110 Kitojo Wetengere and Aubrey Harris
in the right quantities, inadequate feeds and fertilization, relative
disadvantage of aquaculture in comparison to other competing activities
and lack of ownership of the aquaculture farms. This review suggests the
following: firstly, government support in creating an enabling
environment in form of formulating appropriate policy, laws, regulations,
guidelines, investments promotion and regulation of the aquaculture
sector is vital. Finally, operating aquaculture as a business will enable it
to address all the determinant factors for success identified by this study.Keywords: aquaculture trials, fingerlings, self-help sprit, dependency
syndrome, poor farmers
INTRODUCTION
Aquaculture Potential in Tanzania
Tanzania has high potential for both freshwater and marine aquaculture
development (URT, 2009; URT, 2012). Firstly, the country has an area of 62.0
million hectares covered by water, Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) area
covers 223,000 km^2 ,^ coastline covers 1,450 km long and fresh water covers
54,040 km^2 (Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa) and minor
water bodies include - dams, reservours and rivers (ibid.). Secondly, the
country has favorable temperatures in the range of 22- 30 oC, which ensure
good growth of most aquatic organisms. Thirdly, it is endowed with suitable
sites and topography for aquaculture - an important indicator of good site
selection for construction of milkfish and fresh water fish ponds. Fourthly, it
has suitable soils of high clay content (fine texture), which is suitable for pond
construction as it retains water. Fifthly, there is high demand for aquaculture
products in the local and international market, which makes fish prices to
remain high or steadily increasing (URT, 2009; Wetengere et al., 1998).
Sixthly, the availability of agricultural by-products which may be used as
inputs and/or used to produce industrial feeds. In addition, FAO (1987) asserts
that aquaculture potential is created by a combination of the producer’s desire
to be an aquaculturist and the consumer’s wish for aquatic products. This is in
line with Bueno (2011) who categorized the potential for aquaculture
development into biological, technincal, economic, social and environmental.
Summing up aquaculture potential in Tanzania, the Tanzania Fisheries
Research Institute (TAFIRI) estimated that the country exploited less than 1%
of its aquaculture potential (SUA, 2002). Since then the aquaculture