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This report describes the potential for inland fish farming among the Caribbean Island States based on methods used in an earlier study (“A strategic assessment of the potential for freshwater fish farming in Latin America”, COPESCAL Technical Paper, No. 10, 1997) to estimate freshwater fish farming potential in Latin America. Four criteria were used to estimate potential for small-scale fish farming in ponds: water loss, potential for farm gate sales, soil and terrain suitability for ponds and availability of agriculture by-products as feed or fertilizer inputs. A fifth criterion was added in order to estimate potential for commercial fish farming: urban market potential. These criteria were weighted in different ways to make small-scale and commercial fish farming models on the basis of expert advice. Numbers of crops per year of Nile tilapia and common carp were predicted based on monthly climatic variables. By varying feeding levels and harvest sizes small-scale and commercial level outputs were simulated. Combining the small-scale and commercial models with the simulations of fish production provided overall suitability ratings for each 5 are minute grid (approximately 9 × 9 km). Field verifications were carried out in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. The results suggest good potential for freshwater fish farming among many of the Caribbean Island States with relatively large areas rating very suitable or suitable for the combined criteria and with relatively high crops/year output of the species considered. The results of the field verifications indicated the importance of local knowledge for the interpretation of the predictions.
