New book highlights bangus fry production in ponds

It’s now easier for milkfish growers to manage bangus broodstock (breeders) and produce fry in tanks and ponds.

Information about these processes is made available by a manual titled "Milkfish Broodstock Management and Fry Production in Tanks".

The volume was jointly published by the Los-Baños-based Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (DOST-PCAMRD), and United Nation Programme (UNDP).

Authors were Prof. Valeriano Corre, Rosy Janeo, Virgilio Dureza, all of UPV Brackishwater Aquaculture Center; and PCAMRD project manager Rolando Edra.

The manual was launched last Jan. 30 during a program marking the celebration of PCAMRD’s 14th anniversary.

Copies of the publication were presented by the authors to DOST secretary Estrella F. Alasbastro, Rep. Alfredo Marañon Jr. (chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Fisheries, who was anniversary keynote speaker) and PCAMRD executive director Rafael D. Guerero III.

The manual is one of the outputs of the DOST-UNDP project "Milkfish Broodstock Development and Fry Production in Ponds and Tanks," a collaboration of PCAMRD and UPV under the Gain Export (GAINEX) Programme of the UNDP and DOST.

The project was developed as a solution to the milkfish industry problem of declining milkfish production brought about by insufficient supply of milkfish fry from the wild to meet stocking requirements of brackishwater ponds, fishes, and seacages.

The project spearheaded in the Philippines the growing, maturation, and spawning of quality milkfish broodstock in ponds/tanks and produced fry in privately owned hatcheries. The production of fry from milkfish hatcheries will augment the apparent shortage of fry requirements.

The manual discusses the technique and protocols adapted by the project from those developed by the Tigbauan, Iloilo-based Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC AQD), the Indonesian Gondol Research Station, and the Taiwanese Tungkang Marine Laboratory.

Covered are Broodstock Management, Hatchery Setup, Natural Food Culture, Spawning and Egg Collection, Larval rearing, and Cost-return Analysis.

Additional information is provided on composition of diet used for milkfish maturation and procedure for hormone preparation (materials needed, fabricating the pellet mold and packing nail, preparation of mixture, and pellet making). – Rudy A. Fernandez