Project assistance completion report : small scale fisheries development project, 497-0286

The project's accomplishments were satisfactory, although its influence at the national level cannot easily be measured. While several of the 6 subprojects (SP's) operated at levels substantially less than projected, most major outputs were met and fish production generated by the project was sufficient to meet demand. The Pilot Flake Ice Plant SP, for example, was delayed 2 years by construction and equipment problems and was forced to operate well below capacity, but was still able to produce enough ice for the projected number of participants. Similarly, due to lack of GOI support for maintenance and facility improvement, the Freshwater Shrimp Production SP did not produce as many fry as expected, but because the market for fry was considerably smaller than was first estimated the demand was met. Other SP's were more successful. The Tambak Extension Service SP improved the availability of new technologies to tambak (small pond) fish farmers, despite the large size of the territory the SP had to cover, and the Floating Fish Cage Culture SP introduced new and improved technologies for the production of fish in floating cages. The Rice Fish Culture SP improved fingerling production at Kerasaan hatchery, although production at Ambarita hatchery was constrained by economic, management, and ecological problems. A final SP, the Artisanal Fishery Management SP, was to develop a coordinated plan for fisheries management and collect species and marketing data, but proved almost impossible to implement because of changing government regulations, the large scope of the SP, and the need for long-term baseline studies. Among the technologies introduced by the various SP's were a fish feed formula, hormone-induced spawning, shrimp-fish polyculture, and a water aeration-circulation technology for freshwater shrimp production. It appears the project was remiss, however, in programming the socioeconomic pre- and poststudies that are needed to upgrade fisheries management. Nor was enough emphasis put on training GOI staff to continue the data collection/analysis and management activities begun under the project. The project teaches that Indonesian fish farmers are capable of using new technologies to improve production, but that the GOI has difficulties in providing enough funding and management support to be of much help. In the absence of GOI support, better research needs to be carried out in order to get a fuller understanding of existing private sector fish farming systems and their potential for development, and future activities need to be concentrated in smaller, more manageable, areas.