TILAPIA ADVANCES AND SET-BACKS: 2008 IN REVIEW, 2010 IN PREVIEW Kevin Fitzsimmons, Ph.D. Professor, University of Arizona Sec. Tres. American Tilapia Association Past President – World Aquaculture Society Veracruz, MEXICO 27 Sept, 2009

Overview F Global perspective on tilapia F US and EU markets for tilapia products F Production systems F Processing and packaging changes F Demands on farmers – NGO’s F Future trends

Global production of tilapia

Top Ten Seafoods (U.S.) per capita (lbs)

Entering the mainstream

Percentage of US finfish sales 2007 % of sales

Tilapia’s real competition for animal protein

US Consumption of tilapia from domestic and imported sources

US Tilapia consumption (imports and domestic) 229,000 mt of live weight (equivalent) ,410 mt of live weight (equivalent) – ,295 mt of live weight (equivalent) – ,000 mt of live weight (equivalent) ,264 mt of live weight (equivalent) – 2008

29,213 mt fresh fillets, 100,603 mt frozen fillets, 49,648 mt whole frozen (2008)

$297,413,000 (2004 ) $392,978,298 (2005) $482,742,515 (2006), $559,788,809 (2007), $734,450,306 (2008)

F Imports in 2008 were $734,450,306 F US production of 20,000,000 lbs at farm F 2008 US tilapia farm-gate sales over $50,000,000 F 2008 US Tilapia Sales estimate – $734,450,306 + $50,000,000 = $784,450,306 US Sales of tilapia

Tilapia (May 25, 2005 Madrid Daily) F Europe is following US trend of adopting tilapia as replacement for traditional fishes

Tilapia ( June 2007, Tesco, UK ) F $8 US per lb whole fish!!!!

Gaining NGO certifications F NaturLand F World Wildlife Fund F Aquaculture Certification Council F WWF, ACC, and Whole Foods have released draft sustainability guidelines (Best Aquaculture Practices) for public comment F Each reviewing sustainability of aquaculture practices and providing a certification and marketing logo

Basic goals of NGO’s F Protect environment – reduce effluent impacts, protect wildlife, mitigate damage F Protect consumers – reduce (eliminate) hormones, antibiotics, contaminants F Protect workers – safe environment, fair wages, follow local labor laws and rules F Protect society and farm neighbors – follow local laws and land tenure, reduce environmental externalities

Tilapia situation in Latin America F Early in year, fresh sales from Central and South America increased F Late in year, severe problem with letters of credit F Importers cannot borrow to buy fish F Slumping exports to the US F Only biggest firms with cash can continue buying

Tilapia situation in Latin America F Decreased fresh sales from Ecuador and Peru F Increased fresh sales from Brazil, Nicaragua, Honduras, Colombia, Costa Rica

Tilapia situation in Asia F Huge decrease in frozen sales from China in early part of year due to winter kill F Increased frozen sales from Indonesia and Thailand F By end of year, China equaled 2007 sales volume, but large increase in value

December 18, 2008 F Government of China proposes to ban use of CO for treatment of tilapia (and other fish and meat products). F Final decision to be made in F Production costs in China rose 20% last year. Expect 10%+ increases in coming years.

Tilapia – shrimp – seaweed polyculture in Indonesia

Gracilaria Shrimp Tilapia

Demands on farmers and processors F Demand for even more food safety, high quality, “organic” or “green” tilapia products. - Reduce or eliminate use of methyl-testosterone hormone. - No anti-biotics or other chemicals - Reduce environmental impacts - More integrated, re-use water for farming crops - Re-use processing waste products F More value-added tilapia products F More demand for all forms, especially frozen meals F Rapidly increasing demand from Europe

Developing countries improved quality control: Required for US, EU, and Japan markets F Samples checked for bacterial and chemical contamination F Follow HACCP procedures, ISO, and EU guidelines F Many plants are using ozone dips to reduce surface bacteria

Improvements in packaging

IQF Fillets in re-sealable packages

Tilapia in Long John Silvers fastfood

Buy TILAPIA

Buy tilapia

Other celebrity endorsement F President Obama reports next White House Chef will need to be able to prepare tacos and tilapia. F Michelle Obama fancies grilled tilapia. “She enjoys her food but tries to eat healthy, as well,” said close family friend Sandy Matthews. F Michelle Obama usually opted for jerk chicken Caesar salad or the pineapple tilapia.

Tilapia leather and other by- products

Tilapia Orange Juice

Global Tilapia Market Trends Prices have been constant, only fresh fillets have increased significantly, will not see increases beyond inflation $/kg

Global Aquaculture Tilapia Sales F For year 2000 =US $ 1,744, (FAO FishStat 2007) F 2005 sales = $ 2,457,312,000 (FAO FishStat 2007) F 2010 sales >$ 5,000,000,000

Future global tilapia aquaculture

Conclusions F Global tilapia production will exceed 3,000,000 metric tons in F Constantly improving production systems with demands for more sustainability. F More demands for food safety, quality assurance, improved packaging, and environmental safeguards (with little if any increase in price) F ISO, HACCP and NGO certifications will be a fact of life.

NINTH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON TILAPIA IN AQUACULTURE (ISTA9) November 2010 Shanghai Ocean University in conjunction with 9 th Asian Fisheries Society Forum

Funding for this research was provided by the C OLLABORATIVE R ESEARCH S UPPORT P ROGRAM The AquaFish CRSP is funded in part by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Cooperative Agreement No. EPP-A and by US and Host Country partners. The contents of this presentation do not necessarily represent an official position or policy of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Mention of trade names or commercial products in this presentation does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use on the part of USAID or the AquaFish Collaborative Research Support Program. The accuracy, reliability, and originality of the work presented are the responsibility of the individual authors.