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PROJECT REPORT h FARMER/RANCHER h SARE
Final Results
FW98-003
Local Feed Production for Tilapia
http://wsare.usu.edu
Location: OBJECTIVES
Rota, Commonwealth of the The primary objective of this SARE-funded experiment is to explore whether
Northern Marianas Islands
alternative and locally available feeds can be cost-effectively used to raise
Funding Period: tilapia.
January 1998 to May 2002
ABSTRACT
Grant Award: Feed costs comprise the biggest expense in raising tilapia, constraining
$4,500
expansion of tilapia farming. At the same time, there is a small but expanding
Project Coordinator: market for this food fish as evidenced by the amount of frozen tilapia being
Nicolas Songsong imported.
Farmer
P.O. Box 496
To test whether locally grown feeds could be used to rear these food fish, 1,000
Rota, MP 96951-04496
(670) 532-3370 red tilapia fries imported from a hatchery in Guam were divided equally
between two fish tanks.
Technical Advisor:
Mark Brotman, followed by One group was fed commercially available floating tilapia feed. The second was
Anthony Benavente
fed only the ground leaf material of two locally grown crops, kang kung and
Northern Marianas College
CREES Program sweet potato. Both have high protein and both are abundant on the islands.
Territorial Aquaculture
Specialist Both types of feed were measured until the 10-week stage of the project.
P.O. Box 501250
NMC-CREES Saipan, MP
96950 SPECIFIC RESULTS
(670) 234-9034 Ext. 1708
Several complications arose during the project that precluded an accurate
anthonyb@nmcnet.edu
comparison of the two feeds. Among these were an irregularity of the water
Cooperators: supply between the two tanks, curtailing of the water supply during an attempted
Simon Ellis second test and a change in technical advisors in the early stages of the project.
Regional Aquaculture
Specialist
At the 10-week stage, because the tilapia performed poorly on the local feeds,
Jim Currie, Coordinator the project team decided to switch to commercial feeds to salvage the fish for
Northern Marianas College market. The poor growth may have resulted from degraded water quality or
Cooperative Extension from the locally grown feed.
At six months, the fish were harvested. Those reared on the commercial feed weighed an average of ½ pound.
The fished reared on the local feed weighed a maximum of 3 ounces.
While the project was terminated at harvest, coordinator Nicolas Songsong says he hopes to replicate the
project with improved monitoring and the assistance of a new technical advisor who is familiar with animal
nutrition and feed processing.
“I will do this project with their help since I am committed to tilapia farming and, as chairman of the Rota
Agriculture Advisory Council, I feel a commitment to helping all potential tilapia farmers of the island,” says
Songsong.
POTENTIAL BENEFITS
Songsong says that while the potential benefits of such a project may seem small by mainland United States
standards, the impact on personal and family income could be considerable if locally produced feeds could be
found to replace commercial tilapia feed, which is estimated at 75% of the cost of tilapia production.
However, he says, as the project failed to yield results, estimates of measurable benefits are unavailable.
2002 i FW98-003 i 1
FARMER ADOPTION AND DIRECT IMPACT
As the project has yet to be completed, no other farmers have opted to adopt local feeds for tilapia. One
outcome, however, has been that since this project began three other farmers have constructed fish tanks to
produce tilapia, and all three visited the project site to discuss tilapia production.
FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS OR NEW HYPOTHESES
For such a project, Songsong advises close consultation with experts in food processing and animal nutrition,
neither of which was available on the island at the time of the project. The Northern Marianas College staff
now have the skills to help producers like Songsong produce a balanced feed in a form the fish would accept.
Indeed, he says a future study may incorporate a supplement with higher protein, like processed fish waste
from the local marine fishery.
DISSEMINATION OF FINDINGS
The project site has been open to visits by local farmers, several of whom stopped by to view the operation
and discuss tilapia. In addition, the extension staff of Northern Marianas College and the Department of
Lands and Natural resources have used Songsong’s project to promote fish farming in the region. In addition,
Simon Ellis, secretary of Pacific Community Regional Aquaculture, visited the project three times.
PRODUCER INVOLVEMENT
Songsong was the only producer directly involved in this project.
2002 i FW98-003i 2
