Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

En - Nile tilapia, Fr - Tilapia du Nil, Es - Tilapia del Nilo

The culture of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) can be traced to ancient Egyptian times as depicted on bas-relief from an Egyptian tomb dating back over 4000 years, which showed the fish held in ornamental ponds. While significant worldwide distribution of tilapias, primarily Oreochromis mossambicus, occurred during the 1940s and 1950s, distribution of the more desirable Nile tilapia occurred during the 1960s up to the 1980s. Nile tilapia from Japan were introduced to Thailand in 1965, and from Thailand they were sent to the Philippines. Nile tilapia from Cote d'Ivoire were introduced to Brazil in 1971, and from Brazil they were sent to the United States in 1974. In 1978, Nile tilapia was introduced to China, which leads the world in tilapia production and consistently produced more than half of the global production in every year from 1992 to 2003.

The uncontrolled breeding of tilapia in ponds, which led to excessive recruitment, stunting and a low percentage of marketable-sized fish, dampened the initial enthusiasm for tilapia as a food fish. The development of hormonal sex-reversal techniques in the 1970s represented a major breakthrough that allowed male monosex populations to be raised to uniform, marketable sizes. In addition, research on nutrition and culture systems, along with market development and processing advances, led to rapid expansion of the industry since the mid 1980s. Several species of tilapia are cultured commercially, but Nile tilapia is the predominant cultured species worldwide.

Market & Trade

Nile tilapia were introduced to developing countries and cultured on a subsistence level to meet local protein needs. As production techniques improved and off-flavours were controlled, tilapia moved into the mainstream seafood markets of these countries. In highly industrialized countries, small markets for live local tilapia or frozen imports developed among immigrant communities. With the appearance of fresh tilapia fillets from tropical countries, new markets opened in upper echelon restaurants, casual dining restaurant chains, hypermarkets and discount stores. Virtually all casual dining restaurant chains in the USA feature tilapia, which are an ideal menu addition due to their reasonable price, year-round supply, mild, delicious flavour and flexibility in preparation. Most Europeans are just discovering tilapia, and great potential exists in Europe for market expansion. China, a major exporter of tilapia, has great potential for market development to supply a rapidly growing middle class. Tilapia is ideally suited to replace carp as the staple of Chinese seafood.

An important component of the growing tilapia industry is the proliferation of product forms. Tilapia exports initially consisted of frozen whole fish from Taiwan Province of China, but the USA market preferred fillets, which were initially supplied by Jamaica, Colombia and Costa Rica as a fresh product. Today, fresh or frozen fillets are available in different sizes and packages, as skin-on, skin-off, deep skinned, individually quick frozen, smoked, and sashimi grade, and are treated by carbon monoxide or ozone dipped. Whole or gutted tilapia are still available but are sold primarily in ethnic markets. Interesting by-products have emerged such as leather goods for clothing and accessories, gelatine from skins for time-released medicines and flower ornaments made from dried and coloured fish scales.

Status & Trends

Tilapia (including all species) is the second most important group of farmed fish after carps, and the most widely grown of any farmed fish. In 2004 tilapia moved up to the eighth most popular seafood in the USA global production of all species of tilapia is projected to increase from 1.5 million t in 2003 to 2.5 million t by 2010, with a sales value of more than US$5 billion. Most of this enhanced production is expected to be attributed to Nile tilapia.

Some current trends include:

• The development of new faster growing strains through selective breeding techniques.
• Breeding procedures to produce genetically male tilapia (GMT) without direct hormone use.
• Pond polyculture systems.
• Intensive cost-effective recirculation systems.

Information Source

http://www.fao.org/fishery/culturedspecies/Oreochromis_niloticus