When people think about fishing in Panama, they usually imagine something very different from fish farming. They picture huge marlin offshore, roosterfish along the Pacific coast, tarpon in Caribbean waters, or fishermen returning with their catch after a day at sea.
But beneath Panama's famous fishing culture is another, much quieter industry: aquaculture.
Panama does have fish farming, and it is more diverse and technologically interesting than many visitors realize. Fish and other aquatic animals are raised in freshwater ponds, coastal facilities and even offshore marine cages. The country's aquaculture sector includes tilapia, shrimp, cobia and pompano, among other species. Panama's national aquaculture association, ASPAC, currently represents aquaculture operations involving shrimp, tilapia, cobia and pompano throughout the country's mainland and maritime areas.
What makes Panama particularly fascinating is the contrast between traditional small-scale fish farming and highly sophisticated offshore aquaculture operations in the Caribbean.
Panama Is Perfectly Suited for Aquaculture
Panama has an extraordinary amount of water.
The country is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea and contains countless rivers, lakes, reservoirs and tropical watersheds. Its warm climate also creates conditions suitable for raising a variety of aquatic species.
Aquaculture in Panama has a history going back decades. According to Panama Aquaculture, government efforts to develop aquaculture began in 1972, partly as an attempt to create practical sources of animal protein for rural communities.
The industry has evolved considerably since then.
What started partly as a rural food-production initiative has developed into a sector that includes commercial exports, freshwater fish farming, shrimp production and sophisticated offshore fish farming.
Tilapia: One of Panama's Most Important Farmed Fish
If you are looking for the fish most closely associated with freshwater aquaculture in Panama, tilapia is an obvious place to start.
Tilapia is extremely well suited to tropical farming. It grows relatively quickly, can be raised in ponds and is widely accepted as a food fish.
Panama has been working with tilapia for decades. Panama Aquaculture notes that tilapia was introduced into Panama as far back as the 1940s, while government aquaculture programs later promoted fish farming as a source of food and income in rural communities.
Today, tilapia remains an important part of Panama's aquaculture sector.
The country's aquatic resources authority, ARAP, specifically promotes rural tilapia production and provides technical assistance and training. Its programs include modules designed to help rural families raise tilapia and other aquatic species.
This is an important distinction.
Not all fish farming in Panama involves giant commercial companies. Some aquaculture is intended to provide food and additional income for rural households.
Shrimp Farming Is Huge
When discussing Panamanian aquaculture, it would be impossible to ignore shrimp.
Shrimp farming has historically been one of the country's most important aquaculture industries, particularly on the Pacific side.
Large areas of coastal land have been developed for shrimp ponds, creating an industry that produces seafood for domestic consumption and international markets.
FAO documentation has long identified marine shrimp as a major component of Panama's aquaculture sector. Historical data showed thousands of hectares dedicated to shrimp culture, demonstrating how much larger shrimp farming became compared with freshwater fish production.
Today, shrimp remains one of Panama's principal aquaculture export products. Panama's investment and export promotion agency, PROPANAMA, lists marine shrimp among the country's major aquaculture export categories.
For visitors, this side of Panama can be easy to miss.
You can spend weeks traveling around the country, eating seafood and visiting beaches without realizing that some of the shrimp appearing in markets and international supply chains may have come from farms rather than directly from the ocean.
The Story of White Spot Disease
Shrimp farming in Panama has also had serious challenges.
One of the biggest was White Spot Syndrome, a viral disease that severely affected shrimp aquaculture across parts of Latin America.
Panama's shrimp industry was impacted by the disease, demonstrating one of the fundamental risks of intensive aquaculture: when large numbers of animals are concentrated in farming systems, disease can spread rapidly.
The industry subsequently adapted its production methods and biosecurity practices.
The history is a reminder that aquaculture isn't simply a matter of putting fish or shrimp into ponds and waiting for them to grow. Successful farming requires water management, disease control, genetics, nutrition, environmental monitoring and careful planning.
And Then There Is Cobia
Perhaps the most fascinating farmed fish in Panama is cobia.
Unlike tilapia, which can be raised in freshwater ponds, cobia is a marine fish.
And Panama has developed something far more unusual than ordinary coastal fish farming.
Cobia is being raised offshore in submerged marine cages in the Caribbean.
This is where Panama's aquaculture industry becomes particularly remarkable.
Open Blue: Farming Fish in the Open Ocean
One of the most extraordinary examples is Open Blue, a Panamanian cobia farming operation based in the Caribbean.
According to Panama's Ministry of Agricultural Development, Open Blue farms cobia in offshore submerged cages away from sensitive coastal and mangrove environments. The company was founded in 2007 and harvested its first cobia in 2010.
Instead of building enormous ponds on land, the company raises fish in the ocean itself.
The cages are submerged offshore, where currents provide a constantly moving marine environment.
It is a completely different concept from the classic image of fish farming.
Imagine descending beneath the Caribbean surface and discovering a massive underwater enclosure containing thousands of powerful marine fish.
That is essentially what offshore aquaculture can look like.
Why Cobia?
Cobia is a particularly interesting species for aquaculture.
It is a fast-growing marine fish with excellent meat quality and is considered a premium seafood species.
The fish is naturally found in tropical and subtropical waters, making Panama's Caribbean environment an obvious location for farming it.
Open Blue describes cobia as a premium fish with a firm texture and high Omega-3 content, while Panamanian authorities identify it as an export-oriented marine aquaculture product.
Cobia is also an impressive animal.
It can grow to a substantial size and is a powerful predator in the wild.
Seeing one in a restaurant is very different from seeing one in an offshore aquaculture cage.
Panama's Underwater Farms
The concept of an underwater farm sounds almost futuristic.
Instead of keeping fish in tanks or ponds, offshore aquaculture places large cages in the ocean.
The fish remain contained, while seawater continuously moves through the farming system.
This approach has attracted international attention because offshore aquaculture can potentially reduce some of the environmental pressures associated with densely developed coastal farming.
FAO has specifically identified Panama as one of the countries where commercial offshore aquaculture has developed, alongside more established aquaculture nations.
Of course, offshore farming is not automatically environmentally harmless. Location, stocking density, feed, waste, disease management and interactions with wild populations all matter.
But the technology is fascinating.
Pompano Is Farmed Too
Cobia isn't the only marine fish being raised in Panama.
Pompano is another species associated with Panamanian marine aquaculture.
PROPANAMA identifies pompano as a fish cultivated in ocean farming systems, alongside cobia.
This demonstrates how Panama's aquaculture sector is moving beyond traditional freshwater fish and shrimp production.
The country's tropical marine environment provides opportunities to raise high-value fish for premium seafood markets.
Freshwater Farming Is Much More Accessible
While offshore cobia farming requires enormous investment and sophisticated technology, freshwater aquaculture can be much simpler.
A rural farmer does not need a massive ocean cage to raise tilapia.
A pond, suitable water supply, fingerlings, feed and knowledge of basic fish husbandry can be enough to begin a small operation.
This is one reason governments have historically promoted tilapia farming as part of rural development programs.
ARAP continues to provide technical assistance, training and practical information for aquaculture producers, including guidance specifically related to tilapia cultivation.
For rural communities, a pond can become more than just a source of fish.
It can become a source of food, income and economic security.
Fish Farming Versus Wild Fishing
Panama is famous for wild-capture fishing.
Its oceans contain an incredible variety of species, and sport fishing is an important part of the country's tourism industry.
But wild fishing and aquaculture are fundamentally different.
Wild fishing depends on naturally occurring fish populations.
Aquaculture produces animals under controlled conditions.
A fisherman might spend hours searching offshore for a school of fish.
A fish farmer spends months or years managing an environment designed specifically to produce fish.
Both industries are important, but they require completely different skills.
Could Aquaculture Become More Important?
There is good reason to believe that aquaculture will remain important in Panama.
Global demand for seafood continues to increase, while wild fisheries face pressure from overfishing, climate change and changing ocean conditions.
Aquaculture offers another way of producing seafood.
Panama has several advantages: tropical temperatures, enormous marine areas, access to two oceans and a strategic location close to major international markets.
The country is also developing technical expertise in marine aquaculture.
The Panamanian aquaculture association represents businesses involved in shrimp, tilapia, cobia and pompano and promotes investment, research, technology and improved production practices.
The Environmental Question
Of course, fish farming isn't without controversy.
Aquaculture can create environmental problems if it is poorly managed.
Waste from farms can affect surrounding waters. Disease can spread between farmed and wild populations. Escaped fish can potentially interact with native species. Coastal shrimp ponds can cause habitat concerns if poorly planned.
That is why modern aquaculture increasingly focuses on biosecurity, water quality, responsible feed, proper site selection and environmental monitoring.
Offshore farming is partly driven by the idea that placing farms farther offshore can provide greater water exchange and reduce some coastal impacts.
FAO notes that properly located offshore systems can have lower impacts on water quality and seabed environments, although careful assessment remains essential.
The future of aquaculture will therefore depend not simply on producing more fish, but on producing them responsibly.
Panama's Aquaculture Industry Has Two Very Different Faces
Perhaps the most fascinating thing about fish farming in Panama is the contrast.
On one side, you have a farmer in a rural area raising tilapia in a freshwater pond.
On the other, you have sophisticated offshore cages in the Caribbean containing a premium marine predator such as cobia.
Between these extremes are shrimp farms, hatcheries, commercial operations and smaller producers.
It is a remarkably diverse industry for a country of Panama's size.
From Rural Ponds to the Open Caribbean
Panama's aquaculture story is ultimately a story of adaptation.
The country began developing aquaculture partly to improve food production in rural communities. Over time, the industry expanded into commercial shrimp farming, tilapia production and eventually advanced marine aquaculture.
Today, Panama is home to operations ranging from family-scale freshwater fish farming to technologically sophisticated offshore marine farms.
And that means the next time you sit down to eat fish or shrimp in Panama, there may be a story behind that meal that you never considered.
It might have come from a river, lake or ocean.
It might have been caught by a fisherman.
Or it might have spent its life inside a carefully managed pond or an enormous submerged cage in the Caribbean.
Panama may be famous for fishing, but it is also quietly becoming an important aquaculture country — one where traditional rural fish farming and futuristic offshore fish farms exist side by side.