Photos’ credit: Farahiyah ilyana Jamaludin (Malaysia)
Review: Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)
The inserted picture shows the culture of red tilapia in cement tanks in Terengganu, Malaysia. Red tilapia hybrid was introduced in 1980s and since then there has been a steadily increase in the contribution of tilapias to freshwater aquaculture in Malaysia.
According to national fishery statics, the production of Nile tilapia in 1992 was 3145 tons whereas the production of red tilapia amounted 1486 tons in the same year. As further development took place, tilapia production has been in favor of red tilapia as reflected in the fishery statistics whereas in 2011, red tilapia produced about 33,000 tons compared to about 9500 tons for normally pigmented tilapia. The market survey indicated that the average price of red tilapia is about 25% higher than normal tilapia.
In regard to farming environments, the cement tank tilapia culture represents only about 6% of total tilapia system whereas earthen ponds, ex-mining pools and floating cages produce 40%, 36% and 18% of farmed tilapia respectively.
