SEAFDEC WORKS TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE INDUSTRY

SEAFDEC works towards a sustainable aquaculture industry. The aquaculture industry contributes significantly to the Philippines’ food security and employment, noting that the country is included in the top 15 aquaculture-producing nations worldwide and within the top 5 in Southeast Asia, according to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. acknowledged the role that aquaculture played in the economy of the country, as he even directed different concerned government agencies to develop the necessary infrastructure and facilities and formulate a plan to improve the country’s fisheries sector.

“We will work to find ways to increase our farmers’ incomes so that they can lead a dignified and comfortable life and return to the profession a sense of pride that has been lost over the years. It is our hope to bring back nobility to a profession that has sacrificed so much to feed and to nourish us for many, many generations,” Marcos said during the Livestock and Aquaculture Philippines 2023 event in Pasay City, July 5.

Every day, the country’s thousands of fish farmers catch fish and raise aquatic resources through aquaculture, and sell their catch at markets – and all these end up in Filipinos’ dinner tables or are being sold and exported, contributing to the country’s economic revenue.

The Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Centre (SEAFDEC), an autonomous inter-governmental body, which aims to develop fisheries potential of the region, also acknowledged that the advancement of the county’s aquaculture is essential to addressing poverty and food insecurity.

SEAFDEC, however, noted that the development of the Philippine’s aquaculture is hindered by the inability of local hatcheries in the country to provide sufficient and quality seeds, which affected the fisherfolks and the production of aquatic resources, like fish, shrimps, sea plants, and seashells.

One example, according to SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department, is the decrease in the supply of black tiger shrimps, locally known as sugpo in the country, as they continue to be plagued by diseases, which resulted to the wipe out of stacks in farms, affecting the production of local fish farmers.

With this, SEAFDEC continues to build facilities at its main office at Tigbauan, Iloilo province to significantly address the shortage of black tiger shrimps and boost the aquaculture industry in the country.

On July 3, 2023, the SEAFDEC-Aquaculture Department inaugurated its new Black Tiger Shrimp Broodstock and Milkfish Larval Rearing facilities on its main office at Tigbauan, Iloilo, which would also improve the aquaculture seeds for the local fish farmers to avail, paving way for the Philippines to be known for having a sustainable aquaculture industry in Southeast Asia.
Angelita Tillo, a fish farmer and hatchery operator from Tigbauan, Iloilo, said that the facilities constructed by the SEAFDEC would help operators and farmers like her in improving their production, specifically on tiger shrimp.

Tillo, who manages an 800-square meter hatchery farm, noted that one of their problems is the availability of “spawners” (female capable of ovulating and spawning multiple batches of oocytes during the individual spawning period) as the production is also dependent on the availability of spawning aquatic animals.
She stressed that the bio-secured broodstock facility of SEAFDEC, which prevents the entry of fatal shrimp bacteria and viruses, would help in supplying hatcheries with disease-free shrimp breeders, benefitting fish farmers, not just in Western Visayas, but in the whole country.
Meanwhile, SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department Chief Dan Baliao said that the construction of the facilities is also in support to the research center’s initiatives under its “Oplan Balik Sugpo” program, noting that Tiger shrimp is still a high-value commodity with high demand both in the domestic and export markets.

“The result of which is the production of fry or larvae, which will be used in stocking in grow-out ponds. These are disease-free and will solve the decrease in production of the Sugpo industry,” Baliao said during the inauguration ceremony.

The black tiger shrimp facility is composed of four units of Broodstock tanks with a holding capacity of 1,440 breeders (960 females and 480 males) and has an estimated production capacity of 80,000,000 post larvae annually. The Milkfish Larval Rearing facility, on the other hand, has a capacity of 500 tons that can hold 100 milkfish breeders, and is projected to produce 320 million eggs and 256 million larvae in a year.

From 2018 to 2021, SEAFDEC also already constructed different aquaculture facilities, like multi-species marine hatchery, multi-species freshwater hatchery and milkfish broodstock tanks, along with other support infrastructures.

In 2019, the harvest of almost three tons of tiger shrimp even lifted hopes of reviving the multi-million-dollar industry which had its heydays in the 90s.

The harvest back then at the Dumangas Brackishwater Station of the SEAFDEC showed that tiger shrimp farming, when done properly, could still be revived and would thrive and prosper, along with other aquatic resources, like milkfish – the exact reason why SEAFDEC continues to construct facilities and discover new scientific ideas that will benefit the country’s aquaculture industry.

SEAFDEC believed that the construction of these facilities will also serve as models for future government-funded facilities for the multi-species hatcheries, which will lead to the development of aquaculture industry in the country and benefitting local fish farmers like Angelita Tillo. (AAL and JNH – PIA Region VI Iloilo).

Article source the Philippine Information Agency