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AQD's contributions to aquaculture development Fishfarming technologies from researchTechnologies for farm verification and commercialization Human resource development and information dissemination
Fishfarming technologies as a result of world-class researchSEAFDEC/AQD's major contributions to the aquaculture industry have been the science-based technologies for (1) tiger shrimp seed production, grow-out techniques, feeds, and disease diagnosis; (2) seed production and nutritional requirements of milkfish; (3) grouper husbandry, seed production, health management, and feeds; (4) mangrove snapper, seabass and rabbitfish seed production; (5) mudcrab hatchery-nursery, brackishwater pond culture, and pen culture in mangrove areas; (6) farm-based broodstock selection and feeds for tilapia; (7) seed production and grow-out of the tropical abalone; and (8) Asian catfish hatchery. Giant tiger shrimp The first major breakthrough at AQD was the induced spawning, seed production in the hatchery, and the completion in 1975 of the life cycle of the tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon in captivity. As seed and feeds became available, shrimp grow-out in ponds spread all over Asia and the world. AQD emphasizes sanitation and prevention rather than chemotherapy in health management, and seeks to better understand and manage the environment within and surrounding the ponds. Biotechnology tools have also been developed for disease diagnosis, like identifying the white-spot syndrome virus (WSSV). Shrimp-aquasilviculture and mangrove ecology were also studied, and, with the ASEAN-Fisheries Consultative Group, the best management practices for mangrove-friendly shrimp farming were developed by 2002. The greenwater or re-circulating pond design has been adopted in the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand. Milkfish AQD's second major breakthrough was the induced spawning, larval rearing, and the completion of the life cycle of milkfish Chanos chanos. Hatchery operations became possible in 1980 when spontaneous spawning of milkfish broodstock was achieved in floating cages. Effective feeds have been developed for the broodstocks, larvae in the hatchery, and juveniles in grow-out. The life history and ecology of milkfish and the socio-economics of the fry fishery and milkfish farming industries have been studied in some detail. Research also refined broodstock management and egg production to reduce the deformities in hatchery-reared seed. Work needs to be done on high-intensity milkfish farming systems and how they can be managed at sustainable levels. High-value marine fishes Seed
production techniques were easily developed for sea bass Lates calcarifer
though it took awhile for the groupers Epinephelus spp. and snappers
Lutjanus spp. Farming of these carnivorous, high-value marine species is
feasible where there is ready supply of seedstock (life cycle of grouper in
captivity was completed by AQD in 1994), clean water, and AQD had also produced a hatchery technology in 1986 for the herbivorous rabbitfish Siganus guttatus. The market for rabbitfish is still limited and so is farming, but there is potential for expansion. Today, AQD supplies eggs (mainly milkfish, grouper, seabass) to private hatcheries; also fry of various fishes to different stakeholders. Freshwater fishes and prawn AQD has sought ways to make tilapia farming compatible with the environment after intensive farming of Oreochromis niloticus became quickly established in Southeast Asia in the 1980s. Work on a farm-based genetic selection scheme was done to guide tilapia farmers in selecting and managing breeders. Essentially, a tilapia that breeds true for several generations is not necessarily the largest or the biggest of its batch, but a healthy one in the normal size distribution curve. AQD has also improved the tilapia's broodstock nutrition to maximize seed production and quality. AQD spawned the bighead carp Aristichthys nobilis and silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix in Laguna de Bay in the Philippines in 1983, and the juveniles were supplied to pen and cage operators; by 1987, carp hatcheries mushroomed around Laguna de Bay with AQD's technical assistance and training. A town near the Bay (called Barangay Kalinawan) prides itself as being 90% devoted to carp over other freshwater ventures. AQD has also developed spawning and hatchery techniques and feeds for the nursery and grow-out of the walking catfish Clarias macrocephalus, native to the Philippines, which is seriously depleted in the wild. For the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii, a working technology from broodstock and larval rearing to nursery and grow-out has been developed and extended around Southeast Asia. Three countries ~ Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines ~ are working on the prawn's genetic characterization and improvement of seed production under SEAFDEC-ASEAN FCG's special 5-year program that runs up to 2010. Abalone and other molluscs Current work on the donkey's ear abalone Haliotis asinina includes refinement of hatchery techniques and improvement of grow-out systems. It is to be noted that AQD completed the life cycle of Haliotis in captivity in 1997. AQD has also developed a shell-marking method by feeding formulated diet; in contrast, seaweed-feeding or wild abalone has no such green band. The green shell-mark would find practical use in abalone stock enhancement trials. Mollusk mariculture has less adverse effects on the environment and can be carried out by small-scale fishers. Larval rearing techniques for the windowpane oyster Placuna placenta and the top shell Trochus niloticus have also been developed. Seaweeds AQD developed farming techniques and studied the gel characteristics of the agar-producing Gracilaria and Kappaphycus spp. The primary aim had been to help growers find an improved strain considering the deteriorating quality of current seedstocks used by the Philippine industry and elsewhere. AQD has also established methods
for growing seaweed from spores or tissues in the laboratory, explored the use
of Gracilaria as biofilter in recirculating water systems for milkfish
broodstock in tanks and for shrimp farming in brackishwater ponds, and collected
samples of seaweeds from the wild for genetic profiling and characterization of
agar/carrageenan quality. Efforts are on hand to study the Mudcrabs Hatchery techniques and farming systems have been developed for the high-priced mud crabs Scylla spp. AQD's efforts on mudcrab mainly commenced in 1997. A nursery system was developed in 1998 using net cages installed in brackishwater ponds. Crablets from this system are regularly sold to crab farmers and grown in ponds. Although the technology applies to all the three species of mud crab, Scylla serrata or king crab has been the focus of culture. AQD's dissemination of its mudcrab hatchery technology has reached outside SEAFDEC member-countries, as far as India. Biotechnology AQD has had successes in molecular microbiology like the production of indigenous probiotics for shrimp hatchery and grow-out. In the area of endocrinology, AQD was able to isolate and produce in laboratory-scale the recombinant growth hormones of rabbitfish and milkfish. Grouper growth hormone was also cloned.
Technologies for farm verification and commercialization Research findings had been verified and will continue to be tested in commercial-scale hatcheries and grow-out facilities in collaboration with fisheries agencies in the ASEAN Region. Some of the technologies recently ready for commercialization are as follows.
AQD has also packaged these technologies into a technical assistance program that best suits a locality, at the same time addressing that local community's need for prudent fisheries resource management. AQD's first multi-disciplinary project was in the island-barangay of Malalison in west central Philippines in the early through the late 1990s.
Human resource development and information dissemination For all its years of existence, AQD has stood ready to give technical and information support to various collaborators and private sector stakeholders. Training On-site and hands-on training courses have been attended by government fisheries personnel from SEAFDEC member countries, by entrepreneurs and fishfarmers since 1977. Special courses have also been designed according to the needs of requesting and funding parties. Most of the lecturers and practical instructors in these training courses were AQD's own researchers and aquaculturists. Recent innovations in the delivery of information included AQD's first internet-based, distance learning course on the Principles of Health Management in Aquaculture that was first offered in 2002, and its textbook writing project which produced two titles since 2001, on health management and tropical fish nutrition. AQD's training program has produced a large number of technical personnel who are now in the aquaculture business themselves or now conduct or direct further R&D in their home countries. Science literature and farmer-friendly reading materials As basis of its packaged technologies, AQD's research findings are easily accessible to the science community as these have been published in peer-reviewed and other technical journals. The first journal articles appeared in 1976, eight of them, on tiger shrimp, milkfish and crab. To date, AQD researchers have published over 800 papers in journals and nearly 400 in conference proceedings or as book chapters. Some of these works have been awarded as best published papers, with AQD receiving a total of 66 commendations for its papers and researchers since 1987. For fishfarmer-friendly materials, AQD has written and produced the following since 1978: 461 newsletter issues, 263 magazines, 12 books including 3 textbooks, 3 policy guidebooks, 49 farmer's how-to manuals, 47 pamphlets-flyers-brochures-leaflets, 4 posters, 82 institutional & meeting reports, 8 compilations-reprints-collected abstracts of AQD journal papers, 57 bibliographies, 2 directories, and nearly 600 souvenir items-general notices-&-non-aquaculture materials. Most current AQD materials are free downloads from its website www.seafdec.org.ph Library and FishWorld After three decades, the AQD Library (established in 1975) has accumulated what is perhaps the biggest collection of aquaculture materials in Southeast Asia. Students of fisheries, researchers, and the general public had often walked in to use the Library, while materials requested over the phone, by letter, fax or email from several countries had been continuously served. The core and prized collection that is unique to the AQD Library covers the brackishwater species abalone, grouper, milkfish, mudcrab, rabbitfish, seabass, seaweeds, and tiger shrimp. Filipiniana materials are considered excellent too, likewise tilapia and freshwater prawn. Today, the library collection, numbering 34,734 titles and 53,911 volumes/copies, are in electronic databases that can be searched through the AQD website under the online-public-access-catalogue. Not only the Library had served a Southeast Asian clientele, FishWorld did, too. FishWorld is AQD's museum-aquarium and visitor center dedicated to science and environment education of the general public, especially about aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity, fisheries, and aquaculture.
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NOTE TO THE MEDIA: Materials in this site may be freely quoted as long as acknowledgment to SEAFDEC / AQD is made and a copy of the article where the AQD material appeared is sent to aqdchief@seafdec.org.ph or to any of our contact addresses.
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