– Original agreement re-structured
The Governments of Guyana and Brazil, in efforts to develop the aquaculture sector in Guyana, have adjusted the basic agreement of technical cooperation for the implementation of a project, originally signed on October 7, 2008.
The Ministry of Agriculture, in collaboration with the Agencia Brasileira de Cooperacao, conducted a four-day theoretical workshop, from the 15-18 June, on the Productive Chain of Tambaqui (Colossoma Macropomum) and Pirarucu (Arapaima gigas) at the Cheddi Jagan Research Institute, High Street, Kingston.
The main focus of the workshop was to offer technical training on aquaculture to Government officials so as to enable them to better understand the culture of Tambaqui and Pirarucu aquaculture., Non-governmental officials were also included in the training.
The course was intended to present to participants the various aspects and developments of Tambaqui and Pirarucu aquaculture and theoretical aspects of Tambaqui and Pirarucu aquaculture (e.g. physiology, genetics, etc), as well as more applied aspects (e.g. culture methods, breeding programmes and species selection) were presented.
The four-day workshop was put in place to educate officials on biology of Tambaqui and Pirarucu distribution, physical characteristics, reproduction, seed production, specific factors, water requirement, fingerling rearing, pond management, feeds and feeding, Pacu and feeding Pirarucu characteristics, methods of applying artificial feeds, feeding rate, basic feeding principles, pond grow-out culture, background, principles, pond inlet structures, pond outlet structures, water transport structures, cage construction, water requirement, pond or cage size, stocking rate, pond or cage management, feeding, culture period and yield, and production cost.

According to Chief Fisheries Officer Vivek Joshi, as this sector is being developed, the training was timely, given that tilapia and shrimp, which are currently being cultured in Guyana, cannot survive in all of the areas in Guyana. The diversification of other species, such as the Tambaqui (Colossoma macropomu) and Piracu (Arapaima gigas),   would allow the expansion of aquaculture in areas where tilapia and shrimp culture is not suitable, hence expansion of the species that are currently being cultured in the aquaculture sector.