Eating Tilapia

[white patch]

Can anyone explain the rationale behind banning the eating of tilapia? Surely the eating of tilapia would help control their numbers. When I lived in Kenya in the seventies frozen tilapia was readily available in the shops and in my memory it was quite tasty.

It is presently available in restaurants and supermarkets in the U.S.A. Supplies of frozen tilapia are presently coming from Costa Rica, Taiwan and China. Farmed product apparently has a muddy taste but wild caught is fine.

Anyone know?

[Triple]

Their rationale behind it is that eating them will encourage people to spread / breed them for their own catch/consumption.

[Triple]

Wait till the dpi realise they are now everywhere and they cannot get rid of them they might change there minds about current regs.

Older thread asking same thing - http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?t=106670

[Scott nthQld]

yep that's it. DPI reckon if they become a valued food fish, people will start moving them about and introducing them into new areas so they can have their own supply.

Stupid rule i reckon, they are already everywhere, so there's no point in their reasoning anymore, at least give people a reason to go out and catch them

[tiny_tinny]

Wait till the dpi realise they are now everywhere and they cannot get rid of them they might change there minds about current regs.

Older thread asking same thing - http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?t=106670

Quick, close the gate. The horse has not only bolted but it's a hundred miles down the track ny now.

Mike

[uglyfish]

Why would you wanna eat the shit??? Surely the snapper ban didn't leave you that hard up for a feed..lol

[Triple]

I wouldn't want to eat any where most of these ones have been caught.. http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?t=173258&page=4
But have heard if they are in living in clean water then they are quite good. I wonder how the salt water ones compare to the freshies? Plenty of good recipes around on the net.. Some of these look tasty ;) - http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&safe=off&biw=1345&bih=612&site=search&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=tilapia+dishes&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=

(In no way shape or form am i condoning the capture and consumption of this noxious and restricted species)

[rayken1938]

They are good eating and there still are areas that they have not invaded yet.
Cheers
Ray

[Triple]

They are good eating and there still are areas that they have not invaded yet.
Cheers
Ray

For how long? The way they have spread after the floods in seq the Im sure with general migration, illegal transportation and birds etc then give it a few years and they will be everywhere.

[rayken1938]

For how long? The way they have spread after the floods in seq the Im sure with general migration, illegal transportation and birds etc then give it a few years and they will be everywhere.
There still are areas free from tilapia and Deedi do everything in their power to keep them this way. I think that lt was last year that they posioned all of Eureka Creek( A tributary of the Mitchell) with rotenone to keep them out of the gulf of carpentaria.
Cheers
Ray

[Camhawk88]

While Dpi/Deedi bashing is a favourite passtime on this site (and sometimes it is warrented), they do have it right with this.
The fact is not everywhere is infested- the Gulf of Carpentaria is still free of Tilapia. As rayken said they have been able to successfully identify and remove an establishing population in the Mitchell.
Allowing people to eat them will do nothing to control numbers and as has been pointed outa) it may encourage stocking and b) they are a shit eating fish. But also there is no way an established population can be fished out- they are prolific breeders and taking some will leave a void to be quickly filled by nnew recruits. Biological control is the only likely method to rdi waterways of tilapia. NOw if the Government threw a heap of money at that research instead of camel shooting in the NT there might be some hope.

[HeadBanger]

Was reading a biology book in school the other day. Not sure of it's country of origin, but it had a few paragraphs regarding the mercury content in sharks and how it can be harmful to your health. Last line was something along the lines of 'why eat shark when you can eat other fish such as trout, salmon and tilapia.' So apparently they're put to uses other than fertiliser in other parts of the world.

Cheers,
Kaidon

[Triple]

Was reading a biology book in school the other day. Not sure of it's country of origin, but it had a few paragraphs regarding the mercury content in sharks and how it can be harmful to your health. Last line was something along the lines of 'why eat shark when you can eat other fish such as trout, salmon and tilapia.' So apparently they're put to uses other than fertiliser in other parts of the world.

Cheers,
Kaidon

Third most farmed fish worldwide.. One of the most eaten fish world wide.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaculture_of_tilapia

[Gordie]

Talipia are accepted as a good eating fish but a pest so we hate them as we do Carp.
Carp are eaten world wide, in Europe they love them.

The way they are spreading in the dams is a big problem. Deedi will issue a permit to fish for them if you want to have a Talipia busting weekend. Do it through your local fishing club. Other clubs could be asked to join in for a fun weekend.

If we don't do anything to control them I can see the day that some professionals start asking Deedi if they can net our dams. Wouldn't that be lovely.

The lobbying would go on for years, for and against, the Talipia would keep multiplying and the problem would still be here.

I think we have to get some switched on fishermen to start things happening, talking to Deedi and pretty soon. I have read a lot of threads on these web sites and am amazed at the caliber of some of the people that frequent these sites.

Gordon

[Mike Delisser]

I could say without doubt that I've never eaten a freshwater fish that tastes as good as Tilapia. I'm sure to that you won't get booked if you kill them and put them in dry bucket or esky for your own consumption.

And as for anglers intentionaly spreading talipia if they became a highly sought after food fish, well seemed to go from 2 or 3 dams in SEQ to every dam in SEQ pretty damm fast, IMO.

[red toga]

a great eating fish. different varieties might be more highly valued for taste. particularly the ones ( species) grown in brackish water. sweet tasting. as with native freshwater fish, if the pond they are cultured in has water that is poor quality at the time before harvest and they are taken out and sold right away the flavour may be tainted. this is called " off flavour" and it is said that its due to organic load, some blame certain types of algae or water bacteria. some people swear they dont like freshwater fish, then when they get one that is purged well they dont understand how that one can taste good.
the silver perch industry used to have a problem with off flavour fish, so they began purging them in clean or in clean salty water. i did a taste test and there sure is a difference. now its a standard procedure. thing is, tilapia are stocked and fed so heavily in the farms throughout the world that its surprising that they taste so good. maybe they dont experience the off flavour as much as our natives.

if dpi can rotenone a river succesfully, you have to think about how they got there to begin with, was it the location of a release or did they move there themselves or get access with flood. if they got there by themselves, swimming in time of higher water or washed down then they will probably make it back there again anyway.

i dont think there will be much that can be done to stop them spreading, its the right enough climate, they breed well, reproduce in the first year or so and can feed and live off waters that natives can not hope to do as well these days. they are now about as local as we are. the best we can easily do is not to remove and release them anywhere else.

[Gordie]

For those of you that haven't had the chance to taste Talapia, they will soon be in a stream near you.

With our recent flood situation they will have spread, as did the Cane Toad ( way out along the Condamine ) and also the Fire Ants. They would have washed down hill as well.

No ones fault, we can't control the situation other than talk as we are now and pool our ideas. Some brilliant solution may arise yet.

Gordon.

[wrip109]

I would have tilapia instead of yellowbelly any day...

Phil

[Moffy]

Their rationale behind it is that eating them will encourage people to spread / breed them for their own catch/consumption.
the word is that this is how/why they got into tinaroo - someone who liked eating them decided it would be nice if they had a ready supply of them..... >:(