June 8 is World Oceans Day. It was established to create an opportunity to raise global awareness of the challenges facing the international community regarding the oceans. The United Nations General Assembly in 2008 decided that World Oceans Day will be held annually on June 8, starting in 2009. In addition, 2022 is the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA 2022). It was established to raise awareness of the role of small-scale fisheries and aquaculture, strengthen science and policy interactions, enable stakeholders to take action, build new partnerships, and strengthen existing partnerships.

Today's Pick Up focuses on two examples of research related to micro fisheries and aquaculture in the fisheries sector featured in the JIRCAS Research Highlights 2021.

• Predicting body growth and body mass index of farmed milkfish in the Philippines from water temperature

Milkfish is an important food fish produced in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Taiwan. It is highly farmed and shipped at a certain size. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between milkfish growth, body mass index, and water temperature, and found that these parameters can be used to more accurately predict growth and help with proper feeding.

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• Germ cell cryopreservation to conserve genetic diversity in shrimps

Establishing sustainable aquaculture requires technology to prevent genetic deterioration of aquaculture products and the creation of superior disease-resistant strains.For this purpose, it is important to maintain and conserve the genetic diversity of existing species. However, such technology has not yet been developed for crustaceans, which are important species in fisheries. The only way to maintain and conserve genetic diversity is to rear a huge number of live individuals in aquariums or cages. In this study, we developed the first germ cell cryopreservation technique in crustacean for two species of prawns, the black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) and banana shrimp (Fenneropenaeus merguiensis). Click here for details.

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Contributors: MIYATA Tsutomu (Fisheries Division), OKUTSU Tomoyuki (Research Planning Section), KANAMORI Norihito (Information and Public Relations Office)