GenoMar Phils. opens hatchery

GenoMar Supreme Philippines, Inc. (GSP), a new major player in RP’s fast growing aquaculture industry, inaugurated last week its first-ever state-of-the-art hatchery and multiplier facilities in Lubao, Pampanga.

Company vice president Dr. Jose M. Natividad said GSP, a subsidiary of GenoMar ASA, Norway – one of the leading aquaculture biotechnology companies, holds the GenoMar Supreme Tilapia brand in the Philippines.

The facility, a major component of GSP’s corporate vision, hopes to make Lubao the "Hub of Tilapia Breeding Center in Southeast Asia" through global propagation of the GenoMar Supreme Tilapia. With its new technology, the DNA genotyping and fingerprinting technique, GSP with its network of eight hatcheries strategically located in the Philippines will contribute tremendously to the food production program of the government in general, and help improve the economic conditions of Filipino fish farmers in the countryside.

Constructed in a two-hectare land in Barangay Prado, the facility with its modern equipment and valuable inventories of GenoMar Supreme Tilapia breeders for three generations, prides itself with its ultra modern "egg incubation system" which permits increased production of high quality and disease-free fry.

In cooperation with other GenoMar hatcheries in Brazil and China, the Lubao facility envisions to make the GenoMar Supreme Tilapia achieve genetic traits like salt tolerance, faster growth rate high feed conversion efficiency and disease resistance.

The GenoMar Supreme Tilapia, because of its improved growth and high fillet yield, can be a huge potential source of fillet for the global market, especially in Asia which is currently dominated by Thailand.