Brazil Plans to Boost Tilapia Output

In 2009 the total volume of aquaculture in Brazil increased by 13.8 per cent, and tilapia aquaculture by 19.6 per cent, according to Inocap reporting the Brazilian Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture -- Ministerio da Pesca e Aquicultura (MPA).

In two years, since 2007, aquaculture volume increased by 43.8 per cent and tilapia by 39.8 per cent.

In 2009 cultured volume was 415,649 tons, out of which tilapia was 132,958 tons. Tilapia is experiencing the greatest increase in volume with an increase of 21,831 tons. If MPA is right about its forecast of 570,000 tons of aquaculture by the end of 2011, and if tilapia maintains its relative share of 32 per cent, tilapia production will increase of about 50,000 tons over the next couple of years.

If tilapia maintains the same annual increase as in 2009 of 19.6 per cent for the next two years, the production of tilapia will increase by 57,000 tons to 190,000 tons.

With the establishment of the MPA, Brazil has made an important step in the direction of putting fishing and aquaculture on the political agenda.

MPA was created in June 2009 and Brazil got their first Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture. MPA replaced the Special Secretaries for Aquaculture and Fisheries - Secretaria Especial da Aquicultura e Pesca (SEAP / PR) - which had existed since 2003. In August 2008, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced the development plan “More Fisheries and Aquaculture - 2008/2011" ("Maize Pesca e Aqüicultura - 2008/2011"), with specific volume target for 2011.

The report published by MPA in August this year maintains the targets for 2011.