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An Overview of Vietnam's Pangasius Industry

By: Froilan Emil Pamintuan
      Philippine Commercial Attache to Vietnam


Note:  Here is a presentation made by Froilan Pamintuan during the Pangasius Conference 2010 held at the Sun City Convention Center in General Santos City last December 2-3, 2010.


The rise of the Pangasius Industry in Vietnam has been very inspiring.  The industry practically started  only in early 2003 and  has reached an export mark of 1 million tons of fish fillet in 2007.

Click here for the link

Opportunities and Limitations in Small Scale Marine Fish Culture (Pompano) in Cages and Ponds

Albert G. Gaitan
Researcher
SEAFDEC, Aquaculture Department
Tigbauan, Iloilo, Philippines


Here is another presentation at the FISHLINK 2010 held last September 20-22, 2010 at the Iloilo Grand Hotel in Iloilo City.


Please click here for the link:  Pompano Culture

Today Show on MSN: "Could Your Seafood Contain Toxic Chemicals"

This is a very interesting video and article regarding the importation of seafoods to the US from Asia.  The story ran on the NBC Today Show yesterday, November 18, 2010.   

Note the emphasis that the Asian imports are robbing Americans of jobs (because so many Americans are employed raising tilapia and catfish?!), as well as causing terrible diseases in the U.S.  

Here is the link.

 *Thanks to a friend from the US for providing the link.

Some Notes on the Development of the Pangasius Industry in the in the Philippines

J.P. Baldia

    Pangasius sold in General Santos market

Since 2007 when Pangasius fish, better known as “Cream Dory” or simply “Dory fish” fillet was re-launched as a food fish in the Philippines from Vietnam, its importation has been increasing by leaps and bounds.  To date, it was reported that the Philippines imports some  600 to 800 MT of fish fillet of this fish equivalent to 60-80 containers per month and this volume keeps on increasing. 

This indicates the increasing acceptability of this once unknown fish to the Filipino palate.  Imported Pangasius fillet can now be found in almost all the frozen section of supermarkets in major cities in the country, in wet markets, in restaurants whether fast foods or fine dining,  in the country’s major resorts such as Boracay and Puerto Galera and even as food served by airlines to its passengers during flight.

Mud Crab Culture

By Dr. Emilia Quinitio
SEAFDEC, AQD
Tigbauan, Iloilo

Here is another very interesting presentation at the recently concluded FISHLINK 2010.  
Topics include: Nursery Culture of Mudcrab, Fattening and Production of Soft-Shelled Crabs. Here is the Link.

Tilapia Culture in Freshwater Ponds and Cages: Advances in Fertilization and Feeding Practices

Ma Rowena R. Eguia (SEAFDEC, AQD-BFS) and
Ruel V. Eguia (CDO Foodsphere, Inc.
This paper was presented at Fishlink 2010, 20-22 Sept 2010 at the Iloilo Grand Hotel, Iloilo City

This is a very interesting article on reducing the cost of Tilapia culture in the Philippines.  The reason why the Philippines is having difficulty in exporting our Tilapia produce is our production cost is higher as compared to our Asean counterparts.  If our aim to be competitive or simply increase the profitability of Tilapia culture,  reducing feed cost is surely one aspect that is worth considering.  Here is the link.

Hot Weather And Poor Tilapia Egg Production II

The Tilapia Group discussion goes on with suggestions on how to overcome them in preparation for the future when abnormally high temperature occurs again. Here is the continuation....

Excel Based Finfish Diet Feed Formulator

Photo from: http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/V4430E/V4430E08.htm

Here are links to download the Excel based finfish diet feed formulator and the guide to operation. The download was obtained from the NACA (Network of Aquaculture Centers in Asia and the Pacific) website.


This tool is very important for fishfarm operators who are backyard in scale, or are located in areas where commercial feeds are not available. Formulating feeds using  ingredients that are abundant in the locality can significantly reduce the cost to produce fish and therefore increase profitability.

Hot Weather And Poor Tilapia Egg Production

It is surprising that despite a major problem in Philippine aquaculture such as very low production of tilapia fry and fingerlings in the past months of March to July 2010, the people and government agencies involved in tilapia aquaculture have been silent about it.

Apparently, the El Nino effect has taken its toll on the tilapia industry.  There was minimal production of fry and fingerlings during these times such that its effect is felt now.  The price of table-sized tilapia has increased at a record-breaking high due to lack of supply.  The situation can worsen and will be felt in the months ahead until November or December since fry/fingerling production normalized only sometime in August when it started to rain.

Freshwater Fish Egg Incubators IV

3) Conical Jars or Funnel Type incubators

3rd Pinoy Aquatic Fair

Freshwater Fish Egg Incubators III.

2)  MacDonald Jars- 

      

Freshwater Fish Egg Incubators II

There are at least 3 types of fish incubators presently used in Philippine aquaculture namely:

1)      Bed type incubator- this is commonly used for the hatching of adhesive type fish eggs like the Asian and African Catfish and Pangasius. With the addition of a substrate for egg attachment like a bunched yarn,  “kakaban” or water lily roots, the same bed type incubator are used for the hatching of Common Carp, Japanese koi, and goldfish.

Freshwater Fish Egg Incubators (Part I)

J.P. Baldia

Efficient hatchery operations of either freshwater or marine fish species are the first step to a feasible aquaculture operation. Inadequate supply or unavailability of fish seeds for stocking the grow-out facilities will only make the aquaculture business non-viable.

Fish egg development and hatchlings are the most sensitive stages in the life cycle of a fish. It is therefore important that great care must be given to provide them with the best incubation and hatching conditions such as water quality, temperature and water flow to ensure their highest hatching rate and survival.

Salinity Tolerance of Pangasius

Q.  Can Pangasius be cultured in brackishwater?

 Photo from Worldwildlife.org

Fishlink 2010 Invitation

The U.P. Aquaculture Society, Inc. (AQUASOC), is a non-stock, non-profit professional organization of the University of the Philippines alumni in fisheries and allied sciences based at the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, UP Visayas, Miag-ao, Iloilo. UP AQUASOC have been conducting conferences, seminars and trainings that foster interaction and cooperation among academe, research, extension and production sectors to promote the development and application of sound and sustainable aquaculture technologies.

USDA Breeds Sterile Trout and Salmon for Aquaculture

Prologue

Here is another interesting news.  While many Filipino scientists have been finding  ways to propagate fish to increase its supply, the USDA developed ways to protect the environment by preventing reproduction in fish. 

This could very well be adapted in the Philippines particularly for introduced species.  It is indeed difficult to control the escape of introduced species in open waters just like the menace that the janitor fish brought to Laguna Lake.  Lately, the Featherback Knife fish, another aquarium fish, has been part of the regular catch of fish in the Lake. 

Perhaps it is time to seriously look at this new technology.

Massive Fishkill in Laguna Lake

(Photo from abs-cbnNEWS.com

After a long time, it was only last July 19,2010 right after typhoon Basyang did massive fishkill happened in Laguna Lake. Some 5,000 hectares of fishpen and fishcages were reportedly affected by this phenomenon.

Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) chairman Ed Manda issued a statement saying, “fishkill happens every rainy season when the lake's oxygen level goes down due to pollution. The pollution is caused by wastewater and garbage thrown into the creeks and rivers that flow into Laguna Lake”.

My question is, if the lake is polluted why do low oxygen levels in the lake effecting fishkills happen only during the rainy season? Further, the strong wind brought about by typhoon Basyang should have brought turbulence to the water thus increasing the oxygen level in the lake. Obviously, this did not happen because LLDA said that low oxygen level caused the massive fishkill.

Here Come the Genetically Modified Fish

By Andrew Pollack

 

Prologue

I am posting here in toto an article that was published in the Manila Bulletin’s “The New York Times” last July 3, 2010 issue.

With the development of techniques for the genetic engineering of salmon, it will not be long before the genetically manipulated tilapia and perhaps other fishes will be seen in the markets.  Remember that the procedure employed in the development of the GIFT tilapia was adapted from salmon.

Except for the fact that GMO’s are not considered organic, this is not viewed negatively.  It only means that there will be fast growing fish species and increased production to fill in the protein requirement of the people. 

Many may react negatively but keep in mind that up to now, no conclusive evidence have been found correlating the ill effects of GMOs to humans.-Philaquaculurist

Innovative Techniques in the Mass Production of Freshwater Aquarium Fishes in the Phillipines II. Diseases

Very low production levels among freshwater ornamental fish producers in the Philippines are caused by disease outbreaks.  The diseases come from a variety of reasons. The best way to prevent this is to maintain a healthy environment in the tanks at all times to avoid stress that is a predisposing condition for disease occurrence. Stress maybe due to temperature variation, poor water quality, high stocking density, insufficient or excess or unsuitable supply of food and other poor environmental conditions.  To prevent diseases, these conditions should be addressed.

The ornamental fish breeder should be able to distinguish the difference between the healthy and unhealthy fish at the onset in order to remedial measures and prevent mass mortality.   Healthy fishes generally have clean body, erect fins, bright body color, bright eyed, faster movement if frightened and skin and fins are in intact conditions. The common clinical symptoms shows by unhealthy fishes are irregular swimming movement, jumping of the fish, rubbing of the body against any rough substrate, surfacing on water, gasping air, refusal of feed and excessive mucus secretion etc. Abdominal swelling or cyst formation also indicates some internal disorder of fish.

Because humans do not consume them, freshwater ornamental fishes can be treated with antibiotics and chemicals that are banned for use to food fishes. 

Here are the most common freshwater ornamental fish Diseases and its Control

A.  Parasitic Diseases

	Causal Organism	Symptoms	Treatment
Ich or white spot disease	Ichthyophthirius multifiliis	Tiny spots or nodules covering the body, fins and gills	Prolong Bath : Malachite green ( .05-1.0ppm) ,10day Flush  Malachite green (0.5ppm) + Formalin (100ppm) for 1-3hours alternate days
Blue slime disease	Costia necatrix	Slimy bluish-white appearance of the skin	Short Bath : NaCl : 1.5-2.5% Long Bath : NaCl : 0.7-1.0% Short Bath : Formalin: 100ppm Short Bath : NaCl : 1.5-2.5% solution Long Bath: KMnO4 :1g/l for 1 h.
Velvet disease	Oodinium spp	Dusty appearance of yellow or rust colour on gills and skin.
Gyrodactylosis and Dactylogyrosis	Gyrodactylus sp & Dactylogyrus sp.	Skin becomes spotted, necrotic and dark, covered with bluish grey mucus Layer in Gyrodactylus infection. Fish become restless, swim restlessly and gasp air, gills spotted in Dactylogyrus infection.
Lernaeosis	Lernaea sp.	Fish become restless and rub against side and bottom of and tank due to irritation; visible thread like structure.

B.  Fungal Diseases

	Causal Organism	Symptoms	Treatment
Cotton wool disease	Saprolegnia and Achyla	Affected areas of the skin covered with cotton wool like deposits with grey- white patches, hyphae filamentous extended out in the water.	Long Bath : Acriflavine : stock solution 0.001% solution - 10ml of stock soln. added to tank.

C.  Bacterial Diseases

	Causal Organism	Symptoms	Treatment
Dropsy	Aeromonas hydrophila	Accumulation of water in the body cavity or in scale pockets; scale become loose; abdomen swollen.	Long Bath: KMnO4 : 1g/100l  for 1 hour.
Fin and tail rot	Pseudomonas sp.	Disintegration of fin and Tail by appearing a white lime on the outer margin of the fin, droppings of fin occurs tail become torn, rays become fragile.	Long Bath : Tetracycline : 10-20mg/lt 2-3 hours. Oxytetracycline 3-5mg/l
Skin ulcer disease	Psuedomonas aeroginosa	Presence of skin ulcers and hemorrhagic patchy lesions all over the body	Long  Bath: Tetracycline : 10-20mg/lt 2-3 hours. Oxytetracycline 3-5mg/l

Innovative Techniques in the Mass Production of Freshwater Ornamental Fishes in the Philippines I. Induce Spawning

The Philippines is having a hard time exporting its aquaculture produced food fishes due to the high cost of feeds making it difficult to compete with its Asian neighbors.   Fortunately, the production of ornamental fishes involves only the hatchery and nursery operations where less feed is required. This advantage makes the freshwater ornamental fish one commodity that has the soundest export potential for the country. 

Another advantage of producing freshwater ornamental fish is its high selling price as compared to its food fish counterpart.  For example, the cheapest aquarium fish being traded is the ordinary swordtail. Its wholesale price is about Php 3 each as compared to the price of tilapia fingerlings at Php 0.40 and milkfish fingerlings at Php 1.00 each.  Nice six inches koi costs as much as Php 100,000 each and the red arowana fingerlings at Php150, 000 each.  Ordinary goldfishes wholesales at Php 8 each while the ordinary male guppies sells at Php 15 each.  The time, effort and cost to produce these ornamental fishes are almost similar to producing food fishes.

Producing the freshwater ornamental fish can be a backyard enterprise.  Since the marketable size of most ornamental fishes is only around 1-2 inches size, little space is needed.  One only needs a few aquaria to breed them and some small cement tanks to serve as nursery tanks.  There are at present several backyard ornamental fish farms located right in Metro Manila and in some major cities in the country.

Agri-Aqua Harvest Festival 2110

A harvest festival is an annual festivity to serve as a thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest.  This is held during the main harvest of a given region. Due to the differences in climate and crops around the world, harvest festivals are observed at various times throughout the world. Harvests festivals typically feature feasting of both the family and the public, with foods coming from crops that are harvested around the time of the festival. Ample food and holidays from fieldwork are two central features of the harvest festivals.  The celebration is manifested through eating, merriment, contests, music and romance.

July is the harvest month in the Philippines.

The Agri-Aqua Network International, Inc. (AANI) in cooperation with the Friends of AANI composed of different organizations and experts in the food production industry will celebrate AGRI-AQUA HARVEST FESTIVAL 2010 with the theme “14 Years of Sustainable AANI: Farm in the Park” on July 16 to18 at the AANI Herbal Garden & Livelihood Center, Quezon Memorial Circle, Quezon City.

The three day event will feature more than 50 food producers/processors, fruit and vegetable farmers, fisher folks, technology experts, chefs, cooks, musicians, merrymakers and many more. AANI will transform the venue into a “farm” style ambience with a “fiesta” mood to capture the Filipino thanksgiving celebration.

The event is open and FREE to the public.

In addition, the public will be treated to a three day family farm food, drinks, music, fun, entertainment, enjoyment and agri-aqua education through Aqua Kapihan, Agri Kapihan, cooking demos, gardening seminars, fruit wine tasting, interactive livestock and poultry raising, aquaculture demo, barbeques etc.

Should you have queries, please contact Ms. Desiree T. Segovia, 0918-8001728 / 497-2755 for details.

Incidentally, Mr. Jojo Baldia will deliver a free seminar on "Innovative Techniques in the Mass Production of Freshwater Ornamental Fishes" during the July 18 2010, Sunday,  Aqua Kapihan.

Should you have queries, please contact Ms. Desiree T. Segovia, 0918-8001728 / 497-2755 for details.

Agri-Aqua Network International, Inc.

A Visit to my Aquaculture Roots... The Binangonan Freshwater Station of SEAFDEC, AQD

This video surely makes me very nostalgic as this is where my fascination in aquaculture started.  It provided me with a very strong background in my chosen field.

I miss the place, the people I worked with and the happy times we had in a secluded island right at the middle of Laguna Lake.  I miss the 30 min boat ride, the strong wind and waves while riding the banca to and from Tapao during typhoon months.  I miss the freshwater fishes we shared during lunch like ayungin, biya and kanduli. 

Culture of the Native Hito (Clarias macrocephalus)

Introduction

The freshwater catfish, Clarias ssp. are widely distributed in Southeast, South Asia and Africa. They exist in a variety of habitats from brackishwater in estuaries to fully freshwater rivers and lakes. In the mid- 1990's, and introduced species, Clarias gariepinus, have become a very popular aquaculture species in the country because they can be spawned artificially, grow very fast, can tolerate farming conditions and are easy to culture.

In the Philippines, there are now three species of the genus Clarias, namely, the Native Hito (Clarias macrocephalus, the Thai catfish (Clarias batrachus) and the African Hito, (Clarias gariepinus). Among the three species, only C. macrocephalus is indigenous in the Philippines while the other two are introduced species. C. gariepinus originated from Africa while C. batrachus came from Thailand. The introduction of these species into the country was believed to have contributed to the diminishing population of the native catfish. To date, the native catfish can scarcely be found only in some remote areas of the Philippines namely Mindoro and Palawan where the two other species have not been introduced before.

Culture of Pompano in Bolinao, Pangasinan

There is a current craze for pompano culture in cape Bolinao, Pangasinan.  The shift in species was due to the erratic production of milkfish brought about by pollution and its high production cost and low market price of the harvested fish.

After years of searching for an alternate fish suitable for culture in the area, pompano seem to be the answer to the prayers of most Bolinao cage operators.  According to them, it is a very hardy.  In fact, when “fish kill” occurred sometime in 2004, milkfish pen and cage operators suffered heavy losses while pompano did not incur any mortality.  Another proof of its hardiness is its capability of being transported live for 6-7 hrs (from Bolinao to Manila) in oxygenated plastic bags.  Thus, commanding an even higher market price.

Tilapia Cage Farming: A New Enterprise for Small Fishermen

Here is an interesting video on Tilapia cage farming.  This is a very old video but is still a good eye opener for those who may be interested to venture in this business.

This is a production of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, Aquaculture Department.

Intensive Culture of Tilapia in Tanks II. Hatchery & Nursery Operations

The business of raising Tilapia does not involve growing the fingerlings to marketable size alone. Another profit center in this enterprise that can even be more profitable is the hatchery and nursery operations. The higher profitability of these operations relies on the fact that the feed input is much less than the grow-out operations. Furthermore, in terms of the turn-over rates, the hatchery operations takes only about a week while the nursery operation takes about one month as compared to the four to five months it will take before the marketable sized fish is sold.

Similar to the grow-out culture, the hatchery and nursery of tilapia in tanks offers a solution to increased production at a limited space as compared to the traditional pond and cage culture systems. It also minimizes the risk of crop loss due to typhoons and inundation. Furthermore, intensification of culture means less exploitation of the area and more effective management and controlled operation. It is envisioned that it is only through the tank system that aquaculture can be “industrialized” by providing better control and predictable production levels.

Intensive Culture of Tilapia in Tanks I. Grow-out Culture- Tank Design & Operations)

Many are interested in the culture of Tilapia in tanks because of the advantages it offers: first,  less space is needed, second,  better management control, third, less labor is needed, fourth, better quality of fish produced, and fifth, less risk of loss of stocks due to typhoons and flooding.

Its only disadvantage is- it is more expensive to construct and because no natural food can be produced, feeding will depend entirely on commercial feeds.  Encouraged by these reasons, many have actually ventured into this business but failed because of lack of information on the system requirements.  The design of the tank system together with the life support system is crucial to the operations and will determine the success or failure of this business.