Controlling reproduction

1In 2014, aquaculture reached a historic high, with the sector providing more than half of the fish for human consumption. It is estimated that this proportion could continue to increase and exceed 60% by 2030. This rise in aquaculture has been primarily felt in tropical areas and emerging Asian countries, where research conducted by IRD and its partners helped control the breeding cycle of 10 African, Amazonian and Asian species, notably in Vietnam where, in the 1990s, researchers managed to control the reproduction of panga, who belong to the catfish family.

Clown loach, Indonesia.

2At the time, this fish was already being farmed by the Vietnamese, but juveniles were harvested from the Mekong, which caused ecological and political problems, particularly with Cambodia. By examining the reproduction cycle of panga, researchers developed a hormonal induction protocol enabling the artificial reproduction of fish in order to obtain hatchery-reared fry. As a result, annual production soared from 50,000 to more than one million tonnes in approximately 15 years. Similar research was conducted in West Africa on lagoon tilapia, African sea catfish or vundu catfish, and on barred sorubim in the Amazon Basin. For the Amazonian pirarucu, a technique was developed to distinguish between male and female spawners.

3Research was also conducted on species intended for the ornamental fish market such as the clown loach, a species endemic to the rivers of Indonesia’s Sumatra and Borneo islands, where more than 50 million wild juveniles are harvested every year and exported all over the world. For this species, controlling reproduction in captivity in Indonesia corresponds with a twofold objective: economic and environmental. The idea is to alleviate fishing pressure on natural populations while also providing fry for the markets on a more regular basis.

Arapaima gigas, or pirarucu specimen bred in captivity, Amazon, Peru.