40. A brief Seminar held during the Consultation heard a presentation on experiences in investment in aquaculture in Africa, Latin America and North America. Mr F. Gnahoua (Côte d’Ivoire) gave an overview of the experience in his country and Professor Neil Ridler (Canada) described the experiences in Chile, Honduras and Canada. Mr Patrick Blow (Zimbabwe) gave a presentation on tilapia farming activities on the Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe.
41. The Representative of Lake Harvest provided an overview of the history of the establishment and management of the cage culture operation, production, processing and marketing of tilapia. Production aspects such as feed production, species choice, location of the economy, fry and fingerling production, sex-reversal, types of tanks, cages and ponds and harvests were discussed, as well as environmental and social aspects, such as EIAs, environmental monitoring, employment generation and salary levels. In addition, marketing aspects such as transport, consumer preferences and marketing costs were discussed.
42. During the discussion that followed the presentation, many technical issues related to commercial production of tilapia in sub-Saharan Africa were brought up. Some delegates suggested that, as government extension services in the field of aquaculture have showed to be not always as effective as was intended, “out-sourcing” of these tasks to the private sector should be considered. It was further suggested that Lake Harvest, as an innovative commercial fish producing and processing enterprise, could be an important focus of study tours or apprentices/training, whereby countries could benefit from Lake Harvest’s experience. The main report will be published separately.
