Asia

An examination is made of the activities of the research project "Rural women in fishing communities" in Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. The project sought to develop a model of participatory data collection onwomen's role and activities in fishing communities as a basis for planning, monitoring and evaluation and also to help women improve their living and working conditions by establishing pilot action projects to provide inputs and services to help meet their basic needs.

A brief account of rice fish culture in the Ifugao Province, northern Luzon, Philippines was presented.

Ifugao lies in the Cordillera Mountains in the north-central part of Luzon. It is famous for its colorful inhabitants, lush forests, crystal waters and magnificent rice terraces. The people have traditionally practiced rice-fish culture. Approximately half the area (total area 8,000 ha) of rice terraces are currently utilized for capture of mudfish (Ophicephalus striatus = Channa striata). There are no data on production of this piscivorous species in Ifugao, but from observations made, it is quite low.

In response to inland fisheries demands for more manageable species of fish, development agencies in the Philippines have turned some attention to common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and its culture in rice paddies. Tilapia, which have been used exten-sively in rice fields, require more management than carp. With the advent of integrated fish farming and agriculture

Bais City with its two bays on the southeastern coast of Negros Island is historically the main source of shellfish in Negros Oriental, Philippines. Indigenous oyster species include the large, desirable Crassostrea iredalei (Talaba) and C. malabonensis (Kuko Kabayo) and the small, less desirable C. echinata, C. lugubrius and C. cucullata. Currently the dominant oysters are the smaller less desirable species.

Asia is the leading aquaculture region in the world, contributing to 85% of total world aquaculture production. Of the top 10 aquaculture producing countries 9 are Asian with China accounting for more than 65% of Asian production. Aquaculture in Asia contribute more than 80% of an estimated 17-20 million aquaculture farmers in Asia providing livelihoods, food security and export earning power but at the same time there are growing problems with environmental impact from large numbers of small-scale producers and the difficulties in planning and management of further development.

The development of a saline tolerant tilapia strain able to grow fast is of importance in the Philippines, where 240 000 ha of brackish water ponds are available. To this end, founder hybridization between Oreochromis niloticus (with favorable growth traits) and O. mossambicus (with favorable salinity tolerance traits) was performed and followed by backcrossing with O. mossambicus to develop a strain highly tolerant to saline environments. Genetic selection for growth performance was subsequently conducted.

This working paper aims to synthesize and share learning from the experience of adapting and operationalizing the Research in Development (RinD) approach to agricultural research in the five hubs under the The CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems. It seeks to share learning about how the approach is working in context and to explore the outcomes it is achieving through initial implementation over 3 ½ years.

An account is given of regulations regarding the commercial trawl and purse seine fisheries in the Philippines.

In this paper, we assess how resettlement and changes in water access have altered livelihoods of local communities upstream of the Theun Hinboun Expansion Project in Lao PDR. Based on household surveys conducted both before and after resettlement, we estimate changes in water use and benefits among households of 4 resettled villages.