Capacity Building and Training in Commercial Aquaculture for Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, and American Samoa

Capacity Building and Training in Commercial Aquaculture for Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, and American Samoa

Summary

In Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, and American Samoa most seed-stock are imported, primarily from Asian countries or Hawaii. Local hatchery production would reduce the risk of disease introduction. The project included a tour of commercial aquaculture operations in Thailand, which has comparable environmental conditions and produces species important to the U.S. affiliated Pacific islands including; marine shrimp, freshwater prawns, tilapia and catfish. Information and video footage gathered on the tour will be used to develop videos and workshop materials that will be used to conduct workshops for agricultural professionals and producers on Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.

Objectives/Performance Targets

1) Conduct an inland aquaculture study tour with the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand, with lectures and visits to commercial aquaculture farms, research and hatchery facilities in Thailand
2) Provide training for extension, faculty, staff, and field personnel of Cooperative Extension, NRCS, FSA, and other USDA offices, farmers, and other agriculture/aquaculture professionals in Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI) in commercial aquaculture grow-out and hatchery production techniques used in Asia suitable for our islands.
3) Produce training materials on aquaculture production methods appropriate for our islands
4) Produce videotapes and web based information on hatchery and small scale commercial aquaculture technologies utilizing materials gathered in Thailand.
5) Conduct workshops in Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, and American Samoa to disseminate information to government agencies and other farmers.

Accomplishments/Milestones

In the first year conducted an inland aquaculture study tour with the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand. This 10-day tour consisted of visits to commercial aquaculture farms, research and hatchery facilities in Thailand. The tour group consisted of 12 persons including extension personnel and farmers from the CNMI, Guam, and American Samoa and a media production specialist, to capture video and still photos. Soon after the tour workshops were conducted in the CNMI by tour participants.
The PI retired in September of 2007.
The first milestone since October 2007 was to appoint and have approved by WSARE a new PI.
The second milestone was to write a letter of project status, apply for and receive a no cost extension.
In the portion of a year since this no cost extension paperwork was completed, the third milestone was to assess all the deliverables of the project and re-initiate the contract to develop the videos (this involved a whole new bidding process). The fourth milestone was to identify the project video content and develop the script for the videos. The fifth milestone was to archive all the footage, screen it for use in videos, put the lectures online and put a photo archive online. A sixth milestone was to outline the contents of the curriculum materials to be developed for project workshops and begin curriculum development.

We are currently completing the first video on Tilapia Hatcheries for Tropical Islands. We are also completing the workshop materials for a 10-hour backyard aquaculture course for tropical islands.

We still need to:
We still need to get the Thailand study group together to go through the sites we visited and narrate a travelogue of what we learned.
Conduct and evaluate two workshops.
Put educational materials used in workshops on the web.
Evaluate and Submit Final Report.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

1)Completion of the project objectives should build a core group of aquaculture professionals that are competent in conducting trainings that contribute to the expansion of aquaculture on their islands.
2)Having a core curriculum for our islands available should allow extension agents to provide workshops that will also stimulate both commercial and small backyard aquaculture production on our islands.

Collaborators: