Artemia culture expands Bangladesh's aquaculture options

Stakeholders have expressed the advent of Artemia pond culture in Bangladesh, highlighting its potential to revolutionise the country's aquaculture sector.

Experts underscored the importance of domestically producing Artemia to support the shrimp, crab, and fish industries in Bangladesh at a workshop in Dhaka organised by WorldFish programme titled the "Final Workshop and Fair" of the European Union-funded Artemia4Bangladesh Project on Tuesday.

Artemia is used in aquaculture as a live food for commercial hatcheries of many species of fish.

The workshop was chaired by Department of Fisheries Director General Syed Md Alamgir and featured esteemed guests from government departments, research organisations, universities, NGOs, and the private sector.

Fisheries and Livestock Minister Abdur Rahman was present as the chief guest. Special guests included Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock Secretary Sayeed Mahmood Belal Haider and Ambassador and Head of the European Union Delegation in Bangladesh Charles Whiteley.

In his address, Abdur Rahman underscored the implementation of climate-smart technologies like Artemia for sustainable aquaculture development.

He said, "The development of Artemia cultivation along with salt farming in the country's salt farms has opened up new possibilities for our aquaculture."

Charles Whiteley said, "Bangladesh has proven its capability of overcoming various natural adversities and working for food security through climate-smart aquaculture technology."

Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute Director General Dr Zulfikar Ali expressed optimism about Artemia's future and confidence in collaborating with BFRI and WorldFish for future research.

Syed Md Alamgir, chairperson of the workshop, mentioned, "A groundbreaking chapter has begun with the cultivation of Artemia in Bangladesh by the EU-funded Artemia4Bangladesh project of WorldFish. Research institutes, universities, various NGOs, and donors should come forward to accomplish this."

During the programme, Belgium's Ghent University Emeritus Professor Dr Patrick Sorgeloos, Artemia4Bangladesh project Technical Team Leader Dr Meezanur Rahman and WorldFish Bangladesh Interim Country Representative Dr Binoy Kumar presented various aspects of Artemia cultivation, climate-smart aquaculture technology, and the future potential of Artemia.

WorldFish has been implementing the Developing Smart Innovations through Research in Agriculture programme of the European Union-funded Artemia4Bangladesh Project since March 2020.

The project's objective is to increase the productivity of salt farmers in producing Artemia and related aquaculture systems, thereby increasing their income.

For the first time, the project has successfully introduced an environment-friendly, climate-resilient system for mass production of Artemia, diversifying aquaculture with smallholder salt farmers in the coastal areas of Cox's Bazar.