Faculty of Fisheries and Marine (called FPK) Airlangga University held a working visit at the Center for Brackishwater Aquaculture Fisheries Research and Fisheries Extension (BRPBAP3), in Maros District, South Sulawesi. This kind of activity is a routine activity every year conducted by educators and education personnel in the FPK environment. The event, attended by 42 participants, aims to share information and experiences in the field of brackish water culture in particular and in the scope of fisheries and marine in general. This FPK work visit was warmly welcomed by the Balai and even welcomed by the head of Balai, Mr. Akhmad Mustofa. The event was opened at 10.00 WITA by Mr. Akhmad Mustofa as the Head of BRPBAP3 at the meeting hall owned by BRPBAP3. Then the activity continued exposure of intent and purpose of FPK entourage by Mr. Agustono. On the occasion, Mr. Agustono expressed his gratitude for being allowed to conduct a working visit at BRPBAP3 Maros and revealed the purpose of this activity is enrichment of knowledge for educators and education personnel FPK UNAIR to be able to dig as much information as possible especially in brackish water cultivation. The event continued with the presentation of the material from Mr. Akhmad Mustofa where he said that BRPBAP3 is a technical implementation unit of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries in the field of brackish water aquaculture research and fishery extension under and responsible to the head of the agency that handles marine and fisheries research as well as development of marine and fishery human resources. BRPBAP3 has the duty to conduct brackish water aquaculture research activities and fisheries extension. BRPBAP3 itself was established in 1969 which was originally only a branch of basic fisheries research in Makassar and then changed its name until in 2016 changed to Brackish Water Bracket Research and Development Center (BPPBAP) and renamed the Research Center for Brackishwater Aquaculture and Fisheries Counseling (BRPBAP3) in the Year 2017.

Picture 1. Representative of FPK with Head of BRPBAP3 Akhmad Mustofa

BRPBAP3 has three installations scattered in South Sulawesi, among them the Installation of Shrimp Shrimp Windu and the Mangrove Crab Seedling in Barru District, Takalar Experimental Plant Installation, and Maros Experimental Plant Installation. BRPBAP3 has pocketed several accreditation certificates in which five laboratories namely soil, water, pathology, nutrition / feed technology, and biotechnology have been accredited as ISO / IEC 17025: 2008 Testing Laboratory with 23 scopes. Meanwhile, the quality management system implemented has been accredited SNI ISO 9001: 2008 for public administration.

Commodities produced from BRPBAP3 are tiger shrimp, vanamei shrimp, milkfish, mangrove crab and indigo. Currently, BRPBAP3 is developing RICA probiotics (Research Institute of Coastal Aquaculture). Probiotics RICA is a probiotic bacterium produced by the Employee Cooperative of the Republic of Indonesia Mina Lestari in collaboration with Maros Brackish Water Research and Development Center. These bacteria are fed into aquatic aquatic environments to improve water quality (decrease total organic matter content, ammonia, and nitrites), and inhibit the proliferation of Vibrio harveyi and White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) organisms. RICA’s probiotic products include three types of bacteria: RICA-1 = (Brevibacillus sp.) RICA-2 = (Serratia sp.) RICA-3 = (Pseudoalteromonas sp.). In addition, BRPBAP3 also developed Kit Vibrosis which is an early detection tool to monitor vibrosis disease in Penaeid shrimp penae breeders and farms. The advantage of this kit is that there is no need for isolation of vibrio bacteria from a sick shrimp organ, the detection time is shorter (1-2) days than conventional methods requiring 3-7 days.

Author: Dwi Yuli Pujiastuti

Editor: Annur Ahadi Abdillah