The spread of aquaculture resulted in the conversion of natural water bodies into husbandry-type production of fish through the establishment of marine cage clusters (as mariculture parks [MPs]) and fish pens and cages in inland water bodies such as lakes and rivers. Land has been excavated and converted into fishponds.
3
infrastructure and equipment that will allow fisherfolk and investors to operate in a cost-effective and secure manner; and (d) promote environment-friendly inputs and farm management practices.
A ‘mariculture highway’ in the eastern and west- ern seaboard of the country was envisioned to provide a sustainable strategy to ensure food security from aqua- culture and to contribute to the country’s economic growth. These planned MPs will prevent the unregu- lated establishment of mariculture facilities across the country without regard for the overall sustainability of the industry. Figure 34 shows the process for establish- ing an MP in a designated area.
Careful site evaluation is done before a site is con- sidered for MP development. If the site is found suitable, the local Sanguniang Bayan or Sanguniang Panlungsod enacts an ordinance declaring the area as an MP. If the BFAR and the local government unit (LGU) involved agree, a memorandum of agreement is signed by the BFAR and the LGU to develop and co-manage the MP.
An Executive Management Council manages the MP.
The first MP in the Philippines was established in 2001 in the Island Garden City of Samal in Davao.
Since then a number of mariculture areas have been de- veloped (Figure 35).
Table 2 shows the operation of two MPs, one in Panabo and another in San Juanico. Aside from the production and economic benefits of these two MPs, 3.1.1 Conversion of Mangroves to
Fishponds
At least 35 percent of the world’s mangrove forests have been lost in the last two decades, which far exceeds the loss of two other significantly threatened environments:
tropical rain forests and coral reefs (Valiela, Bowen, and York 2001).
Mangrove areas in the Philippines were around 400,000 to 500,000 ha at the turn of the century (Brown and Fisher 1918, as cited by Primavera and Agbayani 1997). This declined to 132,000 ha by 1990 (Auburn University 1993, as cited by Primavera and Agbayani 1997). The decrease in mangrove area in the last few decades has been traced back to the conver- sion of these areas into milkfish and shrimp ponds.
There was only around 61,000 ha of fishponds in the 1940s. This expanded to 223,000 ha by 1990 (Prima- vera 1994) at the peak of fishpond construction from mangrove areas, between 1988 and 1990 alone. Initial- ly, milkfish monoculture dominated the brackish-water pond system, but the development of culture technol- ogies for the peneid shrimp Penaeus monodon, or black tiger shrimp, transformed many of these converted mangrove areas to the culture of this high-value com- modity with excellent export potential.
3.1.2 Establishment of Mariculture Parks The Philippines’ BFAR spearheaded the establishment of MPs in selected coastal areas of the country. The concept of an MP is similar to the establishment of an industrial estate on land where the Government in partnership with the local Government and private sec- tor puts up the facilities for a managed marine aquacul- ture enterprise. The rationale behind the establishment of MPs is to address issues such as declining capture fisheries due to over exploitation, destructive fishing methods, pollution, and habitat deterioration. The MP project aims to (a) generate employment and alle- viate poverty in the countryside; (b) promote marine fish culture as an alternative livelihood for marginal- ized fisherfolk; (c) develop an area with appropriate
Figure 34: Process of establishment of MPs in the Philippines
An Executive Management Council manages
the MP
Initial environment
assessment If site is suitable
If LGU and BFAR agree Sanguniang
Bayan/Panglunsod enacts an ordinance declaring the area as MP
BFAR and LGU sign a MOA to develop and
co-manage the MP
Source: Adora 2009.
fisherfolk in the area noted increased fish recruitment and reduction, if not elimination, in unregulated, il- legal, and destructive fishing in the area, probably due to active management of the MP and its surrounding areas. The total area planned for MP development is 50,150 ha, but only a small portion of this has been fully established (Salayo et al. 2012).
3.1.3 Establishment of Inland Water Aquaculture Facilities
The declining fish catch in the Philippines’ largest lake, Laguna de Bay, provided the impetus for the intro- duction of milkfish culture in fish pens in this lake.
Heretofore, milkfish has been primarily cultured in
brackish-water ponds. Milkfish was thought to be an ideal species to utilize the eutrophic lake’s primary pro- ductivity since milkfish is an herbivorous species. The first fish pens was established as a pilot project of the BFAR and from a 40 ha pilot area in 1971, expanded to a peak of almost 29,011 ha in 1985 (Delmendo 1987).
The initial success of the milkfish culture in Laguna de Bay resulted in the adoption of aquaculture in pens and cages in other inland water bodies in the country. The culture of Nile tilapia and bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis) in Laguna de Bay and other lakes followed.
The infrastructure of fish cages and pens in in- land water bodies for aquaculture had adverse impacts on the environment. Cage and pen structures affect water bodies since (a) they take up space which es- sentially competes with other uses of the inland water body; (b) they alter flow regimes and circulation pat- tern which in turn affects oxygen, sediment, as well as plankton and fish larvae; and (c) they adversely alter the aesthetic quality of the area (Beveridge 1984).
Enclosures such as pens and cages are a more open-type of fish rearing system than land-based fa- cilities such as ponds, tanks, and raceways; thus, there is a greater degree of interaction between cages and penned fish and the outside environment (Beveridge 1984). Nutrients from unconsumed feeds, excreta, and the inevitable mortalities inside the pens/cages may di- rectly affect the aquatic environment, often resulting in eutrophication.
Figure 35: Site of MPs for establishment in the Philippines
Source: BFAR website.
Table 2: Performance of two MPs
Parameter Panabo MP San Juanico MP
Area, ha 1,075 2,700
Fish cages, no. 323 168
Production, tons 1,855.03 3,539.785
Commodity Milkfish Milkfish
Jobs generated, no. 425 304
Investors from ancillary industry, no.
61 178
Year of data covered 2006 to 2009 2004 to 2009 Source: Adora 2009.
3.2 Practices to Prepare and Improve