Farmers in the UAE will soon be able to raise giant tilapia fish that can grow up to 200 grammes within four months. Feasibility studies are currently underway and are likely to lead to cooperation agreements with experts in the Philippines, according to informed consular sources.

The hybrid tilapia is said to have been genetically enhanced by special breeding programmes at a specialist centre in the Philippines. Scientists at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) combined various subspecies collected from Asia and Africa.

This development is among a number of breakthroughs in aquaculture which are about to be adopted by farmers in the UAE and other Gulf countries, according to Libran Cabactulan, Philippine Ambassador to the UAE.

The original predecessors of genetically enhanced tilapia (GET), such as the Nile tilapia (O. niloticus), can attain a maximum weight of only 125 grammes in five months, according to BFAR scientists.

BFAR's Excel tilapia, another hybrid, has a 10 per cent higher survival rate as it is genetically engineered to resist common diseases even if raised using current production techniques. It also weighs 38 grammes more than conventional tilapia.