The Application of Biotechnology in The Fisheries Sector & The Important of Aquaculture in The Future
The increasing public demand for seafood and the degradation of natural habitats have led to the threat of widespread infections in intensively farmed animals, which could result in significant losses in fisheries production. Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that the potential fish resources in Indonesian waters reach 67 million tons per year.
This figure includes capture fisheries at 9.3 million tons per year and aquaculture at 56.8 million tons per year. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicts that the world population will grow by 30% by 2050, followed by a 70% increase in global protein demand. The application of biotechnology to significantly advance the commercial aquaculture industry has become a primary focus in efforts to increase productivity, control disease and health through vaccination, manage sustainably formulated feed nutrition, and address environmental challenges facing fisheries resources.
The application of biotechnology in the fisheries sector is extensive, ranging from engineering cultivation media, fish, to post-harvest fisheries products. One concrete example of media engineering is the use of microbes to maintain the quality of cultivation media, ensuring its safety for fish cultivation. Biotechnology can create fish with unique genetic characteristics through gene engineering.
The benefits of gene engineering include creating fish species with faster growth, thicker flesh, higher nutritional value, disease resistance, improved environmental stability, increased seed conservation, and so on. The post-harvest stage of fisheries through biotechnology can transform fish through biological transformation, so that the resulting products can benefit human survival.
Biotechnology techniques already applied in the aquaculture sector include selective breeding, gene and chromosome manipulation, monosex culture, hybridization, gene engineering, reproduction and the nutrigenome, the role of microbes, and culture media biotechnology. Advanced technologies that have been applied include the use of biomolecular and genetic knowledge, such as engineering fish and diagnosing diseases through fish DNA.
Fish diseases require vigilance as a major cause of aquaculture production failure. Fish diseases arise due to an unbalanced interaction between the host, the environment, and pathogens. According to Ministerial Decree No. 28/2021, there are 27 types of fish diseases that have the potential to become fish disease outbreaks. These pathogens include 15 types of viruses, 11 types of bacteria, 4 parasites, and 1 mycotic. The number of fish diseases has increased significantly compared to those listed in Ministerial Decree No. 33/2007, which included 14 types of diseases caused by 5 types of viruses, 5 types of bacteria, 2 parasites, and 1 mycotic.
The fisheries sector faces a serious threat from various diseases, one of which is Tilapia Lake Virus (TiLV). TiLV is a newly emerged viral disease that can cause mortality of up to 90% in tilapia populations. One of the factors contributing to the suboptimal production of aquaculture in Indonesia is the limited mastery and implementation of aquaculture technology among the community, and the lack of knowledge about fish health and environmental management. Biotechnology in fisheries offers sustainable technologies to improve fishery resources.
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