Tasty, Affordable! First Used As Fishing Baits, Saline Tilapia Offers Hope

Early today, I discovered that Tilapia raised in Saltwater Fish Cages, is slowly dislodging the traditional Tilapia grown in freshwater fishponds.
There are two reasons why Saltwater Tilapia is getting very popular:
1. It is more tasty that the freshwater tilapia which usually has a muddy smell, in Tagalog it is called “Amoy Gilik;”
2. Saltwater Tilapia is priced lower than other fish cage-grown seawater fish species like Bangus which sells for over P250 per kilo or Pompano priced at P400 per kilo.
Personally, I prefer Saltwater Tilapia over any fish cage grown species hindi lang dahil mas mura but more because I love the taste and the meat is soft.
The development of Saltwater Tilapia started when deep-sea fishermen started using Tilapia as baits but since they needed live baits for the big fish, they started to introduce Tilapia to seawater to make them saline tolerant
This was over 50 years ago and since then, several Tilapia species had become tolerant to saline water making them a prospective major source for fish production.
A fish advocacy group, globalseafood.org, gives a deeper insight into Saltwater Tilapia Farming:
“Globally, most tilapia farming is carried out in fresh and low salinity waters. However, the high degree of tolerance to seawater shown by some hybrids shows that their culture in high-salinity brackish and seawater is possible. This would open many tropical and arid coastal areas to tilapia production and could significantly expand global production of this important species group.
“Several methods have been used for tilapia saltwater culture, including earthen ponds, tanks and pools, hapas, cages and recirculating tank systems. These have been implemented at both experimental as well as in commercial operations in the Caribbean (Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Ecuador), Asia (Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines) and various Northern Africa and Middle East countries (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt).
“Some of the early efforts to culture tilapia in saltwater include pioneering studies carried out in Hawaii in the late 1950s, trying to develop intensive tank culture methods for Oreochromis mossambicus that could be used as baitfish for the local tuna fishing industry. At the same time, small-scale experiments in aquaria, concrete tanks and ponds were being conducted in Israel, to determine the adaptability of O. aureus and Tilapia zillii to seawater.
“Concurrent studies evaluated developing salt marshes and desert saline waters for fish culture. Results showed that O. aureus and O. niloticus could be cultured in low salinity brackish waters, between 3.6 and 14.5 ppt. Following these early studies, it was not until the mid-1980s when saltwater tilapia culture again received significant attention. This was due to the discovery of superior strains and species for culture, and increasing awareness of their potential for widespread culture in arid and coastal areas.
“Currently, various countries are implementing tilapia seawater culture, adding to their traditional shrimp production lines, not with the intention of substituting shrimp production but to provide a feasible alternative to underutilized infrastructure (due to shrimp diseases) and to control undesirable algal blooms.
“Red tilapias are suitable for brackish water and seawater culture because of the salinity tolerance of the parental species, known to be moderately (O. niloticus and O. aureus) to highly euryhaline (O. mossambicus and O. hornorum). Several tilapias can be successfully acclimated to seawater if the process is gradual.”
In the Philippines, one of the major producers of Saltwater Tilapia is the Alsons Aquaculture Corp. which is known for its quality Bangus now exported to the U.S.
With Alsons Aquaculture Corp. Saltwater Tilapia Farming as model, government should now focus on breeding Saline-tolerant Tilapia species.
Growing Tilapia in saltwater could contribute immensely to the country’s fish sufficiency program while offering Filiopino families affordable fish.

#KungGustoMaramingParaan!
(First photo downloaded from from globalseafood.org shows Saltwater Tilapia while the second photo shows the Saltwater Tilapia I bought in Kidapawan City Market today.)