abc,

Please stay out of this. You know nothing about aquaculture other than what you googled and your experience in business is non-existant.

Not correct - as a child I used to raise eels - catch them - feed them and than jellied eels very good. My friend ran a fish farm for trout. Eels have a huge conversion ratio. The best thing is to have a dung/compost heap with lots of maggots. Then sieve. Eels are very tolerant of bad water quality
Eels love tadpoles and small frogs as food - and of course these can be raised on waste biomatter.
Once eels were a staple for the poor.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jellied_eels
When I go to London I still look forward to a plate.....
But if you catch them and grow them for a few weeks ...... so good.
Yes I have bought the Nagua Tapia but must visit. Its so good that these people have the vision for a chain of fish farms to feed the poor.

Bishop, charitable group inaugurate fish farm to feed Caribbean poor

NAGUA, Dominican Republic (CNS) -- Watching a Catholic bishop, a Taiwanese ambassador and leaders of an American philanthropic organization release fish into a pond was an exciting moment for 14-year-old Yaritza Ramirez. Clad in the pale blue shirt and skirt that made up the teenager's school uniform, Yaritza, a resident of Nagua, clapped with great enthusiasm along with her fellow classmates as the tilapia and carp were released into one of the many ponds inaugurated in her village April 2. "This is going to help us a lot," she told Catholic News Service through an interpreter. "It's going to bring us food that is good for us, and it will bring us industry that will help us have a better life." About 200 people who live in the northern Dominican village attended the inauguration of the fish-farming ponds. Florida-based Food for the Poor, an international relief and development organization, worked with Bishop Julio Corniel Amaro of Puerto Plata to oversee the $372,000 Rio Baqui Tilapia Farm project. It includes 29 ponds, 10 new houses, a new school and a community center. Taiwan's International Cooperation and Development Fund is teaching the local residents how to run the operation.

Unlike some US citizens I am interested in local enterprises and attempt to share relevant information....
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20090407.htm
Eeels - ymm....
http://www.ngadjonji.bigpondhosting.com/History/history7.html
Important for many peoples.
S.
S.

Yes idiot fish farming is a government/charity function.
Stupid!.
S.

abc,

Please stay out of this. You know nothing about aquaculture other than what you googled and your experience in business is non-existant. DITTO bubbles the bullshitter

It is stupid to utilize good, nutritious fish like Sardines to raise shrimp. I am looking for alternative fish that would eat a more natural and sustainable feed. As a child in Santiago, I remember a family of 13 that had a large fish tank in their back yard. They raised carps and turtles there in large amounts. These weren't poor people, but they took advantage of their resources to the best of their abilities to supplement their diet. This is an idea that more people, institutions and ONG's should look into.
We should use threads like this to spread and share ideas to help people empower themselves, not to insult others. Please lets keep it civil.

Yes carp are omnivorous and can stand low protein diets.
http://www.newtonangling.com/documents/Are%20we%20killing%20our%20carp2-1.htm
This is good!
S.

[QUOTE=abc200]

[/QUOTE]
Yes carp are omnivorous and can stand low protein diets.
http://www.newtonangling.com/documents/Are%20we%20killing%20our%20carp2-1.htm
This is good!
S.
[/QUOTE]

And Carp breed like wildfire, destroy the ecological balance and force out native species. Sure, that is the species you want in the DR.

[QUOTE=anthonyC]
[QUOTE=abc200]

[/QUOTE]
Yes carp are omnivorous and can stand low protein diets.
http://www.newtonangling.com/documents/Are%20we%20killing%20our%20carp2-1.htm
This is good!
S.
[/QUOTE]

And Carp breed like wildfire, destroy the ecological balance and force out native species. Sure, that is the species you want in the DR.

[/QUOTE]
Eels are big business.
http://www.niwa.co.nz/our-science/aquaculture-and-biotechnology/aquaculture-species/eel
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotoosvanrobin/2488789805/
There is I believe some history of cultivation in DR in the past - does anyone have information?
S.

It sounds like a good plan, I've also thought why don't we exploit the sea not just for food, but also for minerals, and even pharmaceutical / biomedical research.

In the Bayaguana region of the capital some Japonese investors created shrimp farms in order to capitalize on shrimp production, they spent houndreds of thousands of dollars to create "Viveros" and watering and filtering systems, well just to let you know in six months for some reason the shrimp never grew, and the land is still there nice and clean but with nothing growing in it....

Just a heads up.

If a venture of this sort is to be undertaken extra care should be given to protect the eco-santictity of the ocean and its inhabitants, but as soon as a greedy politician finds out he can make money on that all rules and regulations will be by passed so they can rake in a some off the books income.

Maybe check out Aeroponics and hydroponics which are very good business to start in DR too. I have been looking into this area for a little bit now and since our family owns lot of land in the north-central area of the cibao(El guineal) but is just not been used for much. I have been thinking of going that route but don't want to rush into anything first i would like to get more info on it and maybe do my own little testing in my backyard here in USA since i got the space before going full force. Just my own 2 cents here since i have been looking into different opportunities of business in DR. I am very open to many different fields of business which goes from Energy savings solutions for business to agriculture to even some technological type of business like digital media and small web/software development. I'm taking some classes about digital media just to keep my brain working all the time. I always feel that i always need to learn something.

I have been thinking combining all of my background knowledge in different fields from HVAC,Software development and energy savings solutions into something that can be use to run a business with top profit by reducing cost. Reducing cost involves trying new ways and bringing different things together to maybe make up something that is not in DR yet. I always felt that in DR there is everything but most business folks just have a problem combining already existing technology to improve their bottom line. Most people want to bringing the newest and latest by fail to use existing technology to it's full potential.