An East Coast Demerara oil mill is focusing its efforts on providing fish feed supplies and fingerlings to boost the aquaculture industry.
In a press release the National Aquaculture Association of Guyana (NAAG) said the Maharaja Oil Mill was already the main local fish feed supplier and it recently completed the first phase of an aquaculture tilapia hatchery. NAAG said the mill recognised the demand for proper feed and has focused its business venture on creating the supply.
Phase one of the mill’s expansion entailed building several preliminary brooding tanks that will be used to house a pure strain of supermale tilapia. This strain only produces male offspring and will eliminate the need to separate the fish by sex. The offspring of the brooding stock of supermales will then be transferred to nursing ponds where they will be grown to about 25 grams in size. At this stage the fingerlings will be sold to aquaculture farmers that need to restock their ponds.
Manager of the mill Satesh Persaud’s first foray into the industry was in developing fish feed. Fish feed is “the greatest expense for farmers involved in aquaculture in Guyana and it was previously only available for purchase at a high cost from outside countries,” the release said. NAAG identified the mill as a facility capable of producing feed locally and with support from the United States Agency for International Development/ Guyana Trade and Investment Support project Persaud bought feed dryers. The mill currently produces a high protein fish feed that is used by nearly all of the NAAG-supported aquaculture farms and is vital to the local aquaculture industry.
Persaud said plans are in train to further expand the hatchery and to provide a greater yield of fingerlings to farmers.
