Cage tilapia culture in the San Vicente de Colonche dam

Abstract

The San Vicente dam is located in the upper basin of the Javita river northwest of the Province of Santa Elena. It is a 25 m high land dam that embals about 40 Hm3 that will be distributed through channels to drive the vital liquid by gravity, favoring communities located in various sectors such as: Colonche, San Marcos, Bellavista, Manantial de Guangala, Manantial de Colonche, Jambelí, Palmar, Bambil Desecho, Rio Seco, Aguadita and Cerezal, it is established that there would be 26,000 hectares that would benefit in the province of Santa Elena (CEDEGÉ, 1984). The Undersecretariat of Aquaculture, together with the representatives of the Ministry of the Coast, Environment and the inhabitants of the different communes of the Province of Santa Elena, witnessed the planting of 120,000 of the 500,000 tilapia fry donated by the MODERCORP company that were sown in the San Vicente de Colonche dam. (SA, 2008). Tilapia since they were planted grew and reproduced without any control, generating a high population density, reducing the space of movement of these organisms in the body of water.As a consequence of that the sizes have decreased, affecting the availability of the resource in sizes older people who satisfy local consumers. The few job opportunities in rural communities, makes them dedicate themselves to other 

activities that the area offers them, having as a complement in the daily livelihood the fishing in the Dam without predicting or preventing the risks that these represent, it is so since The first catches of tilapia have not ceased or have planned their sustainability.