Foodfish

While the present conservation of Maryland fisheries is largely concerned with the oyster, which promises such great future returns, the foodfishes should not be neglected.

There was little discussion of tilapia as a foodfish during the 1950s and 1960s, but there was interest in using some tilapia species for weed control.

Most of the 30 or so emperors are valuable foodfishes in the Indo-Pacific region.

Reported harvests were in the order of 19 600 tonnes for fishmeal, 1 250 tonnes for processed sharks, 150 tonnes for shells, and 1 300 tonnes for foodfishes.