PILOT MANAGEMENT PLANS TO IMPROVE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF TILAPIA FARMS IN EGYPT

The ITACA project (Improved management and technological innovation in African tilapia farms and hatcheries; AURG/2/139/2012) is an action implemented by the National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (NIOF, Egypt, coordinator), the Institut Sénégalaise de Recherche Agricole - Centre de Recherches Oceanographiques de Dakar-Thiaroye (ISRA-CRODT, Senegal, partner) and the Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentaries (IRTA, Spain, partner). The action was awarded a grant by the African Union under the African Union Research Grants programme 2012, which is financed by the Financing Agreement between the European Commission and the ACP Group of States (Agreement No REG/FED/2009/021/-575) under the ACP Research for Sustainable Development Program RPR/011/09, of the 10th EDF Intra-ACP Envelop. The ITACA project, aims to enhance the sustainability of African tilapia farms and hatcheries through improved management and technological innovation. An overall number of 8 principles of sustainability have been selected, three of them corresponding to the Economic Dimension, three to the Social Dimension and 2 to the Environmental Dimension. For these 8 principles, an overall number of 22 criteria of sustainability have been selected. These criteria break down the principle into specific themes or characteristics and specify the issue to be addressed. As a result a set of 21 Management Plans for the improvement of economic, social and environmental sustainability of Egyptian tilapia farms has been defined.

The process of definition and selection of the Management Plans to be implemented in each farm so as to increase its sustainability has entailed the following tasks:

1-Assessment of the selected pilot tilapia farms characteristics, including: general business conditions; farm site characteristics; history of the business; target market; management and operations; insurance; suppliers; sales projections, etc.

2. Definition of the 21 specific Management Plans for each of tilapia farms are focused on the following specific farming related areas: Feeding; Effluent management; Energy efficiency; Disease management; Waste management; Worker safety; Storage and disposal of supplies; Food safety; Harvest and transport; Commercialization strategies; Surveillance and monitoring; Escape and native species; Risk assessment for aquaculture activities; Risk assessment for health & safety; Mortality; Animal welfare; Antibiotics; Chemicals management; Hormones management; Traceability; and Predator control.

3. Development of specific Methodology Sheets for each of the 21 Management Plans defined. The Methodology Sheets developed cover the following areas: rationale, management area; description of the management practice; moment or period of implementation; frequency of activities; person responsible; required resources; sustainability indicators to which it is related; expected results; required registers and documentation.

4. Development of the training materials and required register sheets for the successful implementation of the Management Plans in the pilot tilapia farms.

5. Planning of the implementation of the 21 specific Management Plans in each of pilot tilapia farms will be executed by means of: (i) meetings with managers and technical staff of the tilapia farms; (ii) training to managers and technical staff; and (iii) visits for technical support and surveillance, among others.