Intensive culture of the common barbel, Barbus barbus (L.) for restocking

Since the University of Liège has been studying the mass culture of B. barbus for restocking the many running waters in which this cyprinid is suffering a strong demographic decline.The culturing technology described in the present paper is entirely new in Europe in that it implies : 1) a total domestication of the brood fishes which are kept in captivity (tanks or flowing water ponds) where both males and females reach maturity and spontaneously produce sperm and eggs : in early January 1987, seven broodstocks from three different river systems in the Meuse basins are beeing managed ; 2) the utilization of heated water (effluent of the Tihange nuclear power plant) to accelerate the growth rate : under the rearing conditions realized (20-24°C), feeding with trout feed pellets) the barbels grow four times faster than in a natural river; 3) a high-density tank culture of fingerlings and adults allowing a standing crop as high as 33 kg/m2 (94 kg/m3) and production ranging from 0,2 to 0,4 kg/m3 of tank per day to be achieved. Now, about 60 000 cultured barbels with a fork length ranging from 5 to 40 cm have been experimentally released into the river Meuse and seven of its tributaries. Surveys by electro-fishing carried out in 1985 and 1986 showed a very successful adaptation of the cultured barbels in the wild environment. Based on the culturing technology described above, the intensive production of B. barbus for restocking is currently entering a commercial phase by a private company at Tihange, Belgium.