Usually, a fish dish is served as the last course, but not every guest is able to link fish with finish. So, nowadays, though the fish continues to be served, it is followed by dessert—to underscore the "finish."
Although fish is a must for a formal Chinese dinner, an appropriately-sized top quality fish may not always be available to the cook. And since the Chinese prefer to cook their fish complete with head and tail, they must not be too big or too small for the pot or plate.
Where to obtain a right-sized fish?
The best answer is to cultivate it in special ponds, instead of trying to catch it at random in the sea. With the development of tilapia breeding here, the Republic of China's fish scientists have solved the problem, assuring not only the right size, but also a very attractive color for the fish. Red is the most propitious of colors to the Chinese, and ROC scientists have succeeded in producing a breed of red tilapia weighing in at one to two pounds apiece.
The story of the red fish began in 1949, the year Taiwan was returned to the Republic of China by the Japanese. During World War II, a number of Taiwanese young men were conscripted by the Japanese army for service in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaya, Wu Chen-hui and Kuo Chi-chang among them.
When Wu and Kuo were repatriated from Singapore in 1945, they brought back nothing but 16 native tilapia. Three died on the way, the 13 survivors being six males and seven females. The two men never expected that these fish would one day be galvanizing the Republic of China's cultured fish industry.
The Singapore fish were cultivated in Kuo Chi-chang's pond, until during a typhoon, the pond flooded and all the fish were gone. Later, unexpectedly, large numbers of tilapia fry turned up in nearby creeks and paddy fields.
This discovery kindled the interest not only of the local farmers, but also of the provincial government, which worked out plans to raise tilapia in Taiwan's vast paddy fields. "There are many advantages: The fish can eat the insects and fertilize the rice crop with their manure, while the farmers can eat the fish as their main protein source," said a provincial government official of that era.
As the tilapia became more popular, the government tagged the creature the "Wu-Kuo fish," in honor of the two young men.
Despite the government's efforts, however, things did not turn out as rosy as the provincial official had depicted. The farmers harvested their rice crops twice a year, but found they could not harvest a mature fish crop at the same time. They had been advised to dig a ditch in each field to make the catching easy, but the fish caught were too small, weighing only four ounces on the average. What could they do with such small fish?
So the farmers lost their interest in cultivating tilapia ... but the scientists did not. The latter began to raise the fish in experimental ponds, but still could not make the fish grow faster. Additionally, they discovered that this creature from a tropical land could not withstand semi-tropical Taiwan's winter cold fronts. Therefore, they began covering the ponds with straw as a protective winter measure. This primitive technique enabled experimental tilapia cultivation to continue, awaiting the emergence of a galvanizing development.
Now, though Wu and Kuo quit the fish business long ago, the "Wu-Kuo fish" has become a household term. Credit goes to a group of hard-working ichthyologists, who overcame the causes of slow growth and found both a way to make the fish more meaty and a technique to turn brown tilapia red.
First, the scientists observed in experimentation that tilapia growth was retarded by their fast multiplication. As the female fish spawns every month and then carries the fry in her mouth, she does not eat anything for as long as two weeks on end. How can it grow faster? The scientists sought to solve the sex problems of their fish.
So, they fanned out to various parts of the world in search of bigger, faster-growing tilapia for cross-breeding-there are about one hundred species of talipia scattered through the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. In 1966, Dr. Teng Huo-tu, the late director of the Taiwan Institute for Fisheries Research, learned that the Japanese had collected a promising species. He immediately went to Japan "for a look," and brought back 50 tilapia nilotica for experimentation. In 1974, Dr. Liao Yi-chiu and two colleagues from the Institute introduced from Israel tilapia aurea. The Institute succeeded in cross-breeding the two-species and producing a sterile hybrid, which they named the "Happiness and Longevity Fish."
Because the new fish grew faster and bigger, many farmers came to the Institute to request fry. Since the government fishery institution could not spurn their requests, they decided to serve them by selecting ten experienced fish farmers to cultivate the fry for commercial distribution. Of this original ten, Tsai Yung-chiang is now the most successful, supplying fry to farmers from the northern to the southern tips of the island. The farmers gave him the title "Wu-Kuo fish king;" the government honored him as one of Taiwan's ten top farmers of the year.
Tsai, a primary school graduate, is entranced with fishery studies. When he was told that the Wu-Kuo fish could not grow bigger because they bore too many offspring, too often, he decided to separate the male fish from the females. His idea succeeded, and his fish grew from an average five ounces to 15 ounces and were much envied by other farmers. Then, after having mastered the cultivation technique, he began to share his experiences with his fellow farmers.
Later, he learned that pure-bred nilotica could grow even bigger and faster than his original species. Under the guidance of government scientists, he began to treat the fish with male hormones in hopes that all the fry would become male. The experiment succeeded. Now, the fry he produces are guaranteed to be 99 percent male.
Usually, the nilotica is a two pounder, but with improvements in cultivation techniques, it grows as big as six kilograms, or 13.2 pounds. Why does the Republic of China need to cultivate such big fish? "Well, this is the best way to impress the farmers. We certainly do not need to eat such big fish, but we can eat their offspring-more delicious than the adult fish," said an official of the Taiwan Fisheries Bureau. Because of the improved techniques, the time required to cultivate the "offspring" to one or two pounds in weight has been shortened to about four months.
After the size problem was solved, the government scientists were bent on cultivating a red-colored tilapia. When their success story hit the headlines, the new species, popularly known as the "Nile River Red Fish," immediately became a prized dish at tourist hotel restaurants. And, as more and more such fish have come on the market, Taiwan housewives have been able to afford to include them on their household menus.
The present forms of the Wu-Kuo fish have now become the major fresh water fishes for Taiwan's consumers. As much as 9,112 tons were produced in 1982, accounting for 23 percent of the island's total fishery production. And the government has worked out plans to further increase production over the next few years.
The Republic of China's success in tilapia cultivation has been recognized around the world. Last year, the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management, a non-profit Philippine organization financed by the Rockfeller Foundation, signed an agreement with the Republic of China to further develop ROC techniques so that they can benefit protein-scarce countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Tilapia is a native fish of those countries, and the hard-working ROC scientists and farmers are proud to return it to them in the form of an international bonanza.