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Milkfish (Chanos chanos) is the national fish of the Philippines. It is locally known as “bangus.” Actually, Philippines ranks number one in producing milkfish. Indonesia and Taiwan follow in rank numbers two and three.

In Dagupan, Bangus culture is popular because it can stand diversities of temperature, salinity and quality of water. It can adjust well to high concentration. Hatchery or wild stocks are the common sources of milkfish culture which is usually cultured in ponds, pens, or cages. Several systems of culturing milkfish include extensive, semi-intensive and intensive like the marine cage culture. Intensive culture is characterized by high quantity of seeds and feeds in a small area.

Inspite of the continuous grow in the demand of milkfish, wild catch starts to decline as a result of over fishing. This is why the use of the mariculture parks, with its established profitability, is becoming advantageous with the scarcity of land resources. With the use of mariculture parks, fish farmers will only spend for seed stocks, feeds and other inputs. Technical assistance and water monitoring services, moors and cage frame are provided in the park concepts. Sometimes, other facilities such as feed warehouse, net mending and drying shed are provided. It may also include guest houses, communication and transportation facilities. Mariculture parks in the Philippines are established by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) under the Department of Agriculture.

Possible Problems

Sea cages in mariculture parks may have negative impact which may result to water pollution. If this happens, not only the fishes in the cage will be affected but as well as other marine organisms. With this, SEAFDEC is trying to develop an early warning system. The use of greater amount of feeds and other inputs in an intensive culture may not be eaten or digested properly. This may settle to the bottom of the sediment and cause sediment pollution. Thus, monitoring the water and sediments quality near the fish cages is a necessity. Using only good quality formulated feeds, avoiding over feeding or modifying the feeding regime may reduce wastes.

SEAFDEC is also developing a chart where soil samples under the cages should be compared. Ideal conditions are identified through the reference colors in the chart. A “fallow period,” which means moving the cages to other area to allow sediments and infauna to recover, should be done if there are signs of early pollutions.

Guidance in Culturing Bangus in Sea cages

The culture site should be:

• Far from pollutions
• Distant to coral beds and sea grasses
• 12-15 meters deep
• Protected from bad condition s of weather
• secured and easy to reach

The cages should:

• have an area of 600 cubic meter
• be arranged in clusters or quadrants
• have frames made of bamboo, GI or HDPE pipes, or lumber
• have square or rectangular nets (10x10m) (6m deep)
• have mooring built from cement blocks, anchors or GI pegs
• have floats form empty plastic containers or Styrofoam

Condition of cultures:

• Fingerling size of 5-6 inches; an average of 0.5 kg upon harvest
• Culture should last 4 months (120 days) with a survivability of 95%
• With a 2.5 feed conversion ratio

Based on 2009 data, investment will amount to 830, 833 pesos for fingerlings worth 115,500. Net income will be 205,634 pesos in a year with a return of investment 21% per year.