Dar looks to Asia for modern fishing

TANZANIA is set to adopt modern fish-farming techniques from India and Thailand in a move that will see doubling of the sector’s contribution to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Official figures show fish and fishery products accounting to 1.4 per cent of the country’s GDP though experts say limited development of fisheries related infrastructure and technology had blocked the sector to heavily contribute to the national share.

The East African country has an estimated potential of harvesting over 2.5 million metric tons of fish from its traditional and inshore marine water sources and figures released by the government in 2013 indicated fish production was 367,854 metric tons valued at 1.44 billion/-.

It further contributed to 6.12 million US dollars in foreign exchange from export of fish and fishery products. Christian Brighton, Director with Stic Lab Limited told the ‘Daily News’ at the ongoing 40th Dar es Salaam International Trade held at the Mwalimu Nyerere Fair Grounds in the city that Tanzania does not need to import fish and fishery products.

“We have all we want. The only way to reduce fish and fishery products gaps between supply and demand is by introducing fish aquaculture,” he said adding the company is embarking on introducing modern fish farming techniques from India and Thailand to improve productivity.

“We’re training small and medium sized fish farmers and we’re offering solar-powered technology to simplify fishery activities for individuals and medium-sized entrepreneurs,” he said. The director pointed out that fish farming is less expensive than poultry farming.

“One fish is capable to produce more than 1,000 fingerlings and feeding cost is less than 100,000/- per year,” Mr Brighton who runs several exploratory dams said in an interview yesterday.

Other than maximizing individual earnings, fish and fishery products represent a very valuable source of protein and essential micronutrients for balanced nutrition and good health.

Fish contributes to the world population’s intake of animal protein.

Globally, fish provides about 3.0 billion people with almost 20 per cent of their intake of animal protein, and 4.3 billion people with about 15 per cent of such protein, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Tanzania Foods and Nutrition Centre (TFNC) reported that per capita consumption of fish and fishery products was about 7.7 kg/capita.

Spokesman for the Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA), Mr Sitta Peter, told the ‘Daily News’ the authority was working with the small and medium sized enterprises by offering them modern fish farming techniques. He said the current technology being adopted is fish farming in salty water. “We can now farm tilapia in salty water,” he said.

The technology, according to Stic Lab, involves installing a solarenergy to pump water into a fish tank and recycle the same water for about three months. It helps in cleaning the tanks and decontaminating water in the tank. “Now”, he said, “we’re working on to develop a sensor, which will determine intervals and size of food to be supplied in a tank -- in accordance with the number of fish available”.