By Manny Piñol
Yesterday, March 31, I made a second trip to the Coachella Valley in Southern California to take another look at an inland fish production facility owned by a Filipino-American aquaculture expert, Rocky French.
It was a long and tiresome trip from Los Angeles via San Diego to Coachella Valley for me, former Manny Pacquiao physical therapist Jeff de Guzman and boxer Romel Asenjo but it was a trip worth taking again and again.
I was simply amazed by the ultra-modern operation of the fish farm of Rocky French, the Aqua Farming Tech, which is located in the middle of the Coachella Desert, just a few miles away from the Salton Sea, a vast man-made lake.
French, 57, who is considered as one of the pioneers of inland Tilapia farming in the United States, sells live Tilapia to markets as far as San Francisco in Northern California at a premium price of $3.50 per pound.
The Aqua Tech Farm is capable of producing 350 tons of live Tilapia every year and while the high price of feeds in the US has affected other fish farms, Rocky has maintained a niche market because he sells his fish live.
The whole farm is powered by solar panels and the water, which is pumped up from deep wells, is reused after it is cleansed in an amazing recycling process which separates the silt from the water.
The silt in turn is used as fertilizer for the plants in his nursery.
In my second trip yesterday, Rocky and his wife prepared fried Tilapia for our dinner.
The taste of his Tilapia was simply amazing and it did not have the usual fishy smell common in algae-eating fresh water fish.
As I made the round of Rocky French’s fish farm, my mind was swirling as I was trying to imagine the Philippines’ great potential to supply Hongkong, Singapore, Japan and even China with fresh Tilapia grown in the Central Luzon provinces of Pampanga, Tarlac, Bulacan and Zambales and even the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Nueva Viscaya, Pangasinan, Laguna, Cavite and Batangas which are very near the international airports.
I also imagined fish tanks similar to the ones designed by Rocky French alongside Marikina River, Pasig River and other major rivers in Luzon.
With Rocky French’s technology, aqua farming in the Philippines could undergo a revolutionary transformation and it would surely make our country, given the water resources that we have, the Number 1 producer of live freshwater Tilapia in Asia.
For the Metro Manila fish consumers, it would mean a steady supply of live freshwater Tilapia with outstanding taste, not like the fish being produced from the fish cages of Laguna de Bay now which has a “muddy” smell, or what the locals refer to as “amoy gilik.”
I have invited Rocky French to the proposed Philippine Food and Agriculture Summit which I am organizing sometime towards the end of the year in Davao City with the support of Mayor Rody Duterte to introduce modern aquaculture and agriculture technologies to the Filipino farmers.
Hopefully, with the contribution of people like Rocky French, Philippine inland fishing will have its boom years and this will not only provide Filipinos affordable and available freshwater fish but also create jobs.
(Photos by Jeff de Guzman)
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