Maltese expert is no fish out of water in Guatemala

An e-mail landed in Prof. Carmelo Agius's inbox, revealing the good news from a remote part of Guatemala: 1,000 fish had been produced in the breeding tank.

This meant that the fish farm that the Maltese aquaculture and fisheries expert had conceived and designed was operating effectively.

Weeks earlier, on August 31, Prof. Agius had joined over 600 locals at the official opening of the fish farm on a Guatemalan hillside. The farm is located in an area called Quebrada Honda in San Manuel Chaparron, a municipality in Guatemala bordering El Salvador where Gozitan missionary Fr Anton Grech is parish priest.

Prof. Agius has helped to set up similar farms across the world, but this is the first project to which he has committed his time and expertise on a voluntary basis.

The idea for the farm came about four years ago when Prof. Agius was working on developing a shrimp farm in nearby Ecuador. A friend informed him that an attempt by Fr Grech to encourage impoverished locals to grow tomatoes for export had run into difficulty due to tariffs and taxes.

Prof. Agius visited the area and discovered it had a suitable river that could sustain a fish farm. What is more, he was impressed by the dynamism of Fr Grech and the spirit of the local people, and so decided to help.

Physical work on the project did not begin until May 2007 due to paperwork and discussions over land ownership. It was built using local builders and Maltese volunteers from the Mission Fund who spent five weeks there in the summer of 2007. The cost of the project is estimated at around €200,000, most of which came from Maltese donations.

As well as the Mission Fund, the project received valuable financial and material assistance from Attard Farm Supplies, AJD Tuna Ltd, Fish and Fish Ltd and Café Jubilee.

The farm aims to produce 250 kg of indigenous Tilapia every week, which is a huge amount for the landlocked area where fish is a rare treat. The first 3,300 young fish were introduced last month and it is hoped that they will be ready for market in March or April.

Fr Grech will oversee the running of the project as a business, with a profit-related percentage of fish given away to needy locals as a donation. The farm will employ local staff and the idea is that any profit will be ploughed back into the project to increase production and employment opportunities.

Guatemala suffered a devastating civil war from 1960 until 1996 and Prof. Agius says that, although the country is making progress, there are still a lot of social problems related to high unemployment. He says that many men from the area smuggle their way into the US and although some of them send money back, many are never heard from again.

This has led to a shortage of skilled labour and a population made up mostly of women and children. Prof. Agius is optimistic that by providing much-needed employment opportunities, "people will gain hope that their lives will get better".

It is also hoped that the farm will increase technical knowledge in the country. Prof. Agius has attempted to form links with the regional university and wants students to receive practical training on the farm. The technology used is described as simple but innovative and it could serve as a model for establishing similar farms elsewhere. Prof. Agius said there has already been significant interest from private investors to establish fish farms on the Caribbean coast.

"This project is being watched, because people would not expect this project could be set up in such an environment, so we need it to succeed. We are very open and we're not hiding technology, even though it is innovative. We are asking people to come and learn, and hopefully they can pick it up and use it and even improve it," he said.

Prof. Agius is quick to point out that the technology has already made life easier for villagers. By building a dam to control the flow of water, he says they have minimised the risk of flash floods which have been responsible for destroying property and killing villagers in the past.

So, after making five trips to Guatemala for an average of 10 days each time, would he consider the doing the same thing again elsewhere?

"I would, although time is a problem. These things have to be undertaken project by project. I would not undertake another project if it compromised this one."

For now, he is grabbing a few days of well-earned rest in Malta.