Review: importance of establishing and running a breeding program in the developing fish farming industry

Fish farming in developing countries including the Republic of Kosova is largely based on unimproved fish strains. In aquaculture research the main focus has been on increasing productivity through improvements in management, technology, disease control etc. Anyhow, is accepted worldwide that the full benefits can be obtained thorough genetically improved fish. In many countries are given evidence indicating the potential of genetic improvement programs and a range of selection methods may be used. In a survey during year 2012 in fish farms in Kosova, we found that 93.33% (28 of 30) fish farms use own brood fish for future generation, and most of the farms have started fishing farming with buying fish from the same fish farm without any precaution to avoid inbreeding. The main objective of this review is to highlight the importance of running a breeding program in fish farming, strategies for improvements and by controlling inbreeding accumulation.