Tilapia farming in the Philippines: practices, problems and prospects

Tilapia are important food fish cultured in developing countries. In the Philippines, in terms of annual production these fish are second to milkfish in importance. Various farming techniques are applied by the industry for commercial tilapia production in fresh and brackishwater ponds, and cages and pens in lakes. Several factors contributed to the successful development of the tilapia industry including the energy crisis which favored aquaculture over capture fishing, improved technology made available by researchers and the ingenuity of Filipino fishfarmers. Total tilapia production is estimated to exceed 50,000 tonnes annually. Cu0948lture methods for producing fingerlings and market-size fish are discussed in detail. The critical issues that need to be addressed for further expansion of tilapia farming to proceed are the need for improvement of broodstock, commercial production of economical feeds and development of market strategies. On the whole, however, the future outlook for tilapia farming in the Philippines is very encoura