The vicious cycle of poverty, overfishing and resource degradation in coastal communities in the Philippines calls for action that will address the problem of declining fish catch and degraded fish habitats. The literature has shown that an efficient and effective coastal management program can be instrumental in approaching this problem. In order to secure food and livelihood of fishers, the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center/Aquaculture Department collaborated with the local government of Anini-y, Antique to develop a sustainable utilization of natural marine resources through sea ranching of abalone within the Nogas Island marine protected area. Establishing a marine protected area is a means of conserving natural stocks while sea ranching is considered an effective strategy that can increase fishery resources. The two management schemes are considered as effective coastal resources management strategies. The success of a sea-ranching project is dependent not only on biophysical but also on socioeconomic factors as determinants of community participation and cooperation. A social assessment was conducted to determine the fishers’ socio-cultural characteristics, their perceptions of their coastal resources and knowledge on how to effectively manage these coastal resources. The fishers’ awareness on fishing regulations and the extent of their participation in community's coastal resources management activities were also determined. Data were collected from a household survey using a semi-structured questionnaire, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with key informants. The fishers generally scored low in almost all aspects of their socioeconomic wellbeing. Most fishers perceived that their coastal resources were in a bad condition which they attributed to illegal and commercial fishing, increasing number of fishers and the poor enforcement of fishery regulations. However, the weighted mean scores of their knowledge on coastal resources management, awareness to fishery regulations and participation in community coastal resource management activities were average. This implied that fishers when trained and developed can become potential partners for effective coastal resources management programs.

Sulfide can potentially damage hemoglobin or be detoxified by hemoglobin. In the sulfide-tolerant California killifish neither seems to be the case at environmentally realistic (micromolar) and physiologically relevant (millimolar) sulfide concentrations. An 8-h exposure of killifish to 5 and 8 mmol sulfide · 1 -1 results in 50–100% mortality, but not due to sulfhemoglobin (where sulfide covalently binds to the porphyrin) nor ferric hemoglobin (Hb + ), both dysfunctional hemoglobin derivatives. Killifish hemoglobin converts to sulfhemoglobin in vitro only in the presence of 1–5 mmol sulfide · 1 -1 . The amount of sulfhemoglobin formed increases with time and heme concentration but decreases with pH. Hb + binds sulfide as ferric hemoglobin sulfide (Hb + S, an unstable complex where sulfide ligates to the iron), and also as sulfhemoglobin. Killifish blood does not catalyze the oxidation of 10–500 µmol sulfide · 1 -1 to any appreciable extent. Radiolabeled sulfide incubated with oxyhemoglobin or whole blood disappears at rates greater than in buffers, but only minimal amounts of thiosulfate and no sulfate nor sulfite are formed (elemental sulfur and bound sulfide not quantified). Sulfide disappearance rates increase linearly with initial sulfide concentration. Hb + does catalyze the oxidation of sulfide to thiosulfate in vitro. Similar experiments on another sulfide-tolerant species, the long-jawed mudsucker Gillichthys mirabilis , produced similar results.

This paper discusses some of the challenges and opportunities that can arise when implementing ecosystem-basedmanagement (EBM) in tropical nations. EBM creates a new series of challenges, problems, and opportunities that must be considered in light of existing governance and management frameworks in a local context. The paper presents five case studies from different parts of the tropical world, including Oceania, insular and continental Southeast Asia, East Africa, and the Caribbean, which illustrate that the implementation of EBM in watershed and marine ecosystems offers a new series of challenges and opportunities for its inclusion with existing forms of environmental governance and management. The paper suggests that EBM is best thought of as an expansion of customary management (CM) and integrated coastal management (ICM), rather than a paradigm shift, and that it has certain benefits that are worth integrating into existing systems when possible. The paper concludes that the cultural and institutional context of CM as well as the experience, technical skills, and legal basis that serve ICM programs are logical platforms from which to build EBM programs. Some guidelines for creating hybrid management regimes are suggested. In sum, declining marine species and ecosystems require urgent action, necessitating utilization of existing paradigms such as ICM and CM as a foundation for building EBM.

The techniques for the artificial propagation of milkfish (Chanos chanos ) developed at SEAFDEC are presented. These include: 1) capture and transport of spawners; 2) determination of sex and weight and maturity of fish; 3) induced spawning (preparation of injection, males, females); 4) fertilization and incubation; 5) larval rearing; and 6) mass production of larval food.

Mangrove forest is one of the important coastal natural resources of Thailand, however, mangrove forests have deteriorated very rapidly at a rate of more than 50% of the mangrove loss during 1961–1996. The utilization and destruction of mangrove forest has been seriously discussed in many fora. Shrimp farming is one activity, which has disturbed the mangrove forests. According to the inventory and analysis of LANDSAT5 TM satellite imagery data of 1993, only 17.49% of shrimp farms are located in mangrove forests and only 7.36% in the productive area. In addition 10.10% of shrimp farms are in unproductive or upland area, which have been leased legally by the farmers. Therefore, the Royal Thai Government has been working closely with the local communities and NGOs to implement a mangrove reforestation program targeting a replanting of 24,394.64 ha. As a result, the mangrove area has increased to 252,750.88 ha in 2001.

Aquaculture has only started to develop rapidly in the past few decades, due to better knowledge of culture species, improved methodologies and techniques in breeding, nutrition and increasing demand for food fish of high-value species such as shrimps, sea bass and groupers. Mangrove deforestation has an impact on shrimp culture itself, the success of the latter (when traditional culture method is used) depends on stocking of wild fry. For semi-intensive and intensive shrimp culture, the number of wild caught spawners may decrease because wild shrimp populations also use mangrove swamps as its feeding ground. Other negative effects of mangrove destruction to make way to shrimp ponds, include water pollution from pond effluents, sedimentation from the release of solid materials from pond, interruption of the tidal water flow, dwindling natural shrimp and fish stock due to increased pollution or product contamination due to indiscriminate use of chemicals. Chemicals and drugs (antibiotic) should not be used in fish and shrimp culture for prevention and control of bacteria and viral diseases. In order to ensure the sustainable development of aquaculture, it is important to bear in mind the interdependence of technology and natural resource under various socioeconomic setting.

Indonesia has more than 17,500 islands and 81,000 km of coastline which bears the biggest mangrove area in the world, based on the data given by a source in 1982, which stated that mangrove areas was 4.25 million ha or 27 % of the mangrove areas in the world. Later data in 1987 and 1993 the total mangrove areas were only 3.23 and 2.49 million ha, respectively, and theses have been reportedly reduced by about 1.0 and 0.8 million ha, respectively, allegedly due to aquaculture. Various sources also supply different data, but generally, the tendency of deforestation in mangrove areas is also shown. Brackishwater pond culture was always suspected to be the main cause of the deforestation. Nevertheless, the development of brackishwater pond area does not support the allegations. From the data given by the Directorate General of Fisheries, brackishwater pond area in 1982, 1987 and 1993 are 220,400 ha, 263,200 and 331,800 ha, respectively, which means only about 22% ha (of the 1.0 million ha reduction) and 41% ha (of the 0.8 million ha reduction) may have caused the mangrove area reduction. In reality, not all of the brackishwater ponds are developed in mangrove areas as some of them are in coastal sand areas.

Brunei Darussalam is a coastal state located in the north-western portion of Borneo island within latitudes 5o 05’ N and 4o 00’ N and longitudes 114o 04’ E and 115o 22’ E. The country has a land area of 5765 km2 (576,400 ha.) divided administratively into four districts, i.e. Brunei-Muara, Tutong, Belait and Temburong. The coastline of the country is roughly 130 km long, fronting the South China Sea and shares a common border with the east Malaysian State of Sarawak. The main population centers are in the coastal zone, accounting for over 85% of the population (305,100 in 1996). It is a Malay Islamic Monarchy and has a stable economy largely dependent on the exploitation of petroleum hydrocarbons.

The Mekong Delta of Vietnam is a region rich in aquatic resources having high potential for aquaculture development. Inland aquaculture in the Mekong Delta has greatly increased since the last decade. Fish culture carried out in combination with other agricultural activities such as animal husbandry and rice cultivation, and intensive aquaculture in ponds and cages have been the dominant forms of fish production. However, the giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, has recently become a species of economic significance and the target of aquaculture activity in the Mekong Delta. M. rosenbergii is cultured throughout the region in the rice fields, ponds, orchard gardens and in pens along river banks. The major constraints in this industry are seed supply and culture techniques, becoming the major obstacles for the further development of the culture of this species. In a collaborative research project implemented between the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) and Cantho University (CTU) since 1994, studies have been carried out on various aspects relating to the establishment of M. rosenbergii seed production and culture technology. The project is now in the middle of its second phase and has generated a great deal of scientific and practical information. This paper presents an overview of the achievements of this project.

The culture of shrimps is a worldwide multi-dollar industry that experienced a phenomenal growth in the early eighties. Thereafter, growth was modest due to the advent of diseases and the rise of environment advocacy. One problem that persistently plagues the industry is the perception that shrimp culture prospered at the expense of mangrove systems. The need to address this problem led SEAFDEC/AQD to embark on a research program aimed at reconciling shrimp culture and mangroves issues. The Government of Japan gave importance to this program through its generous financial support. As a result, a mangrove-friendly shrimp grow-out technology was developed. Field-testing of this technology in several sites in the Philippines has proven that shrimp culture and mangroves can actually co-exist. Field-testing in the other SEAFDEC Member Countries is also ongoing. Based on the technology thus developed, AQD designed a training course on mangrove-friendly shrimp culture, to help disseminate the technology to the SEAFDEC Member Countries.