Name: Audrey Leonna Jessel

Matrics

No:

BP14110095
Lecturer: Mdm Grace Joy
Visit to Borneo Marine Research Institute (BMRI)
At 9th of November, Wednesday, we had visited to the fish hatchery of Borneo
Marine Research Institute, University Malaysia Sabah with Madam Grace Joy and
Dr. Kenneth Rodrigues. We were divided into three groups and separated into
certain areas. There were senior students accompanied us and explained to us
regarding to each areas we had visited.
BMRI was designed by Prof Dr Shigeharu Sinoo and established at 2002.
The

establishment

of

BMRI

focuses

on

research,

undergraduate

and

postgraduate training, and production of seeds and fries for aquaculture

(Universiti Malaysia Sabah, 2013). The fish hatchery is the foundation of
aquaculture programme. It is a place for artificial breeding, hatching and rearing
through the early life of finfishes or shellfish for commercial purposes. Moreover,
it is a place for conditioning broodstock and breeding them in captivity, and
producing larval and juvenile fish from grow-out to harvestable size. The fish
hatchery is divided into different areas, which are A, B, CD, and L area. The B
area has six tanks of culture tanks and filter tanks. In this hatchery, they are
using Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS). It is a water system that includes
two processes, which are mechanical filtration and biological filtration. The
mechanical filtration uses net trashes to filter while biological filtration uses coral
rocks. The CD area has rotifer culture, freshwater culture, and aquaponics.
Aquaponics help in growing fish and plants together in one integrated system
where aquaculture and hydroponic are combined in one place. Epinephelus
lanceolatus, Epinephelus fuscoguttatus, Epinephelus coioidus, Lates carcarifer,
and Cheilitus Undulatus are the species in the hatchery (Universiti Malaysia
Sabah, 2013).
The main features of the UMS Hatchery Facility are giant broodstock or
spawning tanks, plankton tanks, larval rearing tanks, juvenile rearing tanks,
fingerlings rearing tanks, culture tanks, seawater filtration, and treatment
complex, freshwater and seawater storage silo, research laboratories which is
used to carry out research on nutrition, fish behaviour, disease and diagnostics.
There are also lecture hall, egg incubation tanks and dormitory. The giant

broodstock is where females are kept in hatcheries until their eggs hatch, after
which they are discarded or sold (New, 2002). The plankton tanks contain
plankton that is used for live feed for the larvae (Developing plankton production
systems for optimised larval rearing, n.d.). Plankton is the natural food source for
the larval stages of many aquacultured species. The use of live feed in larval
rearing therefore remains a necessity in most aquatic organism hatcheries
(Developing plankton production systems for optimised larval rearing, n.d.). Most
early stages of fish larvae do not react to dry feeds and require live feeds that
swim actively and stimulate their raptorial behaviour. In addition, larval fish
usually do not ingest or are not able to digest formulated feeds (Developing
plankton production systems for optimised larval rearing, n.d.). Meanwhile, the
larval rearing tanks are built from coated concrete and larval rearing tanks made
of fiberglass or plastic are used for smaller tanks (Colt and Huguenin, 1992).
Concrete tanks is filled with seawater and aged for at least 50 to 60 days before
use (Colt and Huguenin, 1992).
Furthermore, allowing rapid and complete draining is one of the features
of this tank (Colt and Huguenin, 1992). Most larval rearing tanks are in-doors.
Larvae will be protected from freshwater inflow, direct sunlight, and dust inside
the larval rearing tanks (Colt and Huguenin, 1992). Fingerlings have to be handled
several times before stocking into ponds. Fingerlings harvested from a pond at the
hatchery should be stocked into tanks to be quarantined and a 5 g/l NaCl is placed
in for at least three days (Stocking Fingerlings, n.d.). The salt solution reduces
stress and prevents fungal infection and parasitic infestations. This process also
allows the hatchery management to grade fish, discard weak fish or non-target
species, and settle the fish prior to delivery to the farms that takes four until six
days (Stocking Fingerlings, n.d.). This process will ensure the fish are healthy and
capable of withstanding the stress of transportation (Stocking Fingerlings, n.d.).
Freshwater and seawater storage silo is a huge storage that is used to store
freshwater and seawater.
The hatchery has successfully produced intergeneric and interspecific
grouper hybrids. The first-in-the-world hybrid (named as TGG hybrid) is a cross
between the tiger grouper (Epiphelus fuscoguttatus) and giant grouper
(Epinephelus lanceolatus) (Universiti Malaysia Sabah, 2013). Other hybrids that
were successfully produced are orange-spotted grouper x giant grouper (E.
coioides x E. fuscoguttatus) and mouse grouper x tiger grouper (Cromileptes

altevelis x E. fuscoguttatus) (Universiti Malaysia Sabah, 2013). These hybrids

have immediate heredity in their first generation. The hybrids have not been
released in the wild. They are suitable for commercial-scale production if
effective controls are in place to prevent their release into the natural
environment (Universiti Malaysia Sabah, 2013).
As a conclusion, fish hatchery helps in producing seafood for human to
overcome the food shortage. It also enhances wild fish, shellfish, and plant
stocks for harvest and restores threatened and endangered aquatic species.
Moreover, it produces nutritional and industrial compounds and provides fish for
aquariums are also the advantages. However, no benefits could get if there is no
application of biotechnology.
References
Colt,

J.

and

Huguenin,

J.

(1992).

Shrimp

hatchery

design:

engineering

considerations. Elsevier Science Publisher B.V., 23, 245-285.

Developing plankton production systems for optimised larval rearing. (n.d.).
Retrieved

November

22,

2016,

from

Aquaculture

&

Agriculture:

http://www.dhigroup.com/~/media/Publications/Newsletters/corporateNew
sletter/2012/12/Live%20feed%20for%20aquaculture%20-%20DHI
%20Solutions_v2.0.ashx
New, M. B. (2002). Farming freshwater prawns A manual for the culture of the
giant river prawn ( Macrobrachium rosenbergii). Marlow: Food and
Agricultre Organization of the United Nations.
Stocking Fingerlings. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2016, from Department of
Primary

Industries:

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/aquaculture/publications/speciesfreshwater/stocking-fingerlings
Universiti Malaysia Sabah. (2013, October 21). History. Retrieved November 23,
2016,

from

Borneo

Marine

http://www.ums.edu.my/ipmb/bi_history.html

Research

Institute: