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| Tilapia hatching jar. |
The Aquaculture programme is aiming to promote tilapia and shrimp production in the Northern Marianas Islands CNMI. The primary objective has been to import and produce high quality tilapia fry (baby tilapia) that can be shared with farmers for grow-out of for their brood stock.
The team has traditionally been responsible for conducting workshops, farm visitations and consultations in regards to aquaculture systems.
As a result of the extension programme's latest move, thee aquaculture farmers have adopted the bottle hatching technique acquired from the aforementioned training and have reported less mortality than previous breeding attempts.
In recent years, NMC-CREES has collaborated with Saipan Aquaculture Co. Inc. in establishing the CNMI’s first ever shrimp hatchery, which has laid the foundation for others to try their hand at shrimp production.
Shrimp production has great potential in regards to marketability and value of the product, according to NMC-CREES. The impact of such extension efforts can be seen in the construction of two new shrimp farms and the expansion of Saipan Aquaculture’s brood stock grow-out facility in Lower base.