A survey was conducted in Regions 1 (Ilocos), 3 (Central Luzon), 6 (Western Visayas) and 7 (Central Visayas) of the Philippines between 20 May and 25 July 2002. Questionnaires were distributed and interviews were performed during the study to establish the trends in cultivation management after the decline of prawn production in brackish water aquaculture. It was observed that the farm number in the four regions accounted for 67% of the total number of farms in the country.

Viral nervous necrosis (VNN) of larval orange-spotted grouper Epinephelus coioides has been recorded recently in the Philippines. The present study describes the pathogenicity of a piscine nodavirus (betanodavirus), the causative agent of VNN. Healthy orange-spotted grouper were challenged by intraperitoneal injection of the filtered tissue homogenate of VNN-diseased grouper. Abnormal swimming behavior, mortality, and necrosis and vacuolation of the brain and retina which are characteristics of VNN were reproduced in experimentally infected fish. Electron microscopic observations revealed that virus particles were present in the cytoplasm of the brain and retina; they were round in shape, without an envelope, 20 to 25 nm in diameter. The virus was reisolated from SSN-1 cells inoculated with the filtered tissue homogenate of survivors of all experimental doses. These results indicate that a piscine nodavirus from the orange-spotted grouper is the causative agent of mass mortality of this species in the Philippines.

Tank experiments were carried out to elucidate the water purification ability of mangroves and their ecosystem between October 1 and November 30, 2001. Seven tanks were set up with the sediment and mangrove stands collected from the mangrove forest in Ban Klong Klone, Samut Songkhram province, Thailand. The meiobenthic communities in the experimental tanks were sampled 4 times during the study period. Free-living marine nematodes were the only meiobenthos found in the sediment samples. Mean densities of nematodes were low ranging between 1 - 27 individuals 10 cm^-2 in the samples. There were 49 species belonging to 23 families and 4 orders. The family Linhomoeidae was the most diverse family while families Xyalidae and Comesomatidae came second. In all experimental tanks, Diplolaimella sp., Laimella sp., Longicyatholaimus sp., Paracomesoma sp., and Parodontophora sp. were the dominant species and influenced the meiobenthic communities in the study. Particularly, they survived well under low salinity conditions. More studies on free-living marine nematodes should be done to understand their role in water purification by mangrove stands and their ecosystem.

For the mangrove red snapper, there is no information available on effects of broodstock nutrition regarding reproductive performance. This paper, therefore, is an initial study to develop a broodstock diet for the mangrove red snapper in order to ensure consistent production of highest-quality eggs and larvae to support the mass production of fry in the hatchery.

An on-going zooplankton study in the Matang mangrove swamp beginning April 2002 has shown that zooplankton wet biomasses determined over 5 months were relatively higher inside the mangrove swamp (1.17± 0.35 g m^-3) than in adjacent offshore waters (0.87 ± 0.55 g m^-3). Total zooplankton densities ranged from 1.2 x 10⁴ - 5.82 x 10⁴ individuals per m³ inside the swamp, whereas in offshore waters zooplankton densities ranged from 1.03 x 10⁴ - 2.83 x 10⁴ individuals per m³. Crustaceans, dominated by copepods and cirripede larvae, constituted more than 70%, followed by polychaetes and chaetognaths. Fish larvae made up less than 0.5% of the total densities. Preliminary PCA of 50 zooplankton taxa suggests that the swamp taxa but not (so much) the offshore taxa differed spatio-temporally, and that more fish larvae and young copepods were caught inside the swamp. The larval fish density (surface hauls) ranged from 12-669 individuals per 100 m^-3 inside the swamp, whereas in offshore waters it ranged from 21-290 individuals per 100 m^-3. The major families of fish larvae were Engraulididae (ca. 60%) and Gobiidae (ca. 30%). Engraulid larvae were ubiquitous in distribution occurring from swamp to 14 km offshore, while gobiid larvae were more restricted to the swamp. Other families identified included the Scatophagidae, Ambassidae, Blennidae, Sciaenidae, Cynoglossidae, Scorpaenidae, Carangidae and Syngnathidae. Preliminary CCA suggests that salinity, turbidity and zooplankton size and abundance may be important factors regulating the distribution and abundance of fish larvae. However, its interpretation is cautioned due to the limited data. A larger data set is needed to correlate larval fish abundance with the environmental factors.

This study was conducted to determine the long-term trend of marine catches and aquaculture production of snappers and groupers in Malaysia. All information on marine capture fisheries and aquaculture production of snappers (Lutjanidae) and groupers (Serranidae) were derived from the Annual Fisheries Statistics (1970-1999). In Peninsular Malaysia, the marine catches of snappers were at the lowest level since 1993 but aquaculture production was 2.3 times larger.