Topic:

Current Status and Potentials of Aquaculture in Delta State, Nigeria 

Abstract: 

Delta State is endowed with different water bodies enriched with high specie diversities. About 87% of the fish farmers in Delta State culture Catfish, and about 12% culture tilapia mostly gotten from the wild and trained. There are over 30 species of fish in our water bodies and are yet to be exploited. Aquaculture is a sustainable means for food production and security, and we are yet to fully explore the production of most fish species in aquaculture. Feed accounts for more than 70% cost of aquaculture production in Delta State, because of the high cost and low supply of fish meal. From the survey we conducted, we observed that some of the fishes sampled from the river were very small in size with high abundance caught in all seasons but have very low market value to the fishermen. However, they can be potential source of fishmeal when produced. Mormyridae, Clariidae, Cichlidae, Mochokidae, Gymnarchidae are some of the families of fish we found to be in abundance in our water bodies with high aquaculture potential. We have begun to identify these fish species at the molecular level using DNA bar-cording for aquaculture production.

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