Artemia4Bangladesh holds virtual training on harvesting of artemia cyst, biomass

The Cox's   Bazar   area   is playing   a   significant   role   in   the   country's economy in terms of fisheries, crude   salt   production   and   tourism but climate induced hazards pose significant threat to these sectors in this region.

WorldFish is currently implementing the EU funded Artemia4Bangladesh project to facilitate technological  improvements through integrating artemia production and aquaculture in solar salt farms  in the  district  as  a  potential  climate  smart  solution  to  the  climate induced  challenges  in this region.

The aims of the project are to introduce an integrated salt and artemia production system and increase marine aquaculture production and productivity in the salt farms, said a press statement issued on Thursday.

The Artemia4Bangladesh project led by WorldFish, Bangladesh held a virtual training on artemia cyst and biomass harvesting, processing, and storage.

The virtual training was led by Nguyen Van Hoa, professor of Can Tho University in Vietnam and Dr Patrick Sorgeloos, professor of Ghent University in Belgium.

The training was conducted by Dr Meezanur Rahman, a scientist of WorldFish and the team leader of Artemia4Bangladesh Project.

The virtual training broadly covered regular management of Artemia ponds, extraction, processing and storage of artemia cysts and biomass, quality assurance of artemia cysts and biomass in the context of Cox's Bazar region of Bangladesh.

During the deliberation, Professor Sorgeloos emphasised the locally sourced low cost facilities of artemia cyst and biomass processing and preservation.

Professor Hua highlighted on the importance of regular growth monitoring of the artemia biomass to avoid any potential diseases.

Artemia is a type of aquatic organism, which is cultured in highly saline water and used as live food for fish and shrimp larvae, especially in hatcheries.

Currently, the country annually imports 40 tonnes of artemia for the larvae culture in shrimp hatcheries, which is valued at around $4 million, said Dr Muhammad Meezanur Rahman, scientist of WorldFish and team leader of Artemia4Bangladesh.

During the training, Dr Meezan reiterated the impact of integrated artemia culture in salt farms of Cox's Bazar.

He mentioned, the project  plans  to  improve  the  livelihood  of  salt  cum  fish  farmers  through  integrated  salt, artemia  and  aquaculture  production  in  the  salt  farms  of  the  Cox's  Bazar  district  as  a  climate  smart  solution  to  mitigate the economic and climatic challenges in this region.

The virtual training ended with a participatory open floor session where the expert panel addressed the queries of the participants regarding the artemia cyst, biomass processing and storage.