Guide to Freshwater Fish Cultivation

Freshwater fish farming is increasingly tempting. According to the UN Food Agency report, in 2021 the per capita fish consumption of the world population will reach 19.6 kg per year. Although currently more fish consumption is supplied by marine fish, in 2018 freshwater fish production will overtake capture fisheries production.

Why is that, because capture fisheries production will decline due to overfishing. Fish in the sea are increasingly difficult to obtain. Even if there is no change in the production model, the researchers predicted that by 2048 there would be no more fish to catch.

In other words there will be no seafood menu on our plate! Therefore it is necessary to increase the production of freshwater fish as substitute for marine fish. So that we can provide space for marine biota to breed.

Level of fish consumption

Indonesia as a country with a very large population is a potential market for fishery products. Moreover, the current fact shows that per capita fish consumption in Indonesia is still very low compared to the consumption of other developing countries.

If we look at the CTF report in 2011, the fish consumption of the Indonesian people is only 31.5 kg per year. Try to compare it with Malaysia which reaches 55.4 kg per year! The good news is that the average growth in fish consumption in Indonesia is quite high at 5.04 percent per year. Far above Malaysia which is only 1.26 percent per year.

With the growth of the Indonesian economy, public awareness of fish consumption is getting higher. Coupled with the KKP's Campaign for Eating Fish, consumption figures will continue to move up.

Freshwater fish cultivation

In terms of production, in 2011 national fishery production reached 12.39 million tons. Of that amount, capture fisheries production was 5.41 million tons and aquaculture production was 6.98 million tons.

Of the total aquaculture production, the number of fish cultivation in freshwater ponds contributes up to 1.1 million tons. The rest is brackish water pond cultivation, marine cultivation, cage cultivation and floating net cultivation.

The increase in production of fish cultivation in freshwater ponds is quite rapid, which ranges from 11 percent every year. This shows there is a great passion in the community to develop freshwater fish farming. Of course this production growth refers to the increasing market demand.