Institute of Aquaculture MSc student Nsogbu Wadike, carried out his research project in Thailand, supported by Open Philanthropy, through the “Improving Farmed Fish Welfare in Asia” project managed by the University of Stirling. His focus was specifically on tilapia production systems in Thailand, and exploring the trade-offs between farmed fish welfare and environmental impacts when seeking to improve performance on either.
Nsogbu Wadike speaks with Simao Zacarias about his MSc research project
Nsogbu visited twelve tilapia farms, covering four each from cages in rivers, cages in reservoirs, semi-intensive and intensive pond systems. Data was collected from each to enable a Lifecycle Assessment to be carried out to determine for instance the overall carbon footprint. Welfare was assessed based on a number of indicators including the harvesting methods used, stocking density, mortality rate, morphological damage, disease frequency, protection provided against predators, the diligence with which water quality and husbandry data was collected to inform management practices, and the training provided to staff. The different farming systems could then be compared and welfare indicators plotted against environmental sustainability indicators across the different systems.
Diagrammatic outline of study approach
The findings were quite complex depending on the particular metrics used. Tilapia production in cages in reservoirs had the highest carbon footprint due to the use of high-quality feeds. However, they also tended to have the higher fish welfare (according to the indices used) as there was greater management effort and skill involved in managing these intensive systems.
Overall, the project has opened up a very interesting line of research and provided some baseline data for tilapia in Thailand which can be explored in further detail and different systems in the future.
Following successful completion of the MSc programme, Nsogbu is returning to employment with the Victory Farms Group in Kenya where he is now the Group Aquaculture Excellence Manager.