaculture production is now around one million tonnes and is widely tipped to become an even bigger player in the international arena. This paper considers the case for such claims by reviewing the production environment, costs, the key characteristics of the product and its marketing with particular reference to the emergent EU markets and the increasingly established North American market. It is concluded that tilapia has quite distinct comparative advantages, not least being its diverse production scenarios, low cost, and product attributes which are commonly sought by consumers. Coupled with potentially green marketing attributes, it is concluded that this species is likely to appear in a broadening product range including more added value products.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Seafood Certification and Ecolabelling: A New Wrapping on Fisheries Resource Management?

With heightened media attention on the poor state of world fish stocks and the environmental impacts of aquaculture production methods, both governments and seafood industries are keen to demonstrate support for improved management measures. This paper includes results from a DFID funded project concerned with seafood certification, ecolabelling and developing economies. The focus is upon the potential implications of the shift in management power throughout the seafood value chain and the increased reliance upon market-based measures to encourage sustainable production. Certification of fishing and aquaculture operations gives consumers a cue to help distinguish between products on criteria such as sustainability, welfare, health and safety etc. The increased prevalence of certification schemes internationally can be seen as a shift in power, and potentially responsibility, from governments to consumers. It is suggested that this drift may widen as the traditional national regulators lose the power to determine international certification criteria and the public uses purchasing power to determine how their food is produced. Whilst there may be proclaimed benefits of certification and ecolabelling, the paper suggests there could also be adverse consequences for the future development of aquatic food sectors. The advent of certification as a prerequisite for international markets can impose costs, particularly in developing countries without corresponding benefits for all others along the value chain. Mixed fisheries and transboundary stocks present particular challenges to certification, whilst also being more demanding of conventional resource management measures. New species, and those new to markets, where consumers have yet to accurately signal their emergent value may encourage less stringent management measures. Improved understanding of these potential problems is vital if more effective management measures are to be delivered

Mechanics of Combining Divergent Herbivores in Cultivated Pastures

Sustainable intensification of cultivated pastures is needed in ruminant production if we are to feed a growing world population expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050. Planting pastures of diverse, and therefore more productive and resilient, plant species has been proposed and researched. Despite illustrative examples from wild grasslands (Hofmann, 1989) and rangelands (Glimp, 1988), very little research and even less application of multiple herbivore species (MHS) in cultivated pastures has followed. We review the specific mechanics of divergent domesticated ruminants and theorize how these could best be combined to sustainably intensify meat, milk and fiber production from cultivated pastures around the world

Chemical Composition of Woody Species at Browsed Caatinga under Different Forage Allowance

Native rangelands are essential for Brazilian livestock production in the northeast Caatinga because they are abundant and inexpensive. Greater knowledge of nutritive values of these native plants is a needed because they fit well in prevailing edapho-climatic conditions. The chemical composition of plants, however, may differ according to ontogeny, elevation, soil, climate, plant community and human actions. Caatinga plants usually have high crude protein (CP) although some of this is fiber-bound (Santos et al., 2009). Browse can therefore become a key livestock diet component. Condensed tannins (CT) in browse can provide benefits, including anthelmintic activity greater amino acid absorption, synthesis of microbiological protein and reduction in methane emission when consumed at 20 to 50 g kg-1 dry matter (DM) (Littlefield et al., 2011; Muir, 2011). Above those levels, animals may suffer negative consequences because of the strong linkage with enzymes, metal ions and carbohydrates although browsers can neutralize CT via salivary proline (Naumann et al., 2013). The objective of this study was to estimate the chemical composition of commonly browsed Caatinga woody species in four forage allowances

Social and Economic Issues in Aquaculture Development for Coastal Communities of Tabasco, Mexico

Following an assessment of Mexican water resources by governmental agencies in the late 1940’s, Tabasco State was identified as a potential area for aquaculture development, as the State holds 30% of National water resources and an important share of Southeast Mexican fisheries, particularly for oyster production. However, conflicts and competition for coastal resources between the expanding oil industry and fishing communities are escalating, with consequences including severe environmental degradation. Though a number of aquaculture-linked development initiatives have been promoted, evidence suggests that issues of social benefit, integrated development and livelihood enhancement are poorly understood. This paper reports the findings of preliminary social and economic surveys of coastal communities engaged in aquaculture operations, and suggests that current approaches are unlikely to deliver benefit effectively as key issues have not been addressed. Preliminary recommendations are made based on trends and issues of particular importance to coastal communities, to improve livelihoods through better access to resources and infrastructure.Keywords: Aquaculture, socio-economics, development, Mexico, extension and researc

Challenges to Domesticating Native Forage Legumes

If ruminant production from cultivated and natural grasslands is to depend less on petroleum-based products, forage legumes must serve as protein sources. Commercially available legumes for warm-dry climate grasslands are, however, very limited and resources available for developing such legumes are inadequate. Indeterminate flowering and dehiscent seed pods combined with the need for specialized seed harvesting equipment are major impediments (Butler and Muir 2012). Warm climates often present environmental challenges such as poor rainfall distribution, extended dry seasons, temperature extremes and aggressive grass species (Muir et al. 2011). Erosion of indigenous knowledge and replacement with inappropriate land management approaches from moist-temperate regions compound the challenges

The future of the global food system

Although food prices in major world markets are at or near a historical low, there is increasing concern about food security—the ability of the world to provide healthy and environmentally sustainable diets for all its peoples. This article is an introduction to a collection of reviews whose authors were asked to explore the major drivers affecting the food system between now and 2050. A first set of papers explores the main factors affecting the demand for food (population growth, changes in consumption patterns, the effects on the food system of urbanization and the importance of understanding income distributions) with a second examining trends in future food supply (crops, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, and ‘wild food’). A third set explores exogenous factors affecting the food system (climate change, competition for water, energy and land, and how agriculture depends on and provides ecosystem services), while the final set explores cross-cutting themes (food system economics, food wastage and links with health). Two of the clearest conclusions that emerge from the collected papers are that major advances in sustainable food production and availability can be achieved with the concerted application of current technologies (given sufficient political will), and the importance of investing in research sooner rather than later to enable the food system to cope with both known and unknown challenges in the coming decades

Transplantation of canine olfactory ensheathing cells producing chondroitinase ABC promotes chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan digestion and axonal sprouting following spinal cord injury

Olfactory ensheathing cell (OEC) transplantation is a promising strategy for treating spinal cord injury (SCI), as has been demonstrated in experimental SCI models and naturally occurring SCI in dogs. However, the presence of chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans within the extracellular matrix of the glial scar can inhibit efficient axonal repair and limit the therapeutic potential of OECs. Here we have used lentiviral vectors to genetically modify canine OECs to continuously deliver mammalian chondroitinase ABC at the lesion site in order to degrade the inhibitory chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans in a rodent model of spinal cord injury. We demonstrate that these chondroitinase producing canine OECs survived at 4 weeks following transplantation into the spinal cord lesion and effectively digested chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans at the site of injury. There was evidence of sprouting within the corticospinal tract rostral to the lesion and an increase in the number of corticospinal axons caudal to the lesion, suggestive of axonal regeneration. Our results indicate that delivery of the chondroitinase enzyme can be achieved with the genetically modified OECs to increase axon growth following SCI. The combination of these two promising approaches is a potential strategy for promoting neural regeneration following SCI in veterinary practice and human patients