Aquaculture Crsp 22nd Annual Technical Report

One important factor limiting tilapia culture development in Honduras as well as in the rest of the Central America is the lack of supply of fingerlings in sufficient quantity and quality. To assess the situation, we endeavored to obtain information and purchase fingerlings from every seed producer in Honduras. Sixteen tilapia fingerling producers were visited and interviewed during September 2003 to April 2004. They provided information about their production facilities and techniques, the quality and quantity of fingerlings produced, their socio-economic situation, and their technical needs. Fingerlings were obtained from 12 farms, and then transported to the Zamorano campus for grow-out and comparison. Most samples (70%) contained more than 10% females. Only three of the 10 samples of sex-reversed tilapia fingerlings had less than 3% females. There was a high degree of variability in the sizes of the fingerlings in each sample. Two of the 16 fingerling producers do not use MT sex-reversal. Seven fingerling farms are family-owned, four are private companies, one is a cooperative, and the remaining four are operated by non-profit organizations (NGOs), universities, and government agencies). In aggregate, they produce approximately 15.3 million fingerlings a year. Most (75%) of the fingerling producers interviewed also raise tilapia, produce other aquaculture species, and have other farm enterprise.