Status of the Research Components of the Project

Component 1
Profile of Key Aquaculture Technologies and Fishing Practices

Philippines

Philippines has a vast natural resource endowments composed of freshwater (106,328 ha) and brackishwater (232,065 ha) swampland, existing freshwater (14,531 ha) and brackishwater (239,323 ha) fishponds, lakes (200,000 ha), rivers (31 ha), and reservoirs (19,000 ha). The Philippine fisheries sector can be divided into three sub-sectors namely, aquaculture, commercial (large-scale) and municipal (artisanal or small-scale) fisheries. Over the five-year production trend, the highest % share of total fish production comes from aquaculture at 34.1% followed by commercial at 32.99% and lastly by municipal, 32.91%.

Capture fisheries system in inland and marine waters were presented in the report. There are about 1,246 inland fishing gears and 10,493 marine gears. In small-scale freshwater fishing operations, gillnet has the highest production (32.85%) followed by hook-and-line (24.13%). Adoption pattern and technical and economic characteristics of the different fishing technologies were also enumerated and discussed in the report.

Aquaculture in the Philippines is classified into three major industry groups based on farming environments. These are a) freshwater aquaculture (fish farming in lakes, dams, rivers, small-water impoundments, paddy-culture, tanks), b) brackishwater aquaculture (traditionally fishponds in coastal estuaries) and c) mariculture or seafarming (classified into three sub-commodities: finfish, shellfish and seaweed cultures). The major culture species are seaweeds, milkfish, tilapia and shrimps/prawns. Most of these aquaculture systems are operated as a stand-alone operation. These are mainly owner-operated with other members of the family assisting in the operation. On the other hand, large-scale operators rely heavily on farm managers or caretakers for their operation. Except for the freshwater fishponds, none of the aquaculture systems could be integrated with other farming activities.

Freshwater Aquaculture
Freshwater culture systems are more on monoculture in ponds, cages, pens and tanks with extensive, semi-intensive and intensive management systems. Milkfish, tilapia and carps are the major aquaculture species cultured in freshwater fishpens in the country. Milkfish dominates production in this culture system. Tilapia (monoculture) and carps are commonly reared in freshwater fish cages in the Philippines. Tilapia was more popular to farmers than the carp species in this culture system. Pond monoculture of tilapia and catfish is equally important culture system in freshwater environment. Carps are also cultured in ponds using both monoculture and polyculture system. In addition, tilapia and catfish are stocked in tanks, cultured by monoculture systems.

Brackishwater Aquaculture
Brackishwater aquaculture is traditional fishponds in coastal estuaries. For brackishwater environment, both monoculture and polyculture systems are carried out for shrimp/prawn, milkfish, tilapia, mudcrab and grouper culture.

Mariculture
For mariculture environment, ponds are a common farming system used to stock shrimp, milkfish and grouper. Seaweeds and mussel are cultured by floating and hanging farming system with extensive culture system. Milkfish and grouper are the major species produced by using polyculture in cage.

Marine Capture
The marine capture fisheries sector in the Philippines is categorized into two sub-sectors, namely, municipal (artisanal) fisheries and commercial fisheries. Municipal fisheries refer to fishing in the communal coastal waterbody within a defined boundary of water-limit and with specific requirements of fishing gears and vessels. Commercial or deepsea fishing are those that operates outside the municipal fishing boundaries using passive or active gears and with a defined gross tonnage of fishing vessels. During the early 1950s, the small-scale sector comprised the bulk of fisheries production, which was, on average, 150% greater than the commercial sector. Towards the 1970s and well into the 1990s, this ratio drastically dropped to a little over 30% indicating either stagnation in catch of the municipal fishery or increased activity in the commercial sector. In 2000, total fish production was 2,868,605 mt of which 33% came from the commercial sector and 33% came from the municipal sector (Table 2.1.6.1). Based on the latest data of municipal and commercial fishing vessel, it is estimated that there were 469,807 bancas (less than 3 GT) in 2000 and 3,601 vessels (more than 3 GT) in 1999. Being multi-species fisheries, fishers in municipal fishery sector use various choice of fishing gear and at present there are about 46 types. The most common are gillnet, hook and line, jig, fish corral, beach seine and longline. In coastal waters, several kinds of fishing gears and methods are used by the fishers causing the fishing effort to increase, which contribute to overfishing. There are 14 types of fishing gears being used in the commercials sector. In terms of production, purse seine and ring nets produced 52% and 16% of the total production, respectively.

 View Table 2.1.6.1.

Purse seines and trawlers have the highest operating expenses mainly because of high contribution of fuel cost. Fuel cost and ice are the major components of material expenses. Material expenses increase in tandem with tonnage (Table 2.1.6.2). Repairs and maintenance expense are correlated to age of the asset. Revenues of commercial fishing vessels depend on total volume of catch, species composition and prices. A higher volume of catch results in higher revenues and this is further enhanced when the species caught are commercially desirable. Catch per trip for purse seines is the highest among the gears surveyed, followed by trawlers, Danish seines and gillnets (Table 2.1.6.3).

 View Table 2.1.6.2.

 View Table 2.1.6.3.

•  Bangladesh
•  China
•  India
•  Indonesia
•  Malaysia
•  Philippines
•  Sri Lanka
•  Thailand
•  Vietnam