Aquaculture In Israel: An Overview
Pregled akvakulture u Izraelu
Author
Harpaz, Sheenan
Keywords
desert aquacultureirrigation/fish culture reservoirs
saline water
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Due to the severe water constrictions in Israel (60% of the country is a desert with less than 80 mm rainfall per year), the aquaculture practices in the country have had to rely on innovative methods designed to overcome the water shortage. These include: the extended use of saline water not suitable for other agricultural crops yet very suitable for fish culture; dual use of irrigation reservoirs for fish culture and intensive production ponds in which the fish yields per cubic meter of water are extremely high. Pelleted fish feeds of high quality, especially designed for the different cultured fish species are used in all the ponds. The main edible fish cultured in freshwater are tilapia and carp. In the marine water sea bream and European sea bass are the main cultured species. In addition there is a growing sector of ornamental fish these include cold water fish such as koi carp and warm water tropical species such as guppies. Bird predation of fish is major problem and a number of methods are utilized in order to overcome the problem. These include various scaring devices such as: noise makers, scarecrows of different shapes and colors, self propelled small airplanes in the shape of predatory birds and nets.