Asia

Decades of scientific research related to agriculture and natural resource management have brought limited benefits to smallholder farmers, including crop farmers, fishers, livestock keepers and other resource users. Therefore, donors, policymakers and civil society organizations (CSOs), such as farmer organizations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), are urging the formal research sector to make its work more useful to smallholder farmers.

These publications, consisting of a Regional State of the Coral Triangle report with six corresponding country-level State of the Coral Triangle reports, identify key issues that decision makers must address if sustainable development of the Coral Triangle’s coastal and marine resources is to be achieved. The Regional State of the Coral Triangle report summarizes each country’s biophysical and socioeconomic characteristics, as well as their institutional framework for governing marine resource use.

The Coral Triangle is a global priority for conservation and since the creation of the Coral Triangle Initiative in 2007 it has been a major focus for a multi-lateral conservation partnership uniting the region's six governments. The Coral Triangle (CT) Atlas was developed to provide scientists and managers with the best available data on marine resources in the Coral Triangle.

WorldFish is leading the CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems together with two other CGIAR Centers; the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and Bioversity. In 2012 and 2013 the AAS Program rolled out in Solomon Islands, Zambia, Bangladesh, Cambodia and the Philippines. Aquatic Agricultural Systems are places where farming and fishing in freshwater and/or coastal ecosystems contribute significantly to household income and food security. The program goal is to improve the well-being of AAS-dependent people.

The fishing industry in the Philippines was tantamount to a marine capture fishery in the 1950s to 1960s. Aquaculture and inland fishery production were not significant. Only during the 1970s did aquaculture and inland capture fisheries contribute significantly to fish production. From 250 000 t fish production in 1951, this increased substantially to 1.6 million t in the 1990s. An average 4.3% was contributed by fisheries to the gross domestic product from 1988 - 98. Fisheries export earnings reached P12 billion in the 1990s.

The growth of aquaculture - now the fastest growing food production system in the world - is increasingly attracting private investment. Much of this investment, however, is in larger enterprises and input services such as feed, seed and processing. Little is targeted at smallholder farmers who, as a result, continue to face constraints in accessing finance, technology and markets. In 2010, WorldFish set out to explore the business case for investment in smallholder aquaculture by examining several donor funded projects.

The potential of small-scale aquaculture (SSA) to contribute to development goals including poverty reduction and improved food security has been widely discussed. These accounts emphasize the following characteristics of SSA: the relative poverty of practising households; the subsistence or semi-subsistence nature of the activity; its role as a means of agricultural diversification; its contribution to food security; family ownership and operation of production or reliance on predominantly family labour; and utilization of small areas of land and/or water.

An historical account of the establishment of the Silliman University Marine Laboratory is given in this article.

This paper was prepared by a group of authors of complementary experiences and presented during the Thematic Session V: Improving knowledge and information sharing, research and extension in aquaculture at the Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010, Farming the Waters for People and Food held in Phuket, Thailand on 22–25 September 2010.

A brief account of the USAID funded fish stock assessment collaborative Research Support Program is given, with emphasis on its Philippine module, devoted to empirical analyses, modelling and field studies aimed at improved management of exploited multispecies fish stocks.