Benchmark’s Spring Genetics: First Company to be Granted with Import Licence for Tilapia Genetic Material to Colombia

Spring Genetics, in a multilateral collaboration with the\r\nUnited States Department of Agriculture – Animal and Plant Health Inspection\r\nService (USDA-APHIS), the Federacion Colombiana de Acuicultura (FEDEACUA), and\r\nAcuacultivos El Guajaro were successful at completing all the process to obtain\r\nfor the first time in decades, a license to import the most needed new tilapia\r\ngenetic material to the country. Spring Tilapia, the brand name of the tilapia\r\nstrain provided by Spring Genetics®, has gone through 8 generations of\r\nselection at the breeding nucleus in Miami for key traits such as fast growth,\r\nsurvivability and yield, and more recently, advanced genomic selection for\r\nresistance to Streptococcus iniae and S. agalactiae.

The tilapia genetic that would be available in the country,\r\nalong with high biosecurity and continuous health surveillance at the breeding\r\nnucleus, would provide a significant opportunity for the Colombian tilapia\r\nindustry to improve the productivity and sustainability of their business.

The first shipment with new Import protocol As a result of\r\nthe collaboration between Spring Genetics, USDA, APHIS and ICA, a new genetic\r\nmaterial import protocol has been created and implemented for the first time in\r\nthe country. The first shipment of genetic material to Acuacultivos el Guajaro,\r\nSpring Genetics distributor for the Caribbean Region, is scheduled at the end\r\nof September 2019. Ongoing negotiations with other Colombian companies are\r\nbeing held to secure a wider national reach. Spring Tilapia fingerlings will\r\nbe commercially available in Colombia in 2020.

Expertise and Technology transfer With nucleus in Florida,\r\nUSA, Spring Genetics breeding program is designed and supervised by its sister\r\ncompany and Norwegian based Akvaforsk Genetics (AFGC), a leading provider of\r\ngenetic improvement services to aquaculture industries worldwide. AFGC has\r\nextensive experience from more than 15 large scale selection programs covering\r\n15 species in 25 countries across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Source : Aquaculture Magazine