More on this topic from someone who "has lost his mind". The following is copied directly from the SRC publication:
Growth and yields
in aquaculture
Under good growth conditions,
1-gram fish are cultured in nursery
ponds to 1 to 2 ounces (20 to 40
grams) in 5 to 8 weeks and then
restocked into growout ponds. In
monosex growout ponds under
good temperature regimes, males
generally reach a weight of 1/2
pound (200 + grams) in 3 to 4
months, 1 pound (400 + grams) in
5 to 6 months, and 1.5 pounds (700
grams) in 8 to 9 months. To produce
1-pound (400- to 500-gram) fish,
common practice is to stock 6,000 to
8,000 males per acre in static water
ponds with aeration or 20,000 to
28,000 males per acre where 20 percent
daily water exchange is economically
practical. After 6 months
of feeding with good quality feeds,
such ponds can produce 5,000 to
7,000 pounds per acre and 18,000 to
20,000 pounds per acre, respectively."
Producing 20,000 pounds per acre every 6 months would seem to feed a lot of folks. Do the math yourself, and very probably mine contained mistakes because I did it in my "lost" mind. Wonder why commercial ponds only use unisex Tilapia?
As an example, if those 20,000 pounds were all female and at a reproduction rate of 3 fry per ounce of female weight, do the math for a multiple spawn cycle without predation....the numbers are staggering, absolutely staggering.
I'm sure I made math errors in my "quick and dirty" analysis and the results certainly indicate some of the assumptions may be questionable, but most reasonable people can look at the raw numbers and agree that Tilapia forage production is flat awesome.
