Characterization of Mono-sex Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Hatcheries inBangladesh

survey was conducted of the mono-sex tilapia hatcheries in Bangladesh to analyze the structure and management of the hatchery sector in Bangladesh. Eighty-five hatcheries were surveyed by a questionnaire designed to obtain information on owner details, staffing, hatchery production capacity, management processes, and performance for the year 2009, and data from farms supplied by each hatchery. Thirteen quantitative variables were used for a principal component analysis (PCA). Four principal components had eigenvalues greater than 1, collectively expressing 77.0% of the total variance with the first two components, (50.8% of total variance) reflecting the volume of fry production and available facilities. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was used to include qualitative variables related to hatchery management and educational level of the owners in the analysis. A two-step cluster analysis using the results of PCA and MCA identified two different groups of hatcheries. One cluster was characterized by high capacity of production of fry, infrastructure and manpower. The other cluster had moderate scales of production. In summary, the management of hatcheries was very similar across Bangladesh with the main difference between them being scale of fry production.