Overview

This project addressed several critical issues of special concern to aquaculture producers in Mexico and Guyana. One is the use of locally produced protein sources for the replacement of fishmeal in tilapia, pacu and shrimp diets. Another is the management of YY supermale and GIFT strain tilapia stocks. In both cases the project will assist by providing nucleus breeding centers and support for pedigreed selective breeding programs. We will also evaluate these strains with others already available to local growers. To be clear, we will not be involved with introductions of new species. In fact, we will not even be involved with the importations of new strains. The Mexican and Guyana governments have already started the imports. We will assist to document the impacts and train staff on hatchery techniques and how to maintain pedigree records. It should be remembered that Nile Tilapia is already a significant industry in both countries and their surrounding neighbor countries. In fact in Mexico, Nile tilapia represents a $300,000,000 annual industry producing 100,000 metric tons of fish for domestic consumption, with registered farms in every state in Mexico. The YY supermale Nile tilapia that are genetically male are much less likely to become established in the wild, compared to precociously spawning Nile tilapia that are mixed sex populations.

Related AquaFish investigations include: 09TAP01UA, 09SFT03UA, 09QSD02UA, 09IND05UA, 07BMA03UA, 07SFT04UA, 07IND01UA, 07MNE06UA, 07IND02UA, 07HHI02UA, 07SFT05UA, 07TAP03UA