ROMANIA
Fish Culture Research and Development Station Nucet
Using commercial activities to fund research The Fish Culture Research and Development Station Nucet was founded in 1941 to contribute to the development of freshwater aquaculture in Romania. The institute has been responsible for the creation of strains of common carp and for the development of rearing technologies for most of the freshwater species that grow in Romania. It has also played a major role in the introduction and acclimatization of new species such as Chinese carps in the 70s as well as pike-perch, pike, and paddlefish.
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oday the institute’s main areas of research are carp genetics, farm productivity, and, more recently, sustainable farming. Dr Miora Costache, the director, has also initiated a few small projects to study recirculation aquaculture, a technology which she feels has a role to play in areas where there are constraints on space or water. However, she is also of the opinion that in Romania there is no shortage of either, in fact there are plenty of unused ponds that could be used to farm fish in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner, and therefore the pond farming sector still has a lot of potential to exploit.
Stocking material from all main species Cyprinids are the most widely cultivated fish in Romania amounting to 86 of the total production of farmed fish in 2013. At the institute three strains of common carp, one of which was developed at the institute, are selectively bred to enhance certain traits like the speed of growth, resistance to disease, and time taken to reach sexual maturity. These traits are highly desired by farmers and one of the institute’s most 48
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important activities is to produce stocking material that reflects these characteristics. Common carp and Chinese carps are the main species that are bred for stocking material, but the institute also maintains broodstocks of European catfish, pike and pike-perch and can deliver stocking material from these species on request. A species that Nucet has been working on for the last 25 years is paddlefish (Polyodon spathula), a native of the Mississippi river in the US. It is a rapidly growing fish that feeds on plankton and has an upper jaw that is elongated in the form of a paddle that may help channel the plankton into the mouth of the fish. The fish is related to sturgeons and like them can also grow very large, up to 2 m in length and 70 kg in weight. The work on paddlefish, which started in 1992, finally produced a breakthrough a decade later when the institute managed to reproduce it artificially. Since then the institute has maintained a broodstock of paddlefish and has been able to supply the stocking material. Although a meaty fish without bones, paddlefish is not wildly popular in Romania, but production has been fairly
Dr Miora Costache, Director, Fish Culture Research and Development Station Nucet
consistent at 100-200 tonnes a year, according to Catalin Platon, the executive director of Romfish. It is produced at some 20 farms across the country, and Dr Costache is seeing increasing demand from Bulgaria and Slovakia for fertilised paddlefish eggs. Romanian farmers in contrast prefer one summer old fish as they are then big enough to make them uninteresting for predators. The problem with paddlefish is that they are both slow moving and prefer to swim at the water surface, which
makes them highly vulnerable to birds like cormorants. On the other hand, they are easy to grow and a pond farmer can easily incorporate paddlefish into the mix of species already in the pond without needing to change anything on the farm.
Challenges facing aquaculture need to be studied if sector is to develop With its 110 ha of ponds, three hatcheries, and all the other www.eurofishmagazine.com
02/12/15 10:57 PM