A summary report of the PCARRD-ICLARM workshop on Philippine tilapia economics. Tilapia are becoming increasingly important as food fish in the Philippines. The industry is growing rapidly as tilapia have become more accepted by consumers. As recently as the mid-1970's tilapia were generally regarded as a nuisance fish by producers and as a low quality product by consumers. In fact, these attitudes still prevail in certain parts of the country. However, elsewhere consumer demand for tilapia has increased dramatically, due in part to the recent availability of more attractive species. Tilapia production systems appear to be well suited for adoption by small scale producers because the initial capital investment, especially for cage culture, is not high.