Oplan Balik Sugpo Update

After three consecutive years of successful verification runs at its Dumangas Brackishwater Station (DBS), SEAFDEC/AQD collaborated with the Department of Agriculture-National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (DA-NFRDI) for this year’s continuation of the Oplan Balik Sugpo Program. 

Four 500-square-meter HDPE-lined rectangular grow-out ponds and one 2,000 square-meter HDPE-lined reservoir pond located at DA-NFRDI’s Freshwater Fisheries Research and Development Center in Brgy. Butong, Taal, Batangas were utilized for the grow-out culture of black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon). The operation adapts environment-friendly schemes in shrimp farming through proper biosecurity measures and biomanipulators.

Over 600 pieces of tilapia and milkfish juveniles were stocked at the reservoir pond. The fish will serve as biomanipulators for the greenwater technology that prevents the production of luminous bacteria in the grow-out ponds.

The culture areas are secured from predators by a perimeter fence and bird scares. High-quality and disease-free postlarvae produced at SEAFDEC/AQD’s Shrimp Hatchery Complex in Tigbauan, Iloilo were utilized.

A parallel verification run is also conducted at DBS using soil-bottom ponds. The same source of fry, stocking density (30 fry per square meter), and culture techniques were used in DBS and Batangas but only differed on the culture environment. 

The Oplan Balik Sugpo Program is an initiative of SEAFDEC/AQD- DA-BFAR/NFRDI Joint Mission on Accelerated Techno-Transfer Program (JMANTTP) that aims to revive the black tiger shrimp industry in the Philippines. /J GENILZA