Salt Creek Private Tilapia Project
Over fishing of the reefs is evident in most of Bocas. The local people derive much of their food and income source from the sea. A viable alternative must be offered to re-direct these people's nutritional and monetary needs. We believed if the effort to obtain the alternative food was less than fishing and the cost minimal, that the people would be willing to try this different approach. SBT researched this issue and discovered on a United Nations site that fish aquaculture is the least labor intensive and most income producing alternative to this problem.
In 2005, we constructed two large lakes at our Salt Creek project with the hope of beginning a tilapia fish farm. This project would be funded by SBT and possibly by U.S. AID (who provide fish for indigenous projects). The Ngobe would be trained both as workers and in special technical classes on how and why to fish farm. They would be able to share in its bounty and SBT would assist those interested in developing their own ponds or even communal ponds and a co-op for organizing and selling outside the village.
Based on the following assumptions, we believed the low physical maintenance, cost of food for the fish (primary food is algae and termites, both of which are easy to obtain in the tropics), free fish fry possibilities (U.S. AID), protein food source producing for home consumption, and a ready market in Bocas restaurants (we have already sold some to Bocas restaurants from another project and they requested more), made this a very viable project to offset over fishing.
Monitoring of the lakes revealed fluctuations in salt levels due to direct intrusion of seawater through canals during high tides and run-off into the lakes during rain storms. The fish of choice for numerous reasons including these fluctuations was tilapia. They are readily available, hardy to extremes, have a well documented aquaculture history, and provide commercially viable fish. Further research exposed several problems with the fish choice and aquaculture pollutants for this location. We have abandoned the lakes for this particular project, due to a fear that the fish may escape through the canals and propagate in nearby Salt Creek. This could lead to a replacement of many of the indigenous fish, which would not support our view of environmental conservation. Additionally, fish waste could be transported into the creek system as well. We have been in contact with other Panamanian agencies and have discussed shrimp and alternative "native" fish for this project location. Please check the Blog for updates on this project.
Salt Creek Community Tilapia Project
We had also approached the Ngobe village of Salt Creek with an option to create a project within the community. The project would be funded by private investors, have free technical advisors from SBT and the Panamanian government, and be owned and primarily operated by the community. Fish produced could be sold both to Bocas town restaurants and locally.
Michael Evnin, an agribusiness project developer and manager, joined us in this effort. He is serving as Project Manager and, upon implementation, will invest his own capital in the project. His concept is to provide variable costs funding, such as protein feed pellets, necessary to grow the tilapia and then for SBT in partnership with Michael, pictured above with members of the Ngobe village, to have exclusive marketing rights. The village will provide the necessary labor as their contribution to equity and will earn their profits within the marketing arrangement.
Michael negotiated with ARAP (see below) who supplied samples of whole fish and fillets from their experimental ponds that were then distributed to the hotels and restaurants in Bocas del Toro as part of an exhaustive market survey. These establishments then responded to a detailed questionnaire.
We held several community meetings in Salt Creek village, wherein we discovered there was no single governing body or organization in existence in this Ngobe community with whom to deal with. The community was interested in the project and wanted to create a new organization for this and other related purposes. We had already approached the government of Panama division of fisheries "ARAP", regarding this type of community project. They hardily endorsed the concept and offered their assistance. Through ARAP we met with Bocas MIDA representatives and had MIDA officially create a new organization in the Ngobe village of Salt Creek. The organization was named ADESONG by the Ngobe community.
ARAP has continued to assist us with technical advice on pond location, size, aquaculture technique, and starter fish fry. The final pond location and water source (which will not affect future community growth) was determined and now only the finishing touches are necessary before pond construction begins. This location provides the ideal situation for a synergistic project for both the protection of biodiversity, while providing food production. With the distance from and no direct connection to the creek there will be minimal chance of introduction of a non-native species. Also, any over flow water will flow directly into an adjacent rice cultivation project. We will create the rice cultivation project in conjunction with the fish ponds, thus utilizing and eliminating any fish pollutants while producing another food source. Please check the Blog for updates on this project.