November 14, 2006

 

Philippines aquaculture farms to breed groupers

 

 

Lapu-lapu (grouper), once bred in open seas and in the wilds, can now be cultured in cages in fishponds and in fish nurseries.

 

This would augur the development of the grouper industry to seize opportunities of the growing demand for grouper in the export markets, said Roberto Abrera, manager of Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Region 4-B Regional Fisheries Research and Development Center (RFRDC).

 

Abrera told local media the prospects of the new grouper production system in a paper titled "Grouper Culture in Cages" presented at a recent forum organised by the Bureau of Agricultural Research in Lipa City in Batangas province.

 

The Philippines has about 40 species of grouper and two species are popularly cultured commercially at present.

 

Abrera identified these species as the orange-spotted grouper (scientific name: Epinephelus coioides), locally known in Palawan as loba or green grouper, and the black-spotted grouper (Epinephelus malabaricus).

 

Other species are the brown-marbled grouper, dusky tail grouper, leopard coral trout, barred-cheek coral trout, and humpback grouper.

 

At present, Abrera noted, supply of grouper, mostly fingerlings, for commercial production still come from the wild.

 

Grouper fingerlings and juveniles are collected using devices such as fish corral, fish trap, bamboo pole shelter trap, rock mounds, and fish nets.

 

Now popularly cultured in Palawan, notable sources of grouper fingerlings include areas in the Calamian Group of Islands, Malampaya Sound in Taytay, Dumaran and San Vicente, among others.

 

To further boost the development of the grouper industry, BFAR has prepared guidelines which include site selection, net cage specifications, cage netting, anchor, hides and shelters, nursery and conditioning net cage, production net cages, harvesting and postharvest.