Promoting tropical eel culture in the Philippines

Eel aquaculture is an important activity in Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Philippines, and Viet Nam. With the decline in the wild fishery stock of cold-water eel species there has been an increasing interest in the culture of tropical eel species as an export commodity. In the Philippines, species of anguillid eels cultured are mainly the Pacific shortfin eel 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢 and the giant mottled eel 𝘈. 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘢. 𝘈. 𝘣𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢 is now being considered as an alternative to 𝘈. 𝘫𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢, being the most preferred eel species for consumption in East Asian countries. However, 𝘈. 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘢, which comprised the bulk of the wild glass eel catch in the Cagayan River, Philippines, has rarely been cultured as an export commodity. Comparison of performance and feed utilization may provide relevant information on the culture requirements of these two eel species under cage conditions.

The full article authored by Dr. Frolan Aya, a scientist at SEAFDEC/AQD, was published in the Vol. 20, No. 3 issue of SEAFDEC’s Fish for the People. Access the full issue here, https://repository.seafdec.org/handle/20.500.12066/7178.