BFAR, Itbayat Island open first tilapia hatchery

Batanes fish farmers will soon have their own local source of tilapia fingerlings as the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) and the local government inaugurated on April 4, 2024 the province’s first municipal tilapia hatchery in Barangay Raele in the island municipality of Itbayat. The facility, equipped with breeding, nursery, treatment and conditioning ponds and a water system vital for hatchery operation, is expected to produce 300,000 to 500,000 pieces of tilapia fingerlings annually.