MILKFISH CAGE CULTURE
Milkfish (Chanos chanos) is an important food fish in the Philippines, Taiwan
and Indonesia. It is a popular fish for culture because it tolerates a wide
variety of salinity, temperature and water quality, adapts well to high density,
and reaches marketable size in 4-7 months.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the most important
milkfish producers for 2006 are the Philippines with 315,074 metric tons (mt),
Indonesia with 212,932 mt, and Taiwan with 56,135 mt. This comes up to a
combined value of about US$645 million.
Milkfish can be raised either in extensive, semi-intensive and intensive
systems. Culture areas include ponds, pens or cages. Milkfish ‘seeds’ for
culture can be sourced either from the hatchery or from wild stocks.
Culture of milkfish in marine cages is intensive, characterized by a small area,
high levels of inputs like seeds and feeds, which result to high yields. Milkfish
farmers in the Philippines are finding it advantageous to culture fish in
mariculture parks.
Why Mariculture?
Land resources are becoming scarce
The vastness of the sea remains the last frontier for fish production
Mariculture profitability has been established
Could provide fisherfolk with alternative sources of income
Demand for fish continues to grow with increasing population
Wild catch from the sea is declining due to overfishing
Why Raise Fish in Mariculture Park?
The park concept provides farmers technical assistance and water
monitoring services, moors and cage frames
Fish farmers spend only for nets, feeds, seed stock and other inputs
The park may also include on-site guard house, feed warehouse, net
mending & drying shed, communication and transportation facilities,
and guest houses
Where are the Mariculture Zones (MZ) in the Country?
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) of the Department of
Agriculture has established mariculture parks throughout the Philippines, with
plans of establishing several more in the future.
Early Warning for Pollution
Milkfish sea cage operators may soon be warned of impending water pollution
that may kill their stock. SEAFDEC is currently developing an early warning
system to guard against the negative impacts of fish cages in mariculture
parks.
Intensive rearing of milkfish in cages uses a much higher amount of input like
feeds. Feeds that are not eaten or digested properly, plus other waste
products go into the water and some will eventually settle onto the sediment
bottom and may cause marine and sediment pollution. It is therefore
necessary to monitor the water and sediment quality around the fish cages.
The operator could also check the feeding regime, avoid overfeeding of
stocks, and use only good quality formulated feeds to help reduce wastes.
The cage operator may likewise step-up the water monitoring parameters.
Pollution not only affects the fish in the cages. The toxic conditions could
impact infauna, or animals living within submerged sediments. These include
polychaetes, marine worms which play an important role in the marine
environment. Their burrows contain microorganisms which produce enzymes
that degrade organic matter.
What the operators of fish cages or mariculture parks need to do is
periodically collect soil samples under the cages, and compare these to a
color chart being developed by SEAFDEC. A reference color will let them
know how far off or how near they are from ideal conditions. This method is
basically the same technique used by rice farmers to see if their rice needs
additional fertilizer.
If there are early signs of pollution, the fish cage operators are advised to
observe a “fallow period” by moving the cages to another area in the
mariculture park to allow the sediments and infauna to recover.
Site Selection
The following should be considered in selecting a site for the cage culture of
milkfish:
Free from pollution
Protected from adverse weather condition
Accessible but secured from poachers
Should be at least 12-15 meters deep
Far from seagrass and coral beds
Cage Design and Construction
Net squares or rectangles measuring 10 x 10 m with a depth of 6 m
Frames made of bamboo, lumber, GI or HDPE pipes
Floats made of styrofoam, empty plastic containers
Mooring made of cement blocks, GI pegs or anchors
Sea cage may be arranged in quadrant or in clusters
Culture Condition
Area of cage: 600 cubic meter
Stocking density: 35 cubic meter
Size of fingerling: 5-6 inches
Amount of feed: 24,937.7 kg
Feed conversion ratio (FCR): 2.5
Duration of culture: 120 days
Survival rate: 95%
Harvest
Average body weight (ABW): 0.5 kg
Total harvest: 9,975 kg
Selling price: P95
Investment Requirements in Php (2009 data)
Capital outlay:
Bamboo cage frame with drum floats and mooring system (2 units) –
55,000
Net cages (10 x 10 x 6 cm) – 59,750
Motorized boat – 25,000
Working capital (1 crop)
Fingerlings – 115,500
Feeds – 623,438
Maintenance (5% of capital) – 7,561
Family labor (P3,000/month) – 18,000
Marketing expenses: 66,334
Total investment – P 830,833
Economic Analysis (in Php)
Sales: 947,625
Less expenses (fingerlings, feeds, maintenance, marketing, labor):
830,833
Depreciation ( 5 years): 13,975
Total cost: 844,808
Net income:
1 run – 102,817
1 year ( 2 runs) – 205,634
Return of investment for 1 year: 21%
Payback period: 4.16 years
For more information and inquiries, contact:
SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department
Tigbauan, Iloilo
Tel. : (033) 511-9170 Fax : (033) 511-9070
Email :
[email protected]Web: www.seafdec.org.ph
