Small-scale tilapia aquaculture has been heralded as a potential fish production source that could complement coastal fisheries in the Pacific Islands. This is given the declining coastal fisheries production where fisheries management alone will not be enough to address the future demand for fish among Pacific Islanders. In Solomon Islands, while investments have been put into developing a robust and sustainable tilapia aquaculture sector, critical gaps remain to be addressed to move beyond an emerging sector to one that is making a significant contribution to livelihoods, food security and income.
In this presentation, we trace the development of tilapia aquaculture in Solomon Islands since 2008 (post-ethnic tension) and examine how far the sector has grown. We highlight the successes, challenges, and some key opportunities that can advance the sector’s tangible contribution to complementing coastal fisheries production in Solomon Islands.
We relied on project proposals, reports (project and trips), policy briefs, scientific publications, and our experiences in the field to deduce both qualitative and quantitative information on the key learnings, achievements and outcomes, and recommendations for the sector.
Results show that investments to date were driven mostly by donors through the government, non-governmental organisations, and development partners, and have been successful in contributing to increased farmers’ human (increased knowledge and skills) and social capital (expanded social network through the cluster model). Importantly, the current form of tilapia aquaculture contributed minimally to food consumption and income, therefore will unlikely meaningfully complement coastal fisheries production at this stage. Persistent issues such as the limited productivity of the current tilapia species (Oreochromis mossambicus) leading to limited contribution to rural livelihood, food and income security remain. Hence, while progress has been made towards the introduction of a commercially viable Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) as an alternative option for tilapia aquaculture, the translation of production from household tilapia ponds to tangible impact on rural livelihood, food and income security remains contingent upon several key factors.