BREAKING

Sunday, August 5, 2018

Breeding Tuna in the Philippines


Wazzup Pilipinas!

Jonah van Beijnen (MSc), Best Alternatives Campaign Proponent

Tuna are large predatory pelagic fish that swim through the seas of the world. In terms of value and volume, they are some of the most important species for the Philippine fisheries sector.

The most commonly-caught species include Skipjack, Yellowfin and Bigeye Tuna – taken using a variety of gear ranging from purse seine nets to circular handline reels. Tuna provide excellent income for fisherfolk and fishing companies, while generating thousands of jobs in vessels, canneries and other parts of the supply chain. 

Because of their high value in local and international sushi restaurants, many fishers focus on catching Yellowfin Tuna (Thunnus albacares). However, in recent years the rising number of fishers and large fishing vessels targeting these fish have depleted stocks, putting the livelihoods of Pinoy fishers and other tuna sector workers at risk. Besides promoting sustainable systems like handline fisheries, limiting fishing effort and improving enforcement, closed cycle aquaculture or breeding tuna can be a #BestAlternative – especially for the Philippines.

Owing to technical difficulties, most aquaculturists still think producing captive-bred tuna from eggs is impossible – but much has changed in recent years.
In Europe and Japan, the culture of tuna started many years ago with fattening operations. Here special purse seiners target wild juvenile and sub-adult tuna, which are carefully caught and towed back to special fattening farms.




Upon arrival, these tuna are transferred to large floating cages where they are fattened to attain better marketable sizes and to improve the fat percentage of their meat. Fatter tuna fetch higher prices.

Since pellet feeds for tuna are still under development in Europe, fresh fish like sardines and mackerel are used as feed. The feed conversion ratio of fresh fish fed to these tuna is not yet very efficient and approximately 15 to 20 kilograms of other fish is used to produce one kilogram of tuna.

About 10 years ago, with the number of fattening operations rising and most tuna stocks overfished or fished close to their maximum sustainable yields, a number of governments, nonprofits and other stakeholders expressed their concerns about the sustainability of these farming practices.

This eventually drove the European Union and Japanese governments to steer their aquaculture sectors away from fattening wild-caught juvenile fish and instead invest in developing technology for the sustainable closed-cycle aquaculture of tuna.



Today hatchery projects for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) are already operating in Spain, Malta, Greece, Croatia, Egypt and Turkey. Since 2014, many of these projects have successfully produced small quantities of fingerlings and some harvestable fish. The first tuna products from these efforts are already available in the Netherlands.

In Japan, scientists have been working hard to close the lifecycle of the closely-related Pacific Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus orientalis), a species which is also found in the Philippines, especially around the recently-protected Philippine Rise, east of Luzon. After many years of trial and error, approximately 20 hatchery facilities are now producing Pacific Bluefin Tuna with an average survival rate estimated from 3 to 5%.

In 2016, these hatcheries together produced an incredible 500,000 fingerlings! The sales from grow-out operations using hatchery-produced Pacific Bluefin Tuna have lifted off as well, with 900 metric tons of sales in 2016 and over 1000 metric tons of sales in 2017 – thereby proving beyond a doubt that the closed-cycle aquaculture of Bluefin Tuna is viable, profitable and an excellent alternative to wild-capture fisheries.

In the meantime, two projects in Panama (South America) and Bali (Indonesia) have been focusing their efforts on Yellowfin Tuna. Both projects have been able to produce plenty of eggs in captivity and some fingerlings. Although there are still plenty of remaining challenges in improving the survival of tuna larvae and fingerlings, improving the sustainability of feeds and minimizing the environmental impacts of farming activities, the potential of the sector is clear.

The Philippines, with many islands and surrounding calm and productive waters, sits at the centre of the natural spawning grounds of wild Yellowfin Tuna. Juvenile tuna love these warm and calm waters, teeming with food. This might just give the Philippines a big advantage in the future closed cycle culture of Yellowfin Tuna.

The Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has also realized the potential of tuna aquaculture. On 11 July 2018, they released a statement that the Bureau of Fisheries will collaborate with the Japanese government to start Yellowfin Tuna fattening operations in Samar, where juvenile tuna will be gathered from spawning grounds in municipal waters for farming.

This is an innovative and hands-on move by BFAR. However, with Yellowfin Tuna stocks in the Philippines and Western Pacific Ocean already under severe pressure, collecting wild juvenile tuna from spawning grounds might not be the most sustainable approach. The same approach has been tried with groupers and lobster, where undersized individuals were caught for fattening purposes – and both practices resulted in a population collapse.

Since the Japanese are already producing hundreds of thousands of hatchery-bred juvenile tuna, perhaps the Japanese government can be requested to focus on the closed-cycle aquaculture of Yellowfin Tuna in their collaboration with BFAR instead.

As an alternative to catching undersized tuna, the Japanese could for example build a hatchery and farming research centre for Yellowfin Tuna in Samar and share their knowledge on how to culture tuna from eggs with Filipino aquaculturists.
In doing so, they will capacitate Filipinos, create a truly sustainable aquaculture sector for Samar and many other island provinces, and let locals truly benefit from their investment.


About the Author: 
Jonah van Beijnen believes that sustainable production and consumption of seafood is the key to ensuring a better world for all people. Ten years ago, he co-founded Fins and Leaves to develop and successfully market one of the Philippines’ first grouper (Lapu-Lapu) hatcheries. Now based in Spain and a Best Alternatives Campaign proponent, he continues to assist nonprofits, corporations and governments in improving the sustainability of their fisheries and aquaculture operations, focusing on high-value species like grouper and tuna. For more information, please contact jonah@vb-consultancy.com or see his work on Researchgate.

About the Best Alternatives Campaign:
Founded by environmentalist Gregg Yan in 2014, the Best Alternatives Campaign is an environmental communications think-tank which publicizes sustainable and profitable solutions to meet a host of ecological challenges – ranging from better ways to generate renewable energy to best practices for the seafood industry.  For more information, please contact BestAlternativesCampaign@Gmail.com.

Airport Personnel Returns Passenger's Forgotten Luggage Contailing P1.5 Million


Wazzup Pilipinas!

What would you do if you lost a luggage containing PhP1.5million in cold cash? One top of mind answer would be is to pray that it does not fall into the wrong hands until you are able to get it back.

That is what exactly happened on the morning of July 31st, 2018, at the Puerto Princesa International Airport. At around 8am, security guard Jovani Yumen noticed a blue luggage beside a flower box at the arrival area of the airport. Yumen called the attention of the airport security assistant on duty, Jel Anthony Cervantes, who then immediately sought K9 IED (improvised explosive device) inspection from PO3 Widmark R. Briones of the PNP Aviation Security Unit.

After the K9 inspection yielded negative result, Tourist Police PO2 Leoniliza Bautista, PO2 Job Arkhe Sancho III, and PO1 Anabelle Guimbongan of the PNP Aviation Security Unit examined the contents of the luggage. Upon inspection, the contents revealed one black jacket, one black wallet with ID/s belonging to a certain Danilo Dequito, and an envelope containing 15 bundles of PhP 100,000 totaling to PhP1.5 million.




Over an hour later, Mr. Dequito went to the arrival area looking for his luggage. Upon presenting proof of identification, he was allowed to claim his luggage and examine its contents. With Cervantes, PO2 Bautista, and PO1 Guimbongan as witnesses, Dequito counted his money and found everything intact and complete.

Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade commended the airport employees for their honesty, professionalism and for following aviation security and police procedures.

“Saludo ako sa kanila. Even small acts of honesty and just by simply following the proper procedures are important in showing the integrity of our offices. Pinapakita lang nito ang disiplina at malasakit ng bawat isa na magserbisyo sa kapwa. Sometimes it’s so easy to be complacent, o kaya naman sabihin na ang tama ang dapat mong gawin. Pero kapag nalagay ka na sa sitwasyon na talagang masusubukan ka, doon na lalabas ang iyong tunay na karakter. Ang taas ng respeto at paghanga ko sa CAAP at sa mga empleyado ng Puerto Princesa International Airport because of this. They set the bar high, and this should be the norm for all of us public servants.”

Photos from Mr. Percy Malonesio, Area Manager, Area IV of CAAP.

Agrikonomiya 2018: Peaking Into the World of Agricultural and Applied Economics


Wazzup Pilipinas!

JHS and SHS students have the potential. Do you(th) AGRI?

Peak into the world of Agricultural and Applied Economics as the University of the Philippines Los Baños’ sole academic organization for Agricultural and Applied Economics students, UP Agricultural Economics Circle (UP AEC) in partnership with the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics (DAAE) brings you “AgriKonomiya 2018” on the 25th of August 2018 at the ICOPED Auditorium from 8 AM to 3 PM.

AgriKonomiya 2018 is a one-day event that is composed of three different competitions and one forum which will be joined by junior and senior high school students from different schools all over CALABARZON, with the goals of promoting Agricultural and Applied Economics as a field of study and as a career.

The three different competitions will include an essay writing competition, an extemporaneous speaking competition, and lastly, an agricultural resolutions pitch competition which deals with the recent agricultural issues of the country. On the other hand, the forum, “Agricultural & Applied Economics in a Nutshell,” will be tackled by one of the UPLB Professors in Agricultural and Applied Economics.

For more queries and details about this event, email us at upaec.agrikonomiya@gmail.com
like our official Facebook page: https://web.facebook.com/agrikonomiya/ and https://web.facebook.com/UPAEC1975/
Follow us on Twitter: @UPAEC1975
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