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My fourth close
encounter with a whale shark
by TU Bagarinao
Research Head Dr. Evelyn Grace de Jesus-Ayson texted me about 7 am on
Wednesday, 16 May, to tell me that a whale shark had been caught in a beach
seine in Nanga. I was at FishWorld already, having stayed overnight to work
on the FSP book (sigh!). A few minutes later, Nestor Tayaba came by on his
bike to tell me that there was a cut up but live whale shark on the beach
near Angie Tillo's hatchery. I thanked him, grabbed camera and measuring
tape and hurried through Angie's hatchery to the beach, a short distance to
the right. |
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There
it was ~ huge, black and beautiful, with white spots ~ Rhincodon typus.
But what a shock! It was bloody red, too, where the dorsal fin and upper
caudal lobe had been cleanly sliced off! I took photos and measured the
shark to be 5 meters long. The whale shark was tied at the tail to the
beach, its head at the deep end. Other than the sliced-off fins, it looked
clean and shiny, without body injuries or bruises, unlike many other large
marine animals I had seen caught in shallow-water fishing gear. It looked
strong and was trying to swim away. Maybe there was a chance it would
survive despite the missing fins. Maybe the fins would heal up.
I
looked around for the fishers. The owner of the beach seine was right there
by the shark. He explained that the shark already had the sliced-off fins
when it got caught in his beach seine, and they did not realize there was a
shark in the seine until they got it into too shallow water. Can we release
it, I asked. OK, he said. Wow, I was surprised at his readiness. But a few
other people at the beach were not so sure. The shark will die, they said.
Other sharks will come and attack it. Somebody said, wait for Ratsada. A
woman said, wait for the say-so of the Barangay Captain. OK, where does the
captain live, I'll go get permission. Oh, somebody already went to fetch
Mor Miranda. Ah, so, the shark was still in Buyuan waters, not Nanga.
I
looked at the shark. It was still strong, but it could not wait too long.
The longer it was tied down, the weaker it would get, and the slimmer its
chance of surviving when released. In any case, endangered marine animals
are not within the jurisdiction of local government officials. I texted
BFAR Regional Director Drusila Bayate for help. She was then at AQD for a
BFAR Directors' meeting. I was getting anxious for the shark. I agreed
with the others that the shark would likely die, but argued that it was
better for the shark to die at sea than in the fishers' custody. It is
illegal to keep a whale shark, dead or alive, and there was no way they
could slaughter or sell the one on the beach that morning.
Thankfully,
before it got too sticky for me, the beach seine owner released the whale
shark without further ado. The shark swam away and quickly disappeared into
the sea. I yelled in joy and wished the shark happy escape and good
healing! Do not ever come back near shore! I thanked the seine owner and
texted Dr. Ayson the happy news. My fisherman hero turned out to be Rodolfo
Barrion, none other than Christine's father. His wife Rosemarie is a
Barangay Health Worker and she urged me to write a report she could submit
to Mor Miranda. So here it is. |
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AQD welcomes Dr. Ogata
AQD has a new Deputy Chief, Dr. Hiroshi Ogata, who started his 2-year term
on April 1.
Prior to his AQD assignment, Dr. Ogata worked for the Fisheries Research
Agency-Tohoku National Fisheries Institute in Shin-hama, Shiogama, Japan as
Head of Planning and Coordination. He had also spent 5 years as Senior
Researcher at JIRCAS (2001-2006), and had been a fish nutrition researcher
and section head at the National Research Institute of Aquaculture. |
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Dr. Ogata is no stranger to AQD. He has worked with AQD's former researchers
Dr. Arnil Emata and Mr. Denny Chavez on mangrove red snapper and milkfish,
respectively, when he served as a JIRCAS expert from 2002-2006.
Dr. Ogata holds a Doctorate in Agriculture (Fish Physiology and Nutrition)
from Tohoku University which he obtained in 1988. His MS and BS Agriculture
(Biochemistry) degrees were also from the same university, obtained in 1975
and 1973, respectively.
His most recent publications include rice-fish culture in Egypt; live food
for milkfish fry; fatty acid composition of five candidate aquaculture
species; broodstock diet for mangrove red snapper; histidine-supplemented
diet for yellowtail; feeding efficiency and intake of Japanese flounder;
growth and macronutrient retention in red sea bream; and feeding condition,
dietary fatty acids and gene expression in red sea bream.
Dr. Ogata has published in several ISI journals, including Aquaculture,
Journal of Fish Biology, and Comparative Biochemistry & Physiology.
AQD Chief Dr. Joebert Toledo with his senior officials welcomed Dr. Ogata
with a party on March 9. The Chief expressed his confidence in a smooth
working relationship between AQD and the new Deputy. Dr. Ogata said he looks
forward to working at AQD again, and thanked his predecessor Dr. Koichi
Okuzawa for the project accomplishments under the Government of Japan Trust
Fund (GOJ-TF).
Even before his official duty began, Dr. Ogata went to work, attending the
March 12 and March 16 team meetings of the GOJ-TF projects.
Welcome to AQD, Ogata-san! |
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AQD hosts vannamei meeting
The Fisheries & Aquaculture Board of the Philippines (FAB) held their second
meeting on Penaeus vannamei at AQD on March 21.
P. vannamei is seen as an alternative species to monodon that the industry
lobbied to import and cultivate. The import ban had been lifted last
January 8. |
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FAB's vannamei consultation-workshops cover hatchery design, culture, and
disease control for taura syndrome, white spot, and others.
Speakers at AQD include Mr. David Kawahigashi of Kona Bay Marine Resources
in Hawaii and Dr. Matthew Briggs of Epicore BioNetworks Inc in Thailand
(photo at left).
FAB is a non-stock non-profit private sectorled industry organization duly
registered at SEC, and formed by then Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo in
2003. FAB's main goal is to promote the growth of Philippine aquaculture.
The FAB's first meeting on vannamei was held in Pasig City on March 20.
After AQD, the FAB meeting was held in Cebu City on March 22 and back in
Manila on March 23. |
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Igang,
Dumangas stations harvest grouper, milkfish
Research can really improve fish yields as proven
in an Igang Marine
Substation (IMSS) harvest. The exciting note here is that the fish came from
AQD's marine fish hatchery-nurseries, and the feed given
to the stock was
formulated and milled at AQD based on the nutritional requirements of the
fish and locally available feedstuffs. Hatchery and feed development are
technologies that had taken years to develop. |
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On March 14, AQD harvested groupers from its verification trial/ production
run on growout of grouper in marine cages at IMSS. This was after 7 months
of culture; the grouper were initially 77 g, stocked
12 fish per m3 in a 5 x
5 x 3 m cage, and fed at a
rate of 2-4% of body weight per day.
Epinephelus fuscoguttatus was the stock, and a total 324 kg were taken for
the first partial harvest.
The fish were 400 kg each by then. Survival rate
was 90%. Feed conversion at 2.7; feed cost at
P37 per kg. |
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AQD was able to sell the fish, live, at P350 per kg, as high as tiger
shrimp. The buyer was Juanito Ang of Negros Occidental and Mr. Raymundo
Robles of Breakthrough Restaurant in Iloilo City. There are still remaining
stocks, totaling 417 pieces. These will be harvested upon reaching market
size. The project is supervised by Mr. Albert Gaitan, IMSS head.
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Over at AQD's Dumangas Brackishwater Station, selective harvest was madeof
470 kg of milkfish from one pond sized 0.83 ha on May 3.
The buyers of the 245-g milkfish were all AQD employees.
There are still around 560 pieces remaining of the milkfish stock and these
were transferred to another pond. Recovery of stock was around 83%.
DBS Head Ms. Jocelyn Ladja noted, however, that the harvest was lower than
expected probably because the fry stocked came from the end-tail spawning of
a broodstock batch. |
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Pandan co-op harvests
seabass |
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Partial harvest at Pandan, Antique for the seabass run yielded 108.2 kg last
April 19. Sizes at harvest were 400 g (40%) and 300 g or less (60%). All
were bought by LGK Corp. of Iloilo City.
The Pandan site is part of AQD's dream project in aquaculture, the
Institutional capacity development for sustainable aquaculture. It is a
collaboration with the Mag-aba Multipurpose Cooperative. Coop members were
earlier trained by AQD on seabass and seaweeds culture last Sept 20-22. The
making of the cages and the stocking of seabass were part of the practical
sessions. |
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Four sizes of seabass were stocked on Sept 22, 2006 (300 pcs of 1-in fish,
1000 of 1.5 in, 300 of 2 in, and 500 of 3-in). The 1-2 in seabass came from
AQD's hatcheries while the 3-in ones were from a private hatchery. The
Pandan site has four units of nursery and four of grow-out too.
The seabass were fed commercial pellets and trash fish ad libitum. Juveniles
were sorted separately in nursery cages for about two months, and by the
third month, the stock were transferred to grow-out cages.
About 400 pcs of 200-g seabass remain in the cages for the next harvest. |
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Roxas City site moves on to
phase III training |
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Feed preparation was the subject of the phase III training in the
Season-long course in brackishwater aquaculture attended by CapizeÃ
±os and
organized by AQD.
The course is hands-on and forms part of the Institutional capacity
development for sustainable aquaculture (ICD-SA) project among the Province
of Capiz, Capiz State University (CAPSU), and AQD.
The course was held at CAPSU's Dayao Campus in Roxas City last April 10-11.
A total of 32 participants attended: 8 students; 4 instructors; 10 fishpond
owners from Roxas City, Ivisan and Pilar; 4 agricultural technologists from
Sapian, Pilar, Ivisan and Roxas City; a barangay chair from Ivisan; 2
fishpond caretakers; a tilapia hatchery operator from Roxas City; and an
administrative aide from LGU-Panay. |
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The training kicked-off with a briefing on the progress of ICD-SA's
demonstration farm within the CAPSU campus by Prof. Victor Billanes,
project-in-charge.
This was followed by a lecture delivered by Dr. Mae Catacutan, AQD visiting
scientist, on nutrient requirements and feed formulation. Next came a
lecture-demonstration on feed formulation and preparation by Mr. Nelson
Golez, AQD visiting scientist.
Mr. Eliseo Coniza, AQD's research specialist, took the task on feed
computations/adjustment.
ICD-SA in Capiz started with an agreement signing last Nov 16, 2006. The
on-site, season-long training course was the first activity. Phase I of the
course was completed in February (aquaculture production systems) and phase
II in March (stock sampling, feeding, water management and fish health
management). |
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Binangonan station: a feed development course for freshwater fish
From February 16-17,AQD's Binangonan Freshwater Station (BFS) in Rizal held
a 2-day Special training course on production of farmbased feeds for
freshwater fishes.
There were two participants, Mr. Edgardo Cruz and Mr. Markvic Tangcangco,
President and Treasurer, respectively, of Lingap Kabuhayan Foundation (LFK).
"The training is very relevant and responsive to the development of
organically grown tilapia," the trainees say. "Tilapia in Angat-Bustos,
Bulacan is one of the best in the country, but the high cost of production
practically wiped out profits in the last 4 years. This training on feed
formulation is imperative because farm-made feeds will reduce feed cost."
LFK has been organized to open livelihood programs by promoting organic and
integrated aquaculture, starting with tilapia in the Angat-Bustos area.
The BFS training started with a warm welcome and an orientation given by
Ms.Alma Lazartigue, BFS' Assistant Training Coordinator. The participants
were toured in the station, then came the lectures on nutrition and feeding,
feed formulation, feed preparation and proper feed storage.
Hands-on sessions on the processing and preparation of indigenous raw
materials as feed ingredients, and production of fish feeds were also
conducted.
The lecturers were Mr. Manuel Laron, AQD's Research Specialist, and Ms.
Maria Geronilla, AQD Research Technician. |
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Learning
biodiversity at FishWorld |
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Thirteen incoming juniors at the Philippine Science High School and seven
incoming seniors at the University of the Philippines High School joined
FishWorld's Marine Diversity Workshop on 17-20 April. They went on several
field trips to fishing villages, collected and examined weird creatures big
and small, and used taxonomic keys and authoritative books to find
scientific names for marine species. |
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Dr. Lio-Po
is best microbiologist
Congratulations to Dr. Gilda Lio-Po! She is the Philippine Society for
Microbiology's choice as the "2007 Outstanding Microbiologist." The award
was given during the society's 36th annual convention and scientific meeting
in Malate, Manila, May 7-8.
Dr. Lio-Po is the 24th person to win the award in PSM's history. She was
honored for her "outstanding contributions to the field of aquatic
microbiology focused on developing sound fish health management."
"PSM," Dr. Ernelia Cao, Society President, writes, "recognizes Dr. Gilda
Lio- Po's significant researches in aquatic biotechnology that could lead
towards sustainable development of the aquaculture industry in the country.
"As a
researcher and teacher, she has demonstrated her professional competence and
commitment through her various technical and scientific publications,
instructional materials and extension work." |
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Dr. Hurtado
has the best poster
Congratulations, Dr. Anne Hurtado! AQD's program leader for seaweed strain
improvement, for winning the Best Poster Paper Award at the 19th
International Seaweed Symposium held in Kobe, Japan last Mar 25 to Apr 1.
Her paper was on the Effects of epiphytes on the growth and carrageenan
quality of Kappaphycus striatum var. sacol on the different stocking
densities, days and depths. The work was financially supported by Cargill
(formerly Degussa Texturizing Solutions SAS France) and done a few months
before Dr. Hurtado left AQD in 2004.
She had three more co-authors from Degussa (Alan Critchley, Anne Trespoey
and Genevieve Bleicher Lhonneur) while her institutional affiliation was
noted to be ISDA (Integrated Services for the Development of Aquaculture)
and AQD. Dr. Hurtado's prizes were US$500 and a certificate.
She presented two posters and an oral paper at Kobe. |
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First client
for ABOT aquanegosyo |
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AQD Chief Dr Joebert Toledo signed an agreement with Mr Jesse Cruz, the
first ABOT AquaNegosyo client, on May 8.
AQD will provide science-based advise to Mr Cruz in developing a portion of
his 6-ha agricultural land into a tilapia grow-out farm. The site is in Brgy
Sta Ines Centro in the municipality of Sta Ignacia, Tarlac. |
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It also intends to promote adoption of sustainable aquaculture
practices complimentary to the development and conservation of fishery and
aquatic resources. The client signifies his interest in developing an
aquaculture enterprise, has financial and physical resources allocated for
the application of science-based aquaculture technologies, and is committed
to adopt recommended sustainable aquaculture practices and operations.
Mr Cruz got hold of an ABOT AquaNegosyo leaflet from a friend who attended
the AgriAquaFoodLink in October 2006 at the World Trade Center Manila. He
visited the AQD Manila Office and had discussions about the business
package.
A site assessment report covering technical and financial analysis has been
made in consultation with AQD's Technical Advisory Team (Dr Malou Aralar,
Team Leader; Mr. Ruel Eguia, tilapia specialist; Mr. Manny Laron, ulang
specialist; Mr. Emil Aralar, engineering;
Dr Salayo, economics; and Dr Weng
Eguia, genetics).
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Dr. Aisa Salayo and Mr. Ruel Eguia conducted the site assessment of the farm
on 8 December 2006.
Engr. Rex Tillo and Mr. Ramy Depaclayon drew the blueprint of the ponds
proposed by Mr. Eguia. A series of discussions with the task team ensured
the signing of the MOA.
The parties agreed that the MOA ends on the full turn-over of farm
operations on completion of a maximum of three (3) crops in a year. It could
be renewed with further terms stipulated. |
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Strategic planning workshop
series
Employees spent the first half of April cracking their heads to come up with
the SWOT (strengths weaknesses-opportunities- threats) of their respective
divisions.
First to do it was the Training&Information Division (TID) on April 2; next
was the Administration-Finance Division (AFD) with the Management Group on
April 10; then finally, the combined forces of Research and Technology
Verification-Commercialization Divisions (RD, TVCD) on April 11.
The SWOT exercises were facilitated by Dr. Christine Mae Hernando of UP
Visayas's College of Management.
The reason for the strategic planning series is to enable AQD to hone its
competitiveness given the increasing scarcity of resources available to it.
The SWOT exercises together with environmental scanning and internal
organizational diagnosis will lead to the revisioning of the AQD mandate.
Once the mission and vision of AQD are clearer, several strategies, options,
and action plans can be worked out.
For the moment, here are some of what employees think of the present and
future AQD:
TID: There is increasing demand for aquaculture knowledge which can be
served cost-efficiently, through training courses, website and other media
outlets, library use (AQD still has the best aquaculture collection in
Asia), and exhibits.
TID's assets include its highly trained, independent-minded staff and some
modern facilities. However, more work does need more staff, equipment
(computers etc.) get outdated quickly, and there are competitors who can
offer similar services as TID.
There is a need to begin planning the upgrade of AQD's computer network or
IT infrastructure in terms of equipment replacement, more efficient
networking (eg. common file or data sharing), and staffing.
AFD and Management Group: There is periodic work overload for staff since
the finance system (ACCPACC) is not fully networked and/or transactions are
not fully computerized. Internal Audit still does their auditing manually.
However, work overload seems not evenly distributed among all (not just AFD)
staff. Heavier burden falls on those who are most skilled and multitasking.
The practice of outsourcing is helping accomplish important tasks, minimizes
the need for supervision, and builds relationship with neighboring
communities.
AQD's Manual of Operations still needs to be updated.
RD and TVCD: Output-oriented researchers have healthy respect and pride in
each other's expertise and accomplishments, having worked long years
together to develop science-based technologies. RD's journal publications
record these efforts for a global audience and for "eternity." RD has also
established competence in hosting/sponsoring national and international
conferences.
AQD has now the capability to engage in production using its own expertise
and technology. Researchers say there is a need to balance what is pure and
applied research on one hand with technology verification and dissemination
on the other hand.
As yet, there is no summary list of research technologies ready for
verification for all commodities. There is also a lack of impact assessment
of commercialized technologies.
AQD currently lacks in-depth knowledge of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
for generated techs. Patents are both recognition of AQD work and potential
income.
AQD would also need better marketing and publicity of its science-based
techs, and may even tap local communities to showcase entrepreneurship in
aquaculture.
All divisions agree on the need for better compensation and benefits,
performance incentives, objective promotion system, and tenure. A good staff
development program will prevent employee skills and knowledge from becoming
rapidly obsolete, and will allow for training of next-inline supervisory or
senior staff.
All four divisions mention having "ageing" or "maturing" personnel nearing
compulsory retirement.
Finally, there were concerns about the politicized appointment of each AQD
Chief, and the mismatch between the focal (DA-BFAR) and the funding (DFA-International
Commitment Fund) agencies.
After the division-level workshops is the Department-level one, scheduled
for June. |
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Welcome
back, Dr. Reli!
AQD is proud to have Dr. Relicardo Coloso back. He was a
Scientist II when he left AQD in 2004. Now, he is
designated as the new Head of the Nutrition and Feed
Development Section, and supervises the operations of
the Feed Mill.
Dr. Reli was a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell
University's Division of Nutritional Sciences, working
on cysteine metabolism and cyteamine dioxygenase from
2004 to 2006.
He obtained his PhD in Nutritional Sciences from Cornell
University as a Fulbright-Hays Mutual Educational
Exchange Grantee. He finished his MS degree in
Biochemistry at UP College of Medicine on a PCAMRD-SEAFDEC
scholarship and his BS Chemistry (cum laude) at UP
Diliman, as a NSDB scholar. He was a post doctoral
fellow at the University of Medicine and Dentistry, New
Jersey Medical School, USA. He was also a fellow in Fish
Nutrition at the Institute of Marine Biochemistry,
Aberdeen, Scotland.
His areas of specialization are on fish nutrition:
nutritional biochemistry; amino acid and phosphorus
metabolism; nutrition of milkfish, tiger shrimp, and
Asian sea bass; molluscicides and environmental
contamination; and toxicology. He was a recipient of a
research grant from the International Foundation for
Science (IFS) in 1991. He authored or co-authored over
30 scientific papers in international journals and
proceedings.
He is a member of Sigma-Xi Honor Society, AFS,
Philippine Society for Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology, NRCP, Integrated Chemists of the
Philippines-Panay, and Philippine Fulbright Scholars'
Association.
Dr. Reli, welcome back to AQD! |
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