Trapia Malaysia selects Aquagrid® Containment System to ensure profitability while protecting the environment

After researching a wide array of cage netting to farm their tilapia in, Trapia Malaysia Sdn Bhd selected the Aquagrid® Containment System because it met and exceeded their operational objectives for net strength and resistance to bio-fouling.

Headquartered in Ipoh in the State of Perak, Malaysia, their eco-friendly farm operates in the pristine rainforest-fed, freshwater lakes of Tasik Temenggor of the Perak River system. Trapia’s management sought to protect this unique grow out environment by searching for a cage system that would keep their tilapia in and the predators out while ensuring profitability and minimizing environmental impacts. Tilapia have the annoying habit of grazing on cage netting, damaging the fibres of traditional netting but the Aquagrid® coating prevents this from happening.

In addition to escape- and predator-proof netting, Trapia also required netting that was more resistant to bio-fouling and would last longer than traditional materials used for aquaculture, such as nylon. Aquagrid® netting’s semirigid, PVC coated polyester material and special design makes it up to 100 percent stronger than nylon or polyester and eliminates the use of antifouling products which can leach into the surrounding water.

The Aquagrid® containment system’s LiftUP® Mortality Retrieval System, designed to fit the special conical bottoms of the Aquagrid® cages, collects mortalities, unconverted feed and feces and pumps them to the surface for disposal, ensuring the waters Trapia operates in are kept clean and safe for future generations of fish.

Trapia COO Alejandro Tola is very impressed with the performance of the Aquagrid® cages since their installation in November 2008. “The nets are very easy to clean by simple brushing and the strength of the material is definitely keeping away and avoiding break-ins from carnivorous species in the lake. The logistics consequences of this are huge.”

More on this project is available here.

See video: GenoMar’s sustainable tilapia

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About Tencate™: TenCate™ develops and produces materials that function to increase performance, reduce costs, and deliver measurable results by working with our customers to provide advanced solutions.  As one of the largest industrial weavers in the world, our products are used as composites in aircraft including the space shuttle, fire proof and ballistic clothing and many geo technical material applications. For more information, please visit http://www.aquagrid.com/.