INTRODUCTION
Fish constitutes about 41% of the total animal protein intake by the average Nigerian hence there is great demand for fish in the country. Nigeria requires about 2.66 million metric tons of fish annually to satisfy the dietary requirement of its citizens which are about 150million in number. Regrettably, the total aggregate domestic fish supply from all sources is less than 0.7 million metric tons per annum. Nigeria has to import about 0.7million metric tons of fish valued at about $500 million annually to augment the shortfall. This massive importation of frozen fish in the country has ranked Nigeria the largest importer of frozen fish in Africa. The huge sum of money spent by Nigeria annually in fish importation could be used to invest in fish farming. Nigeria can substitute fish importation with domestic production to create jobs, reduce poverty in rural areas where 70% of the population lives and ease the balance of payments.