National Aquaculture Strategy (NAS).

This National Aquaculture Strategy is a nationwide sectoral document aiming at achieving increased domestic fish production from all sources on a sustainable and renewable basis to the level of self–sufficiency and fish export in the medium to long term. The Strategy includes some cross-sectoral components concerning fish farms and live fish transport and handling. To achieve the overall goal, 8 main strategic objectives are indicated, as follows (i) massively accelerate fisheries and aquaculture production through private sector led investment in collaboration with the public sector and by all operators in the fisheries sub-sector; (ii) improve the socio-economic life in fishing communities by facilitating access to fishing inputs, equipment, facilities and credit; (iii) pursue a deliberate policy of annual import reduction by 25% of fish and fishery products over a period of 5 years; (iv) develop and implement a national fish disease diagnosis, control and prevention network; (v) support and strengthen fisheries related organisations for optimal contribution to fisheries research and development; (vi) achieve an effective national safety and quality assurance system that can protect consumers’ health and enhance foreign exchange earnings through export of fish and fishery products; (vii) emphasize value addition in fish processing; and (viii) develop efficient local and international marketing of fish and fishery products.
The Strategy examines a series of elements of strategic framework, indicating the roles of the public and private sectors. They are (i) production systems; (ii) access to inputs such as feeds, seeds, and capital; (iii) research; (iv) outreach programs; (v) education and training; (vi) fish product quality assurance and control; (vii) marketing and value addition; (viii) regulations; and (x) monitoring, evaluation and control.
To make agriculture and fisheries more productive and sustainable, the Government together with the concerned stakeholders should (i) develop standards and code of practice for fish and fisheries products in line with internationally accepted practice; (ii) regulate seed and feeds in commercial production; (iii) provide for the production of good quality fish seed through such measures as seed certification; (iv) ensure feed quality through inspections and programs for feed standards and certification for both local and imported feeds; (v) support research for genetic improvements of brood stock of cultured species; (vi) establish fish disease diagnosis, control and prevention centers; and (vii) control the use of alien and genetically modified aquatic organisms (GMAO).
In order to enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems, the Government together with the concerned stakeholders should (i) provide basic marketing infrastructure, such as roads and communication channels; assist producers in promoting aquaculture products (in order to stimulate demand); (ii) encourage group formation for purposes of rationalizing marketing and purchase of inputs, as well as increasing outreach-farmer contact;(iii) encourage and enable commercial producers to develop market channels which can be accessed by smaller producers; (iv) establish national and international aquaculture information networks which are accessible at local hubs; (v) establish a continuing training plan for its staff and assist in linking candidates with local, regional or international agencies providing training, education and/or financial assistance; (vi) advise farmers on where and how to access funding from specialized institutions; (vii) examine the possibility of creating an aquaculture guarantee fund; (viii) NGOs should facilitate linkage between producers and financial institution for easy access of credit; (ix) stimulate domestic feed industries by utilizing locally available ingredients as basic feed ingredients; (x) address under-utilization of existing feed mills by providing incentives for them to incorporate locally sourced fish meal; (xi) encourage commercial farmers and hatchery operators to facilitate access to quality seed; and (xii) put emphasis on participatory approaches when providing services to farmers.