Prospect and potentials of water re-circulating system in catfish production in Nigeria

Abstract

Imgbian TD, Cheikyula OJ

Aquaculture is mostly undertaken in earthen ponds or large tanks with water. Earthen ponds require large areas of land and significant quantities of clean groundwater. Flow-through tank aquaculture requires less land but needs more water per kilogram of fish produced to maintain good growing conditions within the tank. Furthermore, there has been a serious concern regarding detrimental impacts of aquaculture production on the environment, increased regulations on aquaculture effluents and the need to conserve water resources and energy. In view of these, the aquaculture industry has identified the use of water re-circulating system technology in production as promising, with its ability to allow for high stocking density on the forefront. However, the adoption of this technology is low in Nigeria owing to the dearth of knowledge on its principles of operation as well as high cost of setup and maintenance.