WITH the current strain being placed on the fishing industry – mainly reef fish – there are plans by the Ministry of Fisheries to encourage more locals, especially in the rural areas to engage in tilapia farming.
Katarina Baleisuva owns Kaybees Enterprise Ltd and has been involved in aquaculture farming since 2012.
She is now producing tilapia frys for other tilapia farmers around the country.
Ms Baleisuva has been assisted by the Pacific Community (SPC) as well as the Ministry of Fisheries in the establishment and monitoring of her farm.
Pacific Community PacAqua officer Avinash Singh said their team assisted Ms Baleisuva in terms of providing the equipment for her hatchery and technical expertise on tilapia farming, post-handling of eggs and frys and training on the whole operation.
Ministry of Fisheries senior research officer – Aquaculture Division – Jone Varawa said based on their database, there were about 435 tilapia farmers in Fiji with 95 per cent of them being subsistence farmers.
