Dave’s Inhambane Tilapia fish farm tour
Today, The Sardine Team and a few interested touros, made the list to make a cool visit to Dave Charleys Inhambane tilapia fish farm. Dave gave us his fish farm tour through the various processes of fish breeding, production and processing.
We started out in the brooding department. Tilapia are mouth brooders, so after the eggs have been harvested from the breeding fish tanks, they are placed in the mouth brooder simulator. Where after a day or so they grow eyes, and then a minuscule tail, as they eat through their start-up egg sacs. This ration lasts three days about, after which the 3mm fishies are moved to a juvenile tank.
Here the fish join the Inhambane fish farm run to manhood. They are fed proteins which force the issue – males grow 30% faster than females. But they eat a lot of food! And this is the most expensive part of the process.
The Inhambane Tilapia fish farm then harvests the fish at different sizes. The current offering, the family pack like punnet of four or six fish, sells for an incredibly cheap 60 to 100 Meticals. And has enough protein to feed a family – especially in a delicious fish soup, or grilled on a fire. This has given the local people a source of cheap, sustainable fish protein.
Dave Charley and then partner Chris Scarffe, colluded a few years back, to produce a well screened documentary on the plight of sharks and the local communities who were harvesting them. The doccie, called Shiver, was well received and helped initiate many measures towards the conservation of sharks. But, the biggest motivator to come from the production, was the simple fact that the ocean could not sustain these communities’ protein requirements.
And so Dave set about to remedy the huge problem. And his Inhambane tilapia fish farming project was born.
At this stage, Dave is focused on completing his fish feed plant, also on site at Machavenga between Praia do Tofo and Inhambane. The plant will not only provide Dave with this vital ingredient, but also the many co-operative members he works with. Fish are out-farmed to many small groups within the communities. And this vital ingredient will finally empower these small-scale scale fish growers to realise their full potential.
And so, we offer the Inhambane Tilapia fish farming tours…the proceeds of which will be well reinvested into the project.
Click here to request a reservation, when next you are in the Inhambane area.
