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•V.' 7*V 2 4 4 7 6 M A KING AQUAT :DS USEFUL: Some Perspectives fd Developing Countri f/eo 2VV MAKING AQUATIC WEEDS USEFUL: Some Perspectives for Developing Countries Report of an Ad Hoc Panel of the Advisory Committee on Technology Innovation Board on Science and Technology for International Development Commission on International Relations i.KHAHV ini^n^hn^ liiOFranc e CGOTC Con Resumen en Espanol '••-,, ":'<•/. '•)r»:'">'7:;i!*' ^ater Syppfy Avec Resume en Francais •'••J National Academy of Sciences Washington, D.C. 1976 This report has been prepared by an ad hoc advisory panel of the Board on Science and Technology for International Development, Commission on International Relations, National Research Council, for the Office of Science and Technology, Bureau for Technical Assistance, Agency for International Development, Washington, D.C., under Contract No. AID/csd-2584, Task Order No. 1. NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the Councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the Committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. Library of Congress Catalog Number 76-53285 First Printing January 1977 Second Printing August 1977 Third Printing July 1979 Panel on Utilization of Aquatic Weeds HUGH POPENOE, Center for Tropical Agriculture and International Pro grams (Agriculture), University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida Chairman LARRY O. BAGNALL, Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Florida,Gainesville, Florida WILLIAM M. BAILEY, JR., Special Projects Coordinator, Fisheries Division, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Lonoke, Arkansas HOWARD W. CAMPBELL, National Fish and Wildlife Laboratory, Gaines ville , Florida DUDLEY D. CULLEY, JR., Department of Forestry and Wildlife Manage ment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana THOMAS deS. EURMAN, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida JOHN F. GERBER, Institute of Food and Agricultural Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida CLARENCE G. GOLUEKE, Research Biologist and Lecturer, Department of Engineering, Sanitary Engineering Research Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California JAMES F. HENTGES, JR., Institute of Food and Agricultural Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida RICHARD G. KOEGEL,Mechanical and Agricultural Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin CLARENCE D. McNABB, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan JULIA F. MORTON, Morton Collectanea, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida B. DAVID PERKINS, Agricultural Research Center, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Fort Lauderdale, Florida ERNEST ROSS, Department of Animal Science, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii DAVID L. SUTTON, Agricultural Research Center, University of Florida, Fort Lauderdale, Florida B. C. WOLVERTON, National Space Technology Laboratories, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi RICHARD R. YEO, U.S. Department of Agriculture, University of California, Davis, California NOEL D. VIETMEYER, Board on Science and Technology for International Development, Commission on International Relations, National Academy of Sciences, Staff Study Director MARY JANE ENGQUIST, Board on Science and Technology for Inter national Development, Commission on International Relations, National Academy of Sciences, Staff Contributors LARRY N. BROWN, Biological Sciences, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California ARMANDO A. DE LA CRUZ, Department of Zoology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi STEFAN EHRLICH, Inland Fisheries Branch, Food and Agricultural Organi zation of the United Nations (Retired) WILLIAM B. ENNIS, Agricultural Research Center, University of Florida, Fort Lauderdale, Florida KATHERINE C. EWEL, Center for Wetlands, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida B. GLENN HAM, Cities Services Company, Monroe, Louisiana J. R. LEACH, Sarasota Weed & Feed, Inc., Sarasota, Florida REBECCA C. McDONALD, National Space Technology Laboratories, Na tional Aeronautics and Space Administration, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi MICHAEL G. McGARRY, Population and Health Sciences, International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada WILLIAM J. NOLAN, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida DONALD L. PLUCKNETT, Department of Agronomy and Soil Science, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii CHESTER A. ROBEY, Department of Animal Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida RAY L. SHIRLEY, Institute of Food and Agricultural Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida HENRY R. WILSON, Department of Poultry Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida IV Preface For over a decade, the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council (NAS-NRC), through the Commission on International Relations and its Board on Science and Technology for International Development (BOST1D), has devoted attention to the application of scientific and technical resources to problems of international economic and social development.* In 1970, BOST1D established an Advisory Committee on Technology Innova tion (ACTl) to assess new scientific and technological developments that might prove especially applicable to problems of developing countries. This report was produced by an ad hoc panel of that committee, the Panel on Utilization of Aquatic Weeds, composed of botanists, engineers, and animal scientists, which met in Gainesville, Florida, in November 1975. The problem that the panel considered was the vast infestations of aquatic plants that burden waterways, interfering with navigation, irrigation, disease and insect control, fisheries production, and water quality. Aquatic weeds have always existed, but in recent decades their effects have been magnified by man's more intensive use of natural water bodies—his modifying them into canals and dams, polluting them with farm and city wastewaters, and introducing aggressive plant species into new locations. These plants, among the most prolific on earth, grow luxuriantly in the tropics, weigh hundreds of tons per hectare, and can be a serious hindrance to a nation's development efforts. Eradication of the weeds has proved impossible, and even reasonable control is difficult. Turning these weeds to productive use would be desirable, but only limited research has so far been carried out. This report examines methods for controlling aquatic weeds and using them to best advantage, especially those methods that show promise for less-developed countries. It emphasizes techniques for converting weeds for feed, food, fertilizer, and energy production. It examines, for example, biological control techniques in which herbivorous tropical animals (fish, waterfowl, rodents, and other mammals) convert the troublesome plants directly to meat. *These activities have largely been supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID). This report was sponsored by AID's Office of Science and Technology, Bureau for Technical Assistance. v In many situations, use of the aquatic weeds will contribute markedly to their control; thus, most of the methods discussed represent potential control techniques. However, this is not a report on aquatic weed control per se: Many of the techniques described will make little visible difference to massive aquatic weed infestations; furthermore, there is no discussion of herbicides, or of such biological controls as insects and pathogens that kill the plant but do not produce a useful by-product. This is not to denigrate such techniques. Indeed, in any aquatic weed control program that aims for long-term control, they will almost always be needed as adjuncts to a utilization program. There is, however, extensive literature on control techniques, and the panel felt that it could best serve by reporting on what has thus far received far too little attention—the productive use of aquatic weeds. Marine and estuarine plants are excluded from the discussion, and algae are not stressed. None of the techniques described is a panacea; none is able to eradicate aquatic weeds from infested waterways. They should be seen as useful tools in an integrated system of weed management in which different control techniques complement each other and produce a usable product. For example, in some locations chemicals may be used to reduce a large infestation before a herbivorous animal, such as the manatee described in this report, is introduced. In this case, the animal's role would be to retard regrowth and maintain the waters weed-free. The advantage of weed utilization over chemical and many biological weed controls (e.g., insects and pathogens) is the production of valuable end products: meat, eggs, fish, edible vegetation, fertilizer, animal feed, energy, paper pulp. Readers should appreciate that although the methods are cataloged independently in this report, in many-perhaps most-situations, combinations of several methods (or combinations of

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