Aquaculture in

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

has been the responsibility of the Ministry of Fisheries since the early 1970s. The main centre for this is the Sopu Mariculture Centre on the main island of

Tongatapu Tongatapu is the main island of Tonga and the site of its capital, Nukualofa. It is located in Tonga's southern island group, to which it gives its name, and is the country's most populous island, with 74,611 residents (2016), 70.5% of the nation ...

, which is operated by the Ministry of Fisheries and was established with the assistance of the Government of Japan. A serious setback was experienced in 1982 as a result of damage caused by Cyclone Isaac. The Tonga government provides for the development and management of aquaculture in the country through the Aquaculture Management Act 2003, also known as the Aquaculture Act. Some progress has been made with developing aquaculture but this has tended to be on a small-scale and there have been no substantial commercial developments. There is ongoing investment in aquaculture for species showing the potential to develop into small industries and the Mariculture Centre at the Ministry of Fisheries breeds

giant clam The giant clams are the members of the clam genus '' Tridacna'' that are the largest living bivalve mollusks. There are actually several species of "giant clams" in the genus '' Tridacna'', which are often misidentified for ''Tridacna gigas'', ...

s, bêche-de-mer and other species, including seaweed. It has also been importing

milkfish The milkfish (''Chanos chanos'') is the sole living species in the family Chanidae. However, there are at least five extinct genera from the Cretaceous. The repeating scientific name ( tautonym) is from Greek ( ‘mouth’). The species has man ...

from Kiribati and Fiji, initially to restock a lagoon on the island of Nomuka, in the south of the Ha’apai Group. There is considerable interest in further promotion of aquaculture to increase the availability of affordable fish-based protein in domestic markets.

References

Economy of Tonga Water in Tonga {{agri-stub