EXPERT TOPIC
TILAPIA
TILAPIA EXPERT TOPIC
I
Miracle Fish
(Part 1)
by Ramon Kourie, Chief Technical Officer, SustAqua Fish Farms (Pty) Ltd., n the space of 25 years global farmed tilapia production has risen from obscurity to become one of the most important farmed fish species from less than 398,000 tonnes in 1991 to a predicted global production of 6.4 million metric tonnes (MMT) in 2017. Projections indicate an expected growth of 2.6 percent in 2018 to 6.5 MMT, significantly lower than the average growth rate of 12 percent over the period from 2002 to 2012. Most of the global production of tilapia is produced in freshwater pond systems and consumed in producing countries contributing to food security in the developing world where the sector is concentrated. China is the leading producer country followed by Egypt and Indonesia. Production estimates in 2017 have been pegged at 1.7 MMT for China, almost 900,000 metric tonnes (MT) for Egypt and 800,000 MT for Indonesia. Surprisingly, less than seven percent of global tilapia production is internationally traded, the majority of which supplies growing markets in the United States and more recently Africa. Nevertheless, leading industry experts in Norway are optimistic and see tilapia fillets more broadly making inroads into global whitefish markets in developed countries at competitive prices. Whitefish is a market-oriented term categorising white fleshed, non-oily fish where fat reserves are typically in the liver and not in the flesh and guts. Core wild captured whitefish include cod, Pollack, hake, hoki and saithe species and core farmed whitefish include tilapia, pangasius, catfish, cobia and meagre. Tilapia are the most widely cultivated of all species with more than 120 countries reporting some commercial activity.
In addition, tilapia are cultivated in the highest number of production environments from rice paddies and simple fertilised earth ponds to cages in lakes, aquaponics systems, biofloc technology (BFT) tanks and Recirculation Aquaculture Systems (RAS) and are considered easy to cultivate. The progressive expansion of tilapia aquaculture globally can be divided into three phases each marked by technological advances driven by research since the 1980’s. The initial phase (1981-1990) driven by moderately successful hybridisation of parent gene lines creating faster growing hybrids, often red in colour which produced fewer male fish, improved body colour and improved growth rates. Production grew at an annual average growth rate of 14 percent during the initial phase from a lower base. The early growth phase (1991-2000) saw annual production growth of 13.1 percent largely attributed to the dissemination of all-male sex reversal technology of tilapias using androgens to produce close to all-male populations (+95%). Traditional extensive culture methods were replaced with semi-intensive and intensive production systems particularly in Central and South American operations requiring more water exchange, feeding driven by nutritional research and improved quality control. Better management and the ability to supply fresh products to nearby major US cities were advantages that contributed to adoption of these systems in many countries. Such intensive production practices increased tilapia supply in this early growth period of 1991–2000 from 0.4 MMT to 1.19 MMT. The rapid growth phase (2001-2012) resulting in annual average production growth of 12 percent from a higher base driven by the dissemination of improved gene lines across much of Asia and Central and South America, and to a lesser extent in Africa. The Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (GIFT) program on Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) lead by the WorldFish Center in Malaysia enabled the rapid scale up of global production. GIFT tilapia accounted for more than half of the production in Asia in 2012. The overall contribution of GIFT and GIFT-derived strains is regarded as the single most significant technological advancement in the global tilapia farming industry. The period since 2013 is marked by falling average annual growth to 8.1 percent year on year, and a further slowing to 2.6
26 | January 2018 - International Aquafeed