Credit: Vui Kien Liew (Malaysia)
Review: Vui Kien Liew and Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)
The inserted photos have been taken in a state-of-art commercial cage farm for tilapia. The farm was set up in 2008 as an eco-friendly aquaculture facility and operates within an Industrial Aquaculture Zone in Temenggor Lake in Perak.
The farm consists of three modules (60 cages) in operation and 2 modules (40 cages) in construction. Each cage has a diameter of 20 meters with a cone-shape entrapment below the cage for waste. The production capacity of each module is 2,500 tons per year.
The farm has received a global certificate for Best Aquaculture Practices. The compliance with environmental and social issues have been considered in the design and operation of the farm. These include the feed type (vegetable fish feed), feed contents of phosphorus. Other issues include biodiversity, responsible use of resources, fish health and welfare, use of chemicals and antibiotic. The social responsibility has been highlighted in regard to child labor, forced labor and discrimination.
The farm has its own hatchery in Bongor in Grik which produces traceable Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Tilapia juveniles of about 40-g are brought to the cages for about 5-months reaching an average weight of about 1kg and become ready for harvest which is done by pumping fish from cages and transported live to a processing plant in which fish are filleted and then quick frozen before being packed for export. The processing plant has the same legality of the farm.
The full operation of the farm is done through a water quality monitoring system which covers the area around the cages as well as at important points in the lake.
References: audit reports, Trapia Malaysia articles
