Tilapia released at Beaver Dam

Red Tilapia fingerlings cultivated at the Fisheries Department hatchery was released on Thursday at the Beaver Dam Aquaculture Sweetwater Zone on the Western Highway. The fish were imported from Taiwan and are a sample of an expected 150,000 babies that will be purchased at the end of May for a three pond experiment. Project owner Rick Shi has indicated to the government that if the project is successful he will increase his investment to twenty ponds by next year. The tilapia release was attended by Ambassador Kuo-Hsiung Shen, the Minister of Agriculture Daniel Silva and Fisheries Department personnel. But tilapia weren’t the only fish released by the group. At Julian Patt’s farm in San Estevan the Minister released 1,000 young fish from a hatchery in Biscayne. The Cranas, Bay Snook and Moss Moss were raised by Greg Smith under a special agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture. The Freshwater unit of the Fisheries Department says they will have stocks of local varieties of fish available in the next five months for farmers who wish to restock their ponds.