This book is a reader-friendly illustrated account of the life history of milkfish (Chanos chanos) in nature and in aquaculture. It describes the different farming systems and status of the milkfish industry, and recommends means to ensure sustainability.

Three years after the Philippines became a signatory to the Agreement Establishing the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) in January 1968, the Philippine Government submitted a Position Paper during the Fourth Meeting of the SEAFDEC Council in January 1971, formally inviting SEAFDEC to establish a regional aquaculture project in the Philippines. This was anchored on the decision reached during the Third Ministerial Conference for the Economic Development of Southeast Asia in 1968, for SEAFDEC to consider the establishment of a new department to deal with freshwater and brackishwater fish culture, in addition to the already established Research and Training Departments. Subsequently, the Ministerial Conference established a working group of aquaculture experts from the Member Countries to conduct a study on the aquaculture situation in Southeast Asia. Their report which indicated that the new SEAFDEC Department could be established in the Philippines was considered by the Fourth Ministerial Conference for the Economic Development of Southeast Asia in 1969. This led to the series of surveys in the Philippines, conducted by a Survey Mission from the Japanese Overseas Technical Cooperation Agency headed by Dr. Katsuzo Kuronoma, former President of Tokyo University of Fisheries, Japan from 1969 to 1971 to identify the appropriate site of this new Department. Together with counterpart experts from the Philippines, the Survey Mission concluded that the Aquaculture Department would be established in Iloilo Province, Panay Island, Philippines, to undertake aquaculture research in the region, and training of researchers and technicians in aquaculture. Following a conference in September 1972 among representatives from the Philippines and Japan, the Mindanao State University which at that time had already developed the technology for breeding penaeid shrimps, was designated as implementing agency of the Project for the Philippine Government. Although shrimp culture was given priority in the initial project plan, it was also agreed that the new Department could undertake, whenever feasible, the culture of other coastal and brackishwater species, and in a subsequent stage, freshwater fish culture. Based on such recommendations and the commitments of the Governments of Japan and the Philippines to support the operations of the new SEAFDEC Department, the Sixth Meeting of the SEAFDEC Council in July 1973 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia agreed to establish the Aquaculture Department in Iloilo, Philippines, adopted the corresponding Plan of Operation and Program of Work, and approved the appointment of Dean Domiciano K. Villaluz as the first Department Chief. True to its word, the Aquaculture Department has since then been pursuing programs on sustainable development and responsible stewardship of aquaculture resources in Southeast Asia through research and promotion of appropriate aquaculture technologies and socio-economic strategies relevant to the sustainability of the aquaculture industry in the region.

Recognizing the need to promote fisheries development for improving the economies of Southeast Asian countries, the Second Ministerial Conference for the Economic Development of Southeast Asia held in Manila, Philippines in April 1967, agreed to establish the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) based on the recommendations from the First Ministerial Conference for the Economic Development of Southeast Asia in Tokyo, Japan in April 1966 and the subsequent Conference on Agricultural Development in Southeast Asia organized in Tokyo, Japan in December 1966. As soon as the necessary documentations were completed, signing of the Agreement Establishing SEAFDEC took place in Bangkok, Thailand on 28 December 1967 by the Governments of Japan, Malaysia, Republic of the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Republic of Vietnam, while the establishment of the Marine Fisheries Training Department in Thailand and Marine Fisheries Research Department in Singapore, under the SEAFDEC umbrella was also finalized. Two years later during its Second Meeting in Singapore in March 1969, the SEAFDEC Council agreed in principle, to establish a new SEAFDEC department to carry out research and development in the field of aquaculture, and organized a study group to identify the appropriate site of the department as well as to draft its plan of operation and working program. During the Fourth Meeting of the SEAFDEC Council in Manila, Philippines on 18-22 January 1971, then Philippine Secretary for Agriculture and Natural Resources Arturo R. Tanco, Jr. informed the SEAFDEC Council that the Philippines had entered into a bilateral agreement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the implementation of an aquaculture project in the Philippines. It was also during that same Meeting that Secretary Tanco invited the Council to consider incorporating the said aquaculture project into the activities of the proposed new SEAFDEC department to avoid duplication of efforts, and requested the Council to also consider the establishment of such department in the Philippines. Therefore, having considered the position paper of the Philippine Government, the Council agreed in principle, to establish the SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department in the Philippines. Based on results of the series of surveys conducted by a team of Japanese and Filipino aquaculture experts, and after securing the commitments of the Governments of Japan and the Philippines to support the operations of the new department, the SEAFDEC Council at its Sixth Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 3-7 July 1973, agreed to formally establish the Aquaculture Department in Iloilo, Philippines, with the main function of carrying out research, training and extension activities in fish culture, and the rest is history. Now, SEAFDEC has four existing Departments: (Marine Fisheries) Training Department (TD) in Thailand, Marine Fisheries Research Department (MFRD) in Singapore, Aquaculture Department (AQD) in the Philippines, and Marine Fishery Resources Development and Management Department (MFRDMD) in Malaysia. A new department, the Inland Fishery Resources Development and Management Department (IFRDMD) is expected to be formally established very soon in Indonesia. Meanwhile, the Member Countries of SEAFDEC now include all the ASEAN member states, namely: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, plus Japan.

The Philippines is home to a mixed of blessings: an enormous marine biodiversity, a tremendous variety of fishery enterprises, and about 50 million coastal residents who mostly fish and eat fish. So many animals and so many nets in the water result in huge total catches of target fishery species, but also unfortunately of ‘trash fish’ — huge numbers of diverse marine larvae, juveniles, small adults, and unwanted species. 'Trash fish' is a category of fisheries bycatch, which as a whole has been estimated to average about 20% worldwide, but difficult to quantify in Philippine fisheries given the large number and variety of fishers, fishing grounds, gears, species, and markets. Moreover, it is difficult to quantify the costs and benefits of a given fishery, and in particular to balance the economic benefits to the coastal communities in terms of food and livelihood versus the ecological costs of catching (killing!) untold numbers of larvae, juveniles, and small adults of innumerable species. Qualitative information is readily available, however, and this article takes as example the case of the filter net or tangab fishery in Iloilo Strait in central Philippines. A typical tangab catch from Iloilo strait is a large mixture of small sizes of low-value and non-marketable species loaded from bagnets into many wooden boxes.

The availability of improved Nile tilapia strains is a major factor that has opened up new avenues for renewed growth in the tilapia industry especially in the rural sector. This was hailed as a positive development in the tilapia industry because it promised opportunities for improvement of the rural economy. Although this article discussed the development of tilapia aquaculture in the Philippines, other countries can learn from this experience specifically in addressing challenges related to rural development.

Laguna de Bay is the largest inland water body in the Philippines, being used predominantly for aquaculture and open water fisheries. Aquaculture in the lake began decades ago, with many changes in the lake ecosystem having occurred since that time. Most dominant species for fish culture are introduced species. Other invasive species were also introduced to the lake as escapees from land-based aquaculture facilities. This study was conducted to monitor fish diversity in two adjacent, but distinctly different, sites in the lake, namely an open fishery area (OFS), with no adjacent aquaculture structures, and an aquaculture site (AQS), with cages for the culture of various commodities. Fish traps were installed at both sites, with the traps being sampled at least every 2 weeks from April 2013 to February 2015. The results of pairwise t-tests indicated significantly higher Shannon–Wiener diversity index (H′), evenness (J′), Simpson's similarity index (D) and species richness (s) in OFS than in AQS. In terms of total catch per day, significantly greater fish biomass were obtained from AQS than from OFS. Introduced aquaculture species had a mean dominance of 83% and 47% in AQS and OFS, respectively. However, invasive species introduced from the ornamental fish trade exhibited a mean relative dominance of 10.3% in AQS and 13.5% in OFS. The relative dominance of native species was also significantly higher in OFS (41%) than in AQS (6.5%). The results of this study demonstrated the adverse impacts of aquaculture in regard to the species diversity of fish in localized areas in Laguna de Bay. The dependency of aquaculture on introduced fish species adversely impacted the natural fish population in the lake. Focusing on the culture of commercially important local species for aquaculture, rather than introduced species, will improve fish production of inland waters without accompanying adverse impacts on biodiversity.

This paper provides information on the seafarming activities in the Philippines, which includes milkfish, seabass and grouper cage and pen culture. It also provides some other seafarming alternatives including mud crab, seaweed, mussels and oysters. The paper gives information on community-based coastal resource management as a strategy for community development. The Philippines Government Fishery Resources Management project was outlined. The problems and issues associated with seafarming in the Philippines are described.