There is as yet no commercial aquaculture in brackish or marine waters in Jamaica. The Oyster Culture Project sponsored by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, was launched in 1977 on a pilot scale in order to study culture of local mangrove oysters (Crassostrea rhizophorae) in Bowden, Port Morant, St. Thomas, by the Ministry of Agriculture and the University of the West Indies, Mona campus.
Tilapia mossambica was introduced into Jamaica in the early 1950's. A breeding programme was started and the species was stocked in most major rivers and ponds. The tilapia, locally known as African perch, soon became part of the local inland and brackishwater fisheries. Attempts were made to introduce monosex culture of T. mossambica. These were unsuccessful and by the mid-1970's there was virtually no controlled culture of tilapia in fish ponds (ADCP, 1981).
In October 1976 USAID and the Government of Jamaica started a project designed to promote inland fish culture. The following year the Government created the Inland Fisheries Unit (IFU) in the Ministry of Agriculture. The Director of IFU became the counterpart of the USAID-sponsored project, staffed by faculty members of Auburn University, Alabama, USA (ADCP, 1981).
The Extension Programme of the Inland Fisheries Unit was officially started in September 1979. Prior to this, there were only fifteen subsistence fish farmers with ponds, excavated by hand, and having a combined area of only 0.1 ha. Farmers with ponds large enough to be commercially viable numbered 7 with a total of 3 ha (Cooke and Mooyoung, 1982). In 1979 the extension staff, consisting of 6 extension officers, 5 Peace Corp volunteers, 1 regional extension officer and 1 USAID adviser, began a drive to recruit farmers in the Eastern half of the island. After an exhaustive assessment of 6 parishes 1, 3 were found to have very good commercial fish farming potential and 1 fairly good potential (Cooke and Mooyoung, 1982).
During 1980, when the Extension Programme was expanded and the general public became aware of the potential of fish husbandry, a total of 28 farmers with 38 ponds totalling 14 ha were put into commercial production. By the end of 1981 this number had increased to 43 farmers with 91 ponds totalling 32 ha. In early 1982 there were 63 commercial farmers in production utilizing 58 ha of water and 132 ponds. Thirty-two farmers had more than 1 pond each. The largest farm in production to date is owned by the Urban Development Corporation, a statutory body of the Government of Jamaica. The first phase of this farm consists of 28 ha of ponds; the second phase, yet to be constructed, includes approximately 40 ha of ponds.
The first phase of the IFU project was intended to appraise the economics (both at a commercial and subsistence level) of farming tilapia and the potential scope for fish farming in Jamaica. It was also meant to create, within the Government of Jamaica, an institution with the capability and technical expertise needed to design and implement inland fisheries and aquaculture development programmes (ADCP, 1981).
The first phase of the project achieved its objectives. Culture of T. mossambica was found to be economically attractive and farmers were interested. As a result, the Government of Jamaica and USAID agreed to extend the project into a second phase, known as 'Fish Production System Development' and planned to run from December 1979 to December 1983. In June of 1979 the second phase was initiated (ADCP, 1981). The goals of this phase are to increase food production, income of farm families, rural employment and to ensure optimal utilization of land.
The second phase aims at expanding the practice of rural fish culture so that by 1983 production reaches somewhere between 2 500 and 3 000 tons.
In order to achieve this level, production of fingerlings should reach 13 million per year, and a large number of extension personnel must be hired and trained. Other objectives are to improve nutrition in rural areas and help mitigate foreign exchange problems. In order to accomplish these goals the project has established two fish hatcheries; one in the Eastern Region and the other in the Western Region of the island. These two facilities have a total of 44 ha of ponds. In addition pond space at Twickenham Park was increased from 2 ha to 4 ha. The technical staff has increased from 13 in 1979 to 20 in 1982.
The Government sustained its effort to popularize pond-based tilapia culture into the 1980's. It considered, and continues to consider, tilapia culture as a valid activity in rural areas. It creates income and employment. This in turn helps to stem the drift of people from rural to urban areas.
Lately, the Government also came to consider aquaculture as a possible source of foreign exchange and as an area where corporate enterprise has a role to play. In the course of 1981–1982, the Government has engaged in vigorous public relations campaigns intended to attract to Jamaica entrepreneurs and investment capital. A number of these entrepreneurs have found aquaculture to be a promising area and have prepared pre-feasibility studies of aquaculture enterprises to be located in Jamaica. The majority of them propose the culture of marine shrimps and freshwater shrimps, neither of which were cultured commercially in Jamaica in the beginning of 1983.
Given the limited staff and the absence of experience of these types of cultures the Government has found it problematic to arrive at appraisal of these proposals and relating them to other, sometimes competing, proposals. The proposed culture activities, for their implementation, need resources used also in agriculture or access to areas with other possible uses. Given the shortage of staff and their unfamiliarity with the proposed cultures, the Government has found it difficult to appraise these projects and form an opinion on their usefulness in Jamaica.
It thus became apparent that the Government needed an appraisal of the role that aquaculture as a whole can play in the development of the Jamaican economy. In this situation the Government turned to FAO with a request for the required assistance. FAO, through its Technical Cooperation Programme, responded positively to this request and entrusted its execution to the Aquaculture Development and Coordination Programme (ADCP). ADCP financed the services of two of the three mission members to enable a multidisciplinary study of aquaculture potentials in the country.
