WWW.WA S .ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • DECEMBER 2022 27 Individually fish is second and shrimp third, with a 20.1 percent share of the total value exported in 2017 and 17 percent in 2018. In other words, seafood produced in aquaculture is one of the main sectors that generates foreign currency for the country. Approximately 10 percent of the production stays in the national market, while the remainder is exported. During the pandemic years, the situation was somewhat more complicated, however, aquaculture production is indicating a slight upturn. In recent years, shrimp production has been influenced by various factors, such as a drop in market prices and bacterial diseases. In the case of tilapia, it has been challenged by a lack of market access. Figure 1 shows the trend from 2014 to 2021, according to official figures from the National Directorate of Exports of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Comptroller General of the Republic. The economic value of exports in 2014 was US$ 79.2 million, falling to US$ 9.5 million in 2021. Currently, there are 19 active concessions, some 7 concessions are in the process of being renewed, 9 concessions have expired contracts, 28 are in the process to acquire a concession. Since 2018, Ecuadorian and Colombian entrepreneurs have been investing in the shrimp farming sector, reactivating shrimp farms that were in disuse. Although this activity is inexpensive, the first few years of learning are usually more costly in time and money. Therefore, it requires more support from the government. As for mariculture, there is significant North American investment in Puerto Armuelles, Chiriquí province and on the coast above the province of Colón and in Vacamonte Port in West Panama. Regarding the role of ARAP in aquaculture, it mainly contributes through donations of gray and red tilapia, which represents 30 percent of the total production between 2020 and 2022. Of the four experimental stations, two are for tilapia production: Divisa Station and Gualaca Station, accounting for some 17,300 direct beneficiaries of social programs attached to the Presidency of the Republic. Another three stations with environments ranging from estuarine to marine at the Enrique Enseñat station, the marine station at the port of Vacamonte and the Achotines Laboratory in the Azuero area, under the framework of a planned vision with the private company that responds to needs so that results are inserted almost immediately into commercial production. For this reason, ARAP is committed to strengthening aquaculture in Panama, based on the generation and transfer of technology with a vision of efficiency linked to the need to lower energy costs, use of alternative energy, feed costs, generating a pellet with the nutritional profile required by the species to be cultivated using organic waste, always added to the fact that the above comes hand in hand with participation by private companies. On the other hand, the government, with the initiative to support the sector, implements soft credit lines and facilitates the importation of species with a better genetic profile, such as tilapia, shrimp and other species, that will be validated at the stations to achieve greater efficiency. Aquaculture production from 2017 to 2021 (Graph 2) indicates a decrease of pompano due to sanitary restrictions due to the pandemic that affected the market, reducing production to zero by 2020. The same happened for shrimp and cobia. In the case of shrimp, there was a rebound in 2021, with an increase of 111 percent compared to 2020. Other species such as the sea cucumber is in a research phase in the Caribbean area, where 75 percent of juvenile survival has been achieved. However, more data still needs to be generated to validate the efficiency of production. One interesting development is the production of macroalgae on the Caribbean Coast, using Euchema cottoni, Kappaphycus alvarezii and Gracilaria spp. These are produced under artisanal technology using 25-m long ropes suspended at 1 m depth, free of movement, attached to a mother rope that gives firmness to the ropes, to which 1-g fragments of macroalgae are attached. Using 90 ropes, about 1.5 kg of vegetative material per rope can be obtained in seven weeks. This production has a space in the European market. Another production alternative is Seriola rivoliana, a carangid (jack) species of great commercial interest in the Gulf of Chiriquí on the Pacific Ocean. The farms seeks to gradually develop production capacity to a maximum production of 20,000 t by 2028. Other species that have production potential are red snapper Lutjanus guttatus, Pacific red snapper Lutjanus peru, dorado/mahimahi Coryphaena hippurus, Pacific goliath grouper Epinephelus quinquefasciatus, large amberjack Seriola dumerili, yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares, rainbow runner Elagatis bipinnulata, white bass Centropomus viridis, frassy chub / drummer Kyphosus vaigiensis. With this broad scenario, a greater effort is required to strengthen one of the productive sectors of the country and prepare for the new challenges that arise in terms of improving technology, public policies that benefit the sector and maintain competitiveness in the international market. Notes Eng. Roberto Chamorro. President of the Panamanian Aquaculture Association. ASPAC. Lic. Darío López. Research and Development Director of the Aquatic Resources Authority of Panama. ARAP. For this reason, ARAP is committed to strengthening aquaculture in Panama, based on the generation and transfer of technology with a vision of efficiency linked to the need to lower energy costs, use of alternative energy, feed costs, generating a pellet with the nutritional profile required by the species to be cultivated using organic waste, always added to the fact that the above comes hand in hand with participation by private companies. On the other hand, the government, with the initiative to support the sector, implements soft credit lines and facilitates the importation of species with a better genetic profile, such as tilapia, shrimp and other species, that will be validated at the stations to achieve greater efficiency.
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