Tilapia fish taste better when given natural food

December 29, 2008 by Amaete Umanah · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Aquaponics, Backyard Aquaponics

Tilapia fishes were found tastier when these are given natural food than commercial fish feeds.

This was the contention of fishery officials in Cagayan Valley as they spearheaded a recent training on 45-day delayed feeding technology.

Hermogenes Tambalque III, extension chief of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, said this new technology aims to cut expenses of fishpond operators on commercial feeds, which, according to studies, account for as much as 70 percent to 80 percent of total production cost. Read more

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African catfish difficult to grade automatically

Fischtechnik International Engineering GmbH (FTIE) from Austria has recently conducted a successful grading trial for African catfish and can now recommend its own grading machines for use with the species.

African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) are robust, grow rapidly and have modest requirements concerning protein levels in feed or water quality.

In particular the species' ability to breathe a certain amount of atmospheric oxygen makes higher population concentrations possible without the need for technical oxygen or complex water aeration.

All these factors make the African catfish a popular species for use in commercial aquaculture. Read more

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Malaysia to produce 70,000 tonnes to 507,000 tonnes by 2010 of aquaponic fish

December 21, 2008 by Amaete Umanah · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Aquaponics, Backyard Aquaponics, Commercial Aquaponics

The Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry is set to increase the national fish production from the current 270,000 tonnes to 507,000 tonnes by 2010.

Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed said today that to achieve this, the government would hav eto increase the nation's annual aquaculture production by at least 25 per cent for the next two years to stabilise the depleting marine fish resources.

"Malaysia depends too much on the marine sources with 86 per cent compared with 14 per cent from the aquaculture industry, while other countries take up to 60 per cent from their aquaculture industry and only 40 per cent of marine fish."

He said this after launching the business prospectus and Seminar on High-Impact Projects in Aquaculture Industrial Zone here.

On another development, Mustapa said he and Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui were mulling over a proposal for fertilisers to be made a controlled item.

He said the price of fertilisers would also be reduced by 15 per cent next month as agreed by the fertiliser producers recently.

This article is courtesy of http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=379260

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Salmon aquaculture and aquaponics bad for oceans

December 17, 2008 by Amaete Umanah · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Aquaponics, Commercial Aquaponics

Salmon aquaculture is devastating the world's oceans and an international coalition of scientists, Canadian First Nations and tourism operators have called for a global moratorium.

"We've seen a regional collapse of all sea life in the 20 years since the salmon farms moved in," Chief Bob Chamberlin of the Kwicksutaineuk Ah-kwa-mish Canadian First Nation in the province of British Columbia on Canada's west coast told Stephen Leahy for InterPress Service.

"I can only shake my head in bewilderment that this is allowed to continue," Chamberlin told IPS from Gilford Island in the Broughton Archipelago, where 20 salmon farms are in operation.

Scientific studies have linked sharp declines in wild salmon populations in British Columbia to disease and parasites originating in open-ocean salmon farms. Millions of non-native salmon have escaped ocean net-pens in Chile and have become an invasive species, transforming the ecology of local river systems.

These and other unsustainable practices violate the United Nations code on Responsible Fisheries, claims the coalition from Norway, Canada, Chile, Scotland and Ireland. An international declaration has been submitted to the UN calling for a global moratorium.

There is little debate that salmon aquaculture is both unsustainable and environmentally destructive. Three or more kilogrammes of wild fish are needed to produce one kilo of farmed salmon. The ocean bottoms under and around the open-ocean net pen

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From Aquaponics to tilapia tomato soup

December 10, 2008 by Amaete Umanah · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Aquaponics, Backyard Aquaponics, Commercial Aquaponics

Tilapia is a firm fish, which means it is a more versatile fish. Other, more delicate fish with more pronounced self-esteem issues break down easily upon cooking, flaking apart at even the most mild fork-related provocation.

But it is an immigrant to these shores, and should be made to feel at home. The way to do that is to introduce it to what is perhaps our greatest of comfort foods – tomato soup. Read more

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Creating Aquaponics Food Security and Sustainability in Delta State, Nigeria

December 9, 2008 by Amaete Umanah · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Aquaponics, Commercial Aquaponics

Successive government in the country both the military and the civilian have evolved one programme or the other all intended to ensure the sustainability of food production not only for domestic consumption, but also for export, particularly when considered against the backdrop that until the discovering of oil in commercial quantity, Agriculture was the mainstay of the country and a major source of revenue.

Such programmes include; the "Operation Feed the Nation" enunciated by Obasanjo regime in 1976, "Green Revolution" by Shehu Shagari's administration in 1980 and Directorate of Food, Road and Rural Infrastructure DFRI, conceptualized by General Ibrahim Babangida all aimed at ensuring food sufficiency and security in the country. Read more

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