Agriculture Business Week

Blue Fin Fish Farm owner Jason Tamano shares with us his colorful journey as he wades through the uncharted waters of the tilapia business

As a child growing up in Malabon, Jason Ta- mano discovered to his delight that he has this effortless and natural knack for raising fishes. Not only did he find joy in having fishes as pets, he also got curious about other aquatic creatures and their serene life under the sea. “I guess it was my calling,” he tells us. “It got serious that I enrolled in a fisheries course in U.P. in the Visayas.”

Tamano’s studies was cut short in 1993 when on a whim, he just decided to take a leave of absence from the university and tried his luck to make it as an entrepreneur in Mindanao. With less than Php20,000 in his pocket, a few clothes and lots of grit and guts, the adventurous fish lover headed to Dipolog City where lapu-lapu is endemic. Right there and then, he thought of buying and selling the lapu-lapu fingerlings.

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Posted on June 15th, 2010 under Aquaculture, Entrepreneurs. Tags: Business, Tilapia. Comments: None

Tilapia Sex Reversal, the technology for producing all-male tilapia, has revolutionized the fanning of the fish world wide.

The technology which is regarded as a milestone in global aquaculture is widely applied in the Philippines and other countries like Israel, Thailand, and the United States. More than 50 percent of the Nile tilapia produced in ponds and cages in the Philippines have been sex-reversed.

The technology is based on the theory that the development of the sex organ (testis for male and ovary for female) in the fish can be artificially influenced by feeding of a synthetic sex hormone (methyltestosterone for male and estrone for female) during the “sexless period” of the young. Hormonal or induced sex reversal was first demonstrated in the 1950s by T. K-O. Yamamoto of Japan in the medaka, an aquarium fish.

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Posted on May 23rd, 2010 under Aquaculture. Tags: Fish, Sex Reversal, Tilapia. Comments: 4

The Bureau of Fisheries any Aquatic Resources in Region 2 (BEAR R02) in Tuguegarao City Cagayan has something new to offer to those who love to eat tilapia. These are the tilapia longanisa and tilapia tocino which are now increasingly gaining favorable response from tilapia Pod lovers in Cagayan.

In fact, tilapia longanisa and tocino were among the promising finds at the Agrilink, Foodlink and Aqualink held last October 8-10 at World Trade Center Metro Manila in Pasay City.

The idea of making longanisa and tocino out of tilapia spawned from the research of Dr. Esterlita Calanoga and Angel Encarnacion of Cagayan State University and BFAR R02, respectively. Their study titled “Value-added products from Tilapia” aimed on finding other uses of this high-value fish and minimize losses as well as standardize the processing method.

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Posted on May 18th, 2010 under Aquaculture, Entrepreneurs. Tags: Food, Longanisa, Tilapia, Tocino. Comments: 1

An enterprising couple have put up the country’s first commercial Tilanggit processing plant, currently processing 200 kilos of baby tilapia for the local and export markets.

They are Victor and Susan Mendoza who put up Keño Foods last year in Brgy. Malamig, Bustos, Bulacan. The processing plant is a state-of-the-art facility largely financed with a P14-million interest-free loan from the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF), thanks to the assistance of former Agriculture Sec. Arthur C. Yap and the current Agriculture Secretary Bernie Fondevilla.

The building where the fish are prepared before drying is air-conditioned, tiled, and the working tables and sinks are all made of stainless steel. Inside is a holding tank for the live tilapia and a walk-in chiller where the processed tilapia are placed before they are brought to the Multi-Commodity Solar Tunnel Dryer (MCSTD) developed by the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension. This is an efficient dryer that uses heat from the sun, drying the fish to seven percent moisture content in seven to eight hours.

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Posted on May 2nd, 2010 under Aquaculture, Entrepreneurs. Tags: Tilanggit, Tilapia. Comments: 1

Fishpond Management

A. Pond Preparation. Prepare the ponds a month before stocking fish in the following manner:

Draining and drying. Drain and dry the pond completely. Dry for about a week or more, depending upon the weather, until the bottom cracks or harden sufficiently to support a man on his feet without sinking more than 1 cm. Make sure the pond soil is dried every time the pond is harvested. Periodic drying stabilize soil colloids and oxidizes organic matters that encourage the growth of natural fish foods. Draining and drying eradicate competitor fishes and predators, and kill disease-causing organisms.

Cultivation of pond bottom. Till or cultivate the pond bottom as soon as it is drained. Do this by stirring or cultivating with a shovel or a rake for small ponds. For large ponds, use a rotavator. Cultivation makes sub-surface nutrients available at the surface for the growth of fish food in the pond, eradicate burrowing predators like mudfish and eliminate undesirable pond weeds like “aragan.”

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Posted on October 5th, 2009 under Aquaculture. Tags: Fish, Pond, Tilapia. Comments: None

The success of freshwater fishpond farming depends on the selection of ideal fishpond site, proper planning and layout design, proper construction and appropriate pond management.

Considering the expenses involved in pond construction, freshwater fishponds smaller than half a hectare are not commercially viable. This technoguide is designed for freshwater fishponds with an area of one-half hectare or more.

Site Selection
Water supply. Water supply is the foremost factor to consider in selecting a fishpond site. The site must be accessible to adequate water supply throughout the year and free from pesticide contamination and pollution. Sources of water can be a surface runoff, stream, creek or irrigation.

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Posted on October 4th, 2009 under Aquaculture. Tags: Fishpond, Freshwater, Tilapia. Comments: 1

Fish Stocking and Stocking Rate
Stock fish either early in the morning or late in the afternoon when the water is relatively cool. Acclimatize the fingerlings before stocking them. To do this, float bags of fingerlings in water where the fish is to be stocked, thereby allowing the water on the bags to float on the pond for 30 minutes. Determine the water temperature of both bag and pond waters with a thermometer. A difference of more than 30°C may cause eventual death of stock. Open the bags and introduce water gradually from the pond to the plastic bags until the temperature is almost the same. Let the fingerlings get out freely from the bags.

The number of fingerlings to be stocked in a cage varies from 10 – 15 pieces per cu m to reach a size of 100g each in 150 days without supplementary feeding during summer months. Use the same density at the start of the rainy months up to early part of summer. However, the growth rate is lower during rainy months because the water is cooler and there is little presence of natural food in the water.

Management in Cages
Tilapia in cages require minimal care and maintenance. Aside from occasional intrusion of predators, mechanical damage to the net screen and poaching, no serious problem can be expected.

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Posted on October 4th, 2009 under Aquaculture, SPOTlight. Tags: Cage, Cage Culture, Fish, Tilapia. Comments: 1

Tilapia are sometimes known as “aquatic chicken”, due to their high growth rates, adaptability to a wide range of environmental conditions, ability to grow and reproduce in captivity and feed on low trophic levels. As a result, these fishes have become excellent candidates for aquaculture, especially in tropical and subtropical regions. Indeed, tilapia culture has been expanding rapidly, and is now practiced in more than one hundred countries worldwide.

Tilapia cage culture is growing tilapia in cages made of nylon nettings and bamboo frames that are floated, submerged or fixed at the bottom. It utilizes bodies of water such as dams, rivers, lakes, bays, reservoirs and coves. This is one of the effective technologies used in raising tilapia. It started out in 1974 in Sampaloc Lake and Laguna Bay and being practiced now in different regions like in Magat Dam Reservoir in Region II.

The following are the advantages of tilapia cage culture:

• easier handling, inventory and harvesting of fish
• better control of fish population
• efficient control of fish competitors and predators
• effective use of fish feeds
• reduced mortality
• high stocking rate
• total harvesting and swift or immediate return of investment
• less manpower requirement
• minimum supervision

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Posted on October 3rd, 2009 under Aquaculture, Technical Guide. Tags: Cage, Cage Culture, Fish, Tilapia. Comments: 3

Even small fishes are a great catch.

Proof to this is the tilanggit, the undersized tilapia that is being processed similar to danggit, or dried rabbit fish of Cebu. Tilanggit production is seen today as a promising livelihood, and three farmers’ association in Diffun, Quirino have found it viable.

The Diffun Farmers Livelihood Association (DFLA), Palacian Food Processors Association, and the Villa Pagaduan Multi-Livelihood Association are pleased with this venture. They are able to make money from undersized tilapia, which resulted from calamities or poor culture management.

“Processing undersized tilapia into tilanggit offers fish farmers a great way to recover investment on a losing venture.” said Dr. Jovita Ayson, director of Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Region 2.

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Posted on September 15th, 2009 under Aquaculture, Income Booster. Tags: Danggit, Fish, Tilanggit, Tilapia. Comments: 2

The 45-day delayed feeding, a technique for saving on feed cost, can be practiced in polyculture, or the culture of different fish in one pond.

This was found in a demonstration project of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Region II (BFAR Region II) conducted in a fish farm in Barangay Catarawan in Piat, Cagayan.

Following the recommended stocking rate of 5 fingerlings per square meter in polyculture, 6,080 size 22 tilapia (80%) and 380 common carp (5%) fingerlings were stocked into the 1,520-square meter fishpond of project-cooperator Marcial Balmores last March. Two months later, 1,140 catfish or hito (15%) fingerlings were stocked. Commercial or artificial feeds were introduced 45 days later to save on feed cost.

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Posted on September 13th, 2009 under Aquaculture. Tags: CARP, Fish, Hito, Polyculture, Tilapia. Comments: None

The Aquatic Technology Competition (ATCOM) of the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (PCAMRD) of the Department of Science and Technology is held yearly to promote commercialization of mature technologies generated by the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development System coordinated by the PCAMRD DOST. Now on its third year, the 2009 ATCOM winners were selected recently.

The improved processing and packaging of fermented mudfish, the drying of seaweed with a heat pump, and the intensive production of tilanggit in concrete tanks garnered the top prizes at the 2009 ATCOM.

Researchers Wilma de Vera and Raquel Pambid of the Pangasinan State University (Bayambang Campus) won the First Prize with a cash award ofP150,000 for improving the technology for processing and packaging burong dalag. With thorough and scientific studies, they standardized the methods for producing a product that is pleasant in smell and more nutritious, palatable, and safe compared to the traditionally prepared product. The improved product is of export quality and is now being produced commercially by housewives of families livingalong Mangabal Lake – the source of the mudfish – as a livelihood industry.

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Posted on June 10th, 2009 under Aquaculture. Tags: Dalag, Researcg, Tilapia. Comments: None

The improved processing and packaging of fermented mudfish, the drying of seaweed with a heat pump and the intensive production of tilanggit in concrete tanks garnered the top prizes at the 2009 Aquatic Technology Competition sponsored by the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology.

Researchers Wilma de Vera and Raquel Pambid of the Pangasinan State University (Bayambang Campus) won the First Prize with a cash award of Php150,000 for improving the technology for processing and packaging “burong dalag.” With thorough and scientific studies, they standardized the methods for producing a product that is pleasant in smell and more nutritious, palatable and food safe compared to the traditionally prepared product. The improved product is of export quality and is now being produced commercially by housewives of families living along Mangabal Lake, the source of the mudfish, as a livelihood industry.

The Second Prize with a cash award of Php100,000 went to Dr. Zenaida Angngarayngay and her co-researchers of the Mariano Marcos State University in Batac City, Ilocos Norte. They improved the drying of the red seaweed, Porphyra, locally known as “gamet” which is collected by small fisherfolk from the rocky coasts of Burgos, Ilocos Norte and processed into a high-value dried product that costs as much as Php4,000 per kilo. With a heat pump dryer developed in their institution, the keeping, nutritive and hygienic qualities of “gamet” has been much improved compared to the sun-dried product thereby enhancing its market and export value.

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Posted on April 25th, 2009 under Aquaculture, Technology. Tags: ATCOM, Fish, Technology, Tilapia. Comments: None

Tilapia farmers claim that the biggest slice in their production cost is spent for commercial supplemental feed. This is because intensified tilapia production has resulted in growers’ dependency on commercial feed.

Findings of researchers of the Freshwater Aquaculture Center of the Central Luzon State University (FAC-CLSU) have shown that the cost of supplemental feed accounts for about 60 percent of the total production cost. This means that for every P 10 spent in the production of tilapia, P6 is spent for feeds. That’s big. Tilapia growers would surely derive more income from their enterprise if the amount spent for feeds is reduced considerably.

It is for this reason that scientists of the North Carolina State University (NCSU) in Raleigh, North Carolina have been continuously collaborating with researchers in the Philippines, Cambodia, China, Kenya and Mexico on the conduct of studies on tilapia feeding strategies.

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Posted on April 17th, 2009 under Aquaculture. Tags: Feeds, Fish, Tilapia. Comments: 38

Tilapia, one of the country’s most popular fish, has been around since Biblical times. In fact, it is sometimes called “Saint Peter’s fish” because that was the fish that the apostle caught which reportedly carried a coin in its mouth.

In the past, tilapia was only raised in Africa, but accidental and deliberate introductions of the fish into fresh water lakes made them feasible to be raised in tropical climate such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia.

After carps and salmonids, tilapia is now the third most important fish around the world. Touted to be the single most important aquaculture product, tilapia has been called as the “food fish of the 21st century” by Dr. Kevin Fitzsimmons, president of the World Aquaculture Society.

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Posted on April 16th, 2009 under Aquaculture. Tags: Bacon, Tilapia. Comments: None