SEAFDEC/AQD Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center | Aquaculture Department

  Back in 2018, eggs from infected shrimp spawners would be promptly chlorinated and disposed – all 200,000 to 1 million of them per brood – to quell notorious pathogens that continue to devastate shrimp farms worldwide to the tune of billions of dollars yearly. This was the practice at the SEAFDEC/AQD Tiger Shrimp Spawner/Broodstock Facility in Iloilo, Philippines where incoming spawners are screened for pathogens, through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, before allowing their eggs into a highly biosecure hatchery. Upon releasing their eggs, the spawners, are tested for the white spot syndrome virus (WSSV), monodon baculovirus (MBV), infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV), yellow head virus (YHV), acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND), and the parasite Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP). To …

To help lower the price of fish amidst volatile food prices across the country, the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC/AQD) is coming up with a new fish feed formulation that is cost-efficient and eco-friendly.

The embattled milkfish industry in the Philippines got a shot in the arm as the first rehabilitated hatchery in Western Visayas, which is expected to produce 5 to 10 million bangus fry every year, started its operations to address the persistent shortage of milkfish seeds in the country. Located in the province of Aklan, the 1,787 square meter Batan Bangus Satellite Hatchery was launched in February this year under the National Fry Sufficiency Program of the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR). The hatchery used to produce shrimp fry in 1983 but outbreaks of diseases in shrimp during the 90s led the hatchery to cease its operations in 1995. Now, it is one of the central …

The African swine fever threatening the protein supplies of the country still grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the chief of an international research center to call for more youth to be involved in aquaculture. “Now, more than ever, is the time for our youth to engage in the efficient production of healthy protein through aquaculture,” said Dan Baliao, chief of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC/AQD) based in Iloilo. Baliao said fish is more efficient to produce than even poultry, taking as little as 1 kilogram of feeds to produce 1 kilogram of fish. Yet, there are not enough skilled personnel to competently build and run fish farms in the country. Data from the Commission on …

    ROXAS City – To boost the local aquaculture industry, SEAFDEC/AQD Chief Dan Baliao said abandoned and underutilized hatcheries in the province should be rehabilitated to produce much-needed crablets and fish fry. He said this during a dialogue with local fish farmers who aired that there were not enough suppliers of crablets that they seed into their fishpond. “The problem here in Capiz is that our crablets come from Bicol, Sarangani, and Cagayan Valley. How about us here in Capiz?” asked Ma. Cristina Dyna Honrado, vice-chair of the Capiz Aquaculture Producers Cooperative. Other fish farmers acknowledged that while the SEAFDEC/AQD hatchery, based in nearby Iloilo, can supply crablets, the volume is still not enough, so they end up buying …