June 14, 2007

Aquaculture project to spur growth in Philippines' Tawi-Tawi province

The Philippines' hunt to join the lucrative US$8-billion aquaculture trade continues as it launched a P21-million hatchery project (or more than US$450,000) in Tawi-Tawi island province in Mindanao Region which is expected to be completed this month.

Tawi-Tawi Governor Sadikul Sahali says the hatchery will be a major boost to the provincial economy which currently depends on the production of marginal seaweed. The hatchery is estimated to generate around P86 million (US$1.84 million) in revenues from its grow-out operations and create at least a thousand jobs for local residents once it becomes fully operational.

Tawi-Tawi was chosen as the pilot site for the pioneering hatchery project due primarily to its uncontaminated water with high salinity levels, the availability of a wide variety of parent stock in the area, and climatic conditions ideal for year-round aquaculture production, the Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program said.

The province's comparatively low aquaculture operating cost and its proximity to target markets such as China and Hong Kong, which have high-demand for high-value aquaculture products such as humpback grouper, tiger grouper, blue crab, sea cucumber and abalone are its major logistical advantage of the hatchery.

The multi-species hatchery's operation will initially focus on the production of grouper fingerlings and abalone spats, which will be supplied to experienced aquaculture growers who have been trained under the Targeted Commodity Expansion Program (TCEP) of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The TCEP personnel are former members of the rebel group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) who are now producing high value aquaculture products, including humpback grouper and abalone for export

The hatchery will also help ensure the sustainability of the province's marine resources by providing aquaculture producers in the area with a regular supply of hatchery-bred fingerlings for grow-out operations. GEM said local growers need no longer source juvenile fish from the wild as replenishment will be done by themselves through locally bred stocks.