Following a successful pilot project, Fusion Marine Ltd has supplied and is helping to install a small fish farm system in Tahiti.
The system is said to form the important first steps in creating a flourishing and sustainable aquaculture sector for the Polynesian island.
In 2011, global aquaculture equipment supplier Fusion Marine was approached by Tahiti Fish Aquaculture to manufacture and supply a small 12m diameter polyethylene fish pen based on the company’s Oceanflex design. Fusion Marine also provided onsite help, advice and training on how to assemble the system, as well as installing the holding net and secure the moorings.
The pilot trial proved successful, and Tahiti Fish Aquaculture (TFA) has now ordered four more pens to complete the fish farm system. TFA is a new company and the species’ being farmed, the Orbicular Batfish (Platax orbicularis,) is also new to aquaculture. The Fisheries Service in Tahiti has been working to develop the farming of this species since 2006, which provided TFA with a good grounding on how to effectively rear the fish.
However, as Thomas Launay of TFA points out, it is still very much a learning process. “As a private farm we have to find ways based on the original techniques developed by the Fisheries Service to be more effective so as to ensure the production process is economically viable,” he says.
“We have already pioneered a few new techniques, including in the way that we feed the fish and the number of feeds per day. The techniques we use are sustainable, with no medicines or other treatments used at any stage of the rearing. We also only use non-GMO feed.”
TFA is planning to produce approximately 40t of Orbicular batfish per year, but is hoping to eventually double this output if suitable export markets are found.
