Historical and current trends in milkfish farming in the Philippines
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the historical and current practices of milkfish farming in the Philippines. The Philippines ranks among the top 12 largest fish producers in the world and the milkfish, Chanos chanos, is the official national fish. The milkfish production in the Philippines has fluctuated sharply, but on average, has relatively stagnated over the past decade, partly due to the shrimp boom and low price of milkfish. The milkfish industry has been responsible for the significant loss of valuable mangrove swamps and forests. The loss of mangrove means loss of habitats and biodiversity including nursery grounds for feeding and refuge of commercial fishes, shrimps, crabs and mollusks. Milkfish ponds in the Philippines are either privately owned or leased from the government. Brackish water fish ponds are valuable real estate and good management adds to their value. For milkfish farming, stocking rate should be based on the pond environment and carrying capacity, and the fish size at stocking and the market size desired.
Citation
Bagarinao, T. (1998). Historical and current trends in milkfish farming in the Philippines. In S. S. de Silva (Ed.), Tropical Mariculture (pp. 381-422). London: Academic Press.
Publisher
Academic PressSubject
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- Book Chapters [85]
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
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Book chapter
Ration reduction, integrated multitrophic aquaculture (milkfish-seaweed-sea cucumber) and value-added products to improve incomes and reduce the ecological footprint of milkfish culture in the Philippines
- In Technical Reports: Investigations 2009-2011, 2012 - AquaFish Collaborative Research Support Program, Oregon State UniversityIn the Philippines, cage culture of milkfish in marine environments is increasing. The practice uses high stocking densities, with significantly greater inputs of artificial feeds which more often than not, have led to excessive feeding and consequently excessive nutrient loading in receiving waters, exacerbating problems with pollution. These could have contributed to occurrence of periodic fish kills in areas of marine milkfish culture clusters. In marine cage culture, about 80% of variable expenses are attributable to feed costs. Experiments were conducted to compare production characteristics of milkfish fed on alternate days versus those raised on daily feeding in marine cage culture. Fish were fed either daily or every other day using a reduced feed ration at 7.5% of fish biomass at the start of culture down to 3% of fish biomass towards harvest. We showed this ration level was as effective as the industry standard that begins at a rate of 10% average body weight. Morevover, we had previously found that milkfish reared in brackishwater ponds on an alternate day feeding scheme using the reduced ration level produced a 56% cost savings in feed with little impact on total yield relative to fish raised on a daily feeding protocol. In the present study, survival rates (~ 90%) were comparable between the control fish fed daily and groups fed on alternate days in marine cages. Similarly, total harvested biomass of fish in the alternate day and daily feeding groups was similar as was the harvest value, although fish on the alternate day feeding scheme grew slightly less. The amount of feed and the corresponding cost of feeds consumed were significantly lower in stocks that were fed on alternate days compared with those fed daily (P < 0.05). Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was lower in the alternate-day fed group (FCR = 2.46) relative to stocks fed daily (FCR = 3.59). Overall, the results demonstrate that feed costs can be reduced by around 32% in stocks fed on alternate days, which yields an estimated 20-25% improvement in production efficiency relative to raising animals on a daily feeding protocol. Hence, a significant costs savings with reduced impact of nutrient loading in the environment is likely to be realized for farmers who adopt an alternate day feeding scheme in raising milkfish in marine cages. -
Conference paper
Larviculture of milkfish (Chanos chanos) in outdoor tanks
- In CL Marte, GF Quinitio & AC Emata (Eds.), Proceedings of the Seminar-Workshop on Breeding and Seed Production of Cultured Finfishes in the Philippines, Tigbauan, Iloilo, Philippines, 4-5 May 1993, 1996 - Aquaculture Department, Southeast Asian Fisheries Development CenterIn the past, larviculture of milkfish depended entirely on the use of rotifers and brine shrimp nauplii and rearing trials were done under roofed facilities. Since the dietary value of live food varies according to culture and feeding conditions, rotifers were enriched with SELCO, a lipid emulsion containing high levels of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) prior to feeding the larvae. Alternatively, a microbound larval feed (Nosan R-1) was given as a supplement to rotifers during the first two weeks of culture. Larval growth was enhanced and survival was significantly improved when rotifers were enriched or supplemented with these diets. All rearing trials were conducted in 5-10 tons concrete circular/rectangular outdoor tanks. Verification runs on the use of HUFA-enriched rotifers to milkfish larvae were tried in two nearby private hatcheries. Results from mis collaborative work are presented. -
Article
Polyculture of milkfish Chanos chanos (Forsskal) and the red seaweed Gracilariopsis bailinae (Zhang et Xia) in brackish water earthen ponds
-Aquaculture Research , 2004 - Wiley-BlackwellGrowth, net production, and survival rates of milkfish cultured with Gracilariopsis bailinae at two stocking density combinations (T1– 30 fingerlings 100-m−2 pond+1-kg G. bailinae 4-m−2 net cage, T2– 30 fingerlings 100-m−2 pond+2-kg G. bailinae 4-m−2 net cage) in brackish water earthen ponds over four culture periods were determined. The control (T3) was stocked at 30 fingerlings 100-m−2 pond. Specific growth and production rates of G. bailinae were also calculated. There were no significant differences in mean growth, survival, and net production rates of milkfish between the three treatments. Irrespective of stocking singly or in combination with G. bailinae, significantly higher mean growth and mean production rates for milkfish were obtained during the third culture period of year 1 than those obtained from the other culture periods. Survival rates were not significantly different among the four culture periods. There were no significant differences in mean specific growth and mean net production rates between the two stocking densities of G. bailinae. Significantly higher mean specific growth and mean net production rates of red seaweed were also obtained during the third culture period of year 1 than those obtained from other culture periods. The production of milkfish and red seaweed was higher during the dry season. Growth rates of milkfish was positively correlated with temperature and salinity, while net production rates were positively correlated with temperature and total rainfall, but was inversely correlated with dissolved oxygen. G. bailinae growth and net production rates were positively correlated with water temperature and salinity. Results show that milkfish can be polycultured with G. bailinae grown in net cages in brackish water ponds at stocking density combination of 30 fingerlings 100-m−2 pond+1-kg G. bailinae 4-m−2 net cage.
