Image: Ministerio de Producción Comercio Exterior Inversiones y Pesca de Ecuador / FIS

Efforts to Strengthen Fish Farming Production in Ecuador

ECUADOR
Monday, July 22, 2024, 01:00 (GMT + 9)

193 fish farmers from Azuay, Cañar and Tungurahua, affected by natural disasters that occurred in recent weeks, benefited from the delivery of 200,000 trout fingerlings carried out at the Estación Piscícola Arco Iris (EPAI), near the city of Cuenca. The Vice Minister of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Rafaela Hurtado, made this provision effective, prior to touring the EPAI facilities, where she was able to learn about the trout reproduction process and the careful monitoring that is carried out to achieve quality production.

Source: Ministerio de Producción Comercio Exterior Inversiones y Pesca de Ecuador

“Thanks to the commitment of the National Government to productive promotion, the Undersecretariat of Aquaculture delivers fingerlings free of charge to fish farmers or fish farming organizations as an incentive for the implementation of their aquaculture crops, so that they can later sell trout, cachama and tilapia fingerlings at a low cost. . This provision of trout fry is aimed at sectors that have experienced natural disasters and great losses that have significantly reduced their income,” said Vice Minister Hurtado.

Precisely, the same station was affected by the landslides recorded in the first days of May, which is why activities to carry out the physical verification of the biological assets and verification of the facilities were paralyzed for approximately 4 weeks. As a consequence, the mortality of trout spawners and a loss of 30,000 fry was recorded.

Considering what happened, the station maintained its operation, and is currently working with contingency plans, in order to continue providing services to the community in general.

On behalf of the benefited fish farmers, Diego Santamaría thanked the MPCEIP for this type of actions that promote production in the sector. “We know that this does not stop at these deliveries of fry. But they also provide us with comprehensive support to be able to move our businesses forward. The people of our towns are totally grateful for this boost we received,” he expressed.

The Subsecretaría de Acuacultura seeks excellence in the beneficiaries of these provisions through training, technical assistance and support to the fish farming and artisanal mariculture sectors. For this objective, in addition to the EPAI, there are 3 more facilities strategically located throughout the country: Centro de Investigaciones Acuícolas – CENIAC (Papallacta, province of Napo); Estación piscícola CACHARÍ (Babahoyo, province of Los Ríos); and the Centro de reproducción de Cachamas – CEREC (Tena, province of Napo).

Source: Asociación de Producción Piscícola de Tungurahua

The demand for fingerling production has been successfully met, benefiting 1,072 fish farmers nationwide. So far in 2024, a total of 422 applications have been received, including training, technical assistance and provision of trout and tilapia fingerlings, obtaining a total of 2,406 fish farming beneficiaries. The Undersecretary of Aquaculture delivers fingerlings free of charge to fish farmers and fish farming organizations with limited resources or those starting the activity, as an incentive mechanism, allowing them to cover their basic needs through family consumption and local marketing of surpluses.

Source: Ministerio de Producción Comercio Exterior Inversiones y Pesca de Ecuador (Translated from the original in Spanish)

[email protected]
www.seafood.media

Print