8/3/2019 Promoting Sustainable Mariculture

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Promoting sustainable maricultureAquaculture is a booming industry in the Philippines,a nation ranked within the 14 most inuential fsheriescountries globally.

With the continuously declining production romcapture fsheries due to overfshing, aquaculture isviewed as the means to increase fsheries productionand address ood security concerns. It can increaseincome and employment. From 2000 to 2005,aquaculture contributed an annual average o 1.4 milliontons or 40% o the Philippines’ total fshery production.

The Province o Pangasinan is one o the main centreso aquaculture production in the Philippines. Aquaculturein marine areas (known as mariculture), is particularlyextensive in the coastal waters o Western Pangasinanwhere the largest areas o coral rees and seagrasses inWestern Luzon are ound.

Although it is a major industry, mariculture is still largelyunregulated. Where local policies and regulations doexist, they are oten poorly enorced. Unconsumedeed and ecal material dissolve in the water column andaccumulate as sediments. This high level o nutrientsreduces water quality, placing biodiversity andproductivity o coral rees and seagrass meadows underthreat. Capture fsheries, which provide the major sourceo livelihood or poor coastal households, experienceurther pressure.

Fish farming and environmental impacts

The arming o Chanos chanos (milkfsh) began inBolinao in the 1970s in brackish water ponds. By 1995,milkfsh culture was also occurring in fsh pens and cagesalong coastal areas and channels.

From this time, several local and international projectsbegan examining fsh arming and its impact on theenvironment. The University o the Philippines MarineScience Institute (UPMSI) began regular monitoring romits Bolinao Marine Laboratory, to gauge water quality.

These projects produced a 10-year data set on nutrients,chlorophyll-a, and dissolved oxygen that was used toexamine the link between the expansion o fsh armingand environmental changes, particularly with regards towater quality, algal blooms and a massive fsh kill thatoccurred in Bolinao in 2002.

This fsh kill coincided with the frst reported bloom o the dinoagellate Prorocentrum minimum in thePhilippines. Days beore the bloom, dissolved oxygenwas measured at <2 mg/L, much lower than theallowable limit o 5 mg/L.

These conditions could be linked to the uncontrolledprolieration o fsh pens and cages in the area to morethan double the allowable limit o 554 units.

In over ten years, the water has become eutrophic, withammonia increasing by 56%, nitrite by 35%, nitrate by90%, and phosphate by 67%.

e Coral Reef Targeted ResearchCapacity Building for Management

ogram (CRTR) is a leadingernational coral reef researchiative that provides a coordinatedproach to credible, factual andentifically-proven knowledge forproved coral reef management.

e CRTR Program is a proactiveearch and capacity buildingrtnership that aims to lay thendation in filling crucial knowledge

ps in the core research areas ofral Bleaching, Connectivity, Coralseases, Coral Restoration andmediation, Remote Sensing andodeling and Decision Support.

ch of these research areas areilitated by Working Groupsderpinned by the skills of manythe world’s leading coral reefearchers.The CRTR also supports

r Centres of Excellence in priorityions, serving as important regionalntres for building confidenced skills in research, training andpacity building.

e CRTR Program is a partnershipween the Global Environmentcility, the World Bank,e University of Queenslandustralia), the United Statestional Oceanic and Atmosphericministration (NOAA) andproximately 50 research institutesother third parties around the world.

ril 2010

oduct code: CRTR 001/2010.

Milkfsh are ed around the clock to maximise yield. Bolinao, 2002. High nutrient levels inthe water rom excessive eedingcan lead to major fsh kills.

Fish arming provides incomeand ood security.

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Using science in management planning

The UPMSI operates as the Southeast Asian Centre o Excellence (CoE) or the Coral Ree Targeted Research& Capacity Building or Management Program (CRTR).The CoE has conducted seminars and workshops toacilitate the exchange o knowledge and inormationamongst LGUs, managers, stakeholders and scientistson key marine and coastal resource issues.

These orums were designed to engage stakeholders

to work towards common goals, and to enhancelocal experiences and knowledge with science-basedinormation derived rom research to the resourcemanagers and other stakeholders to improve localresource management programs.

In 2008, the CRTR Program’s Local GovernmentInitiative (LGI), collaborated with the District Ofce o Congressman Arthur F. Celeste o Pangasinan,to conduct a Coastal Resources Management Forumor LGUs, resource users and scientists.

The deterioration o water quality due to intensivemariculture was identifed as a key management issue.

Subsequently, the CoE supported an action-planning

workshop on “Reducing Environmental Impacts o Marine Fish Cage/ Pen Culture” in January 2009 to:

• Enhance local knowledge with science-basedinormation that will help mitigate the negativeimpacts o intensive mariculture; and

• Discuss with LGUs and direct stakeholders theimportance o integrating sustainable maricultureas a major part o fsheries and coastal resourcesmanagement programs.

The Forum had two major outputs. Firstly, general actionplans that could assist in the development o sustainablemariculture practices in participants’ municipalities and

cities, and at the inter-LGU level were identifed.Secondly, practical ways and means to keep fsh armingproftable and sustainable and to minimise negativeimpacts on human health, the local economy andenvironment were shared.

The work undertaken in the CRTR LGI project supportedprevious work undertaken through PHILMINAQ(Mitigating impact rom aquaculture in the Philippines) –an EU-unded and joint project o UPMSI, Department o Agriculture-Bureau o Fisheries and Aquatic Resources(DA-BFAR), Scottish Association or Marine Science

(SAMS), and Akvaplan-Niva (APN), which has resulted inimproved monitoring and modelling o aquacultureimpacts on the environment.

The project introduced three levels o monitoring surveys(low-cost local, medium, and comprehensive surveys)depending on the resources available and resultsrequired. It also developed tools and models to helplocate mariculture sites and optimise production.

The PHILMINAQ project has helped government agenciesmanage sustainable aquaculture development. This hasbeen achieved by encouraging inter-government agencydiscussions; developing a Joint Administrative Orderclariying roles and jurisdiction o agencies or theenvironmental management o aquaculture; developing ahandbook on Guidelines or Local Government Units(LGUs) or planning, managing, and controlling aquaculturedevelopment; developing a Geographic InormationSystem (GIS) database o aquatic ecosystems and sensitivehabitats; and training university research sta in aquacultureimpacts, monitoring methodology and modelling.

Better management principles for aquaculture

As a result o the PHILMINAQ project, a series o management principles or aquaculture planning hasbeen developed:

•  Zoning. Aquaculture should be zoned so that it is notin conict with other users o the coastline and locatedin an area with sufcient depth and currents.

•  Environmental considerations. There is a need toconsider the environmental consequences in

aquaculture planning and licensing, with the goalo production within carrying capacity.

•  Sustainable production. With increasing production,there are increasing impacts on the environment. Theenvironment is able to assimilate certain impacts suchas organic sedimentation or dissolved nutrients but i the impact is greater than the assimilative capacity,eventually there may be consequences such as fsh kills

•  Carrying capacity. An assessment o carrying capacityo zones allocated to aquaculture should be developedand validated or aquaculture in the dierent aquaticenvironments (resh, brackish, marine) or thePhilippines. This needs to consider inputs byaquaculture and other human activities. Planning and

management should set production below theestimated carrying capacity.

•  Ecosystem management approach. Planning o aquaculture development should take an ecosystemsapproach, where the ecosystem as a whole isconsidered, rather than individual zones.

•  Co-management. The management o aquacultureis undertaken by individual LGUs but co-managemento the whole ecosystem in cooperation with borderingLGUs should be considered.

Mariculture management in the Philippines

Further information

For more detail on what has beendone by UP MSI on sustainablemariculture in The Philippines,please visit www.gefcoral.org,see ‘Where we work’.

The CRTR Program is a partnershipbetween the Global EnvironmentFacility, the World Bank,The University of Queensland(Australia), the United StatesNational Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration (NOAA) andapproximately 50 research institutesand other third parties aroundthe world.

Bolinao 2008. CoE Chair, Proessor Ed Gomez, talks with local governmentrepresentatives and others at the Coastal Resources Management Forum.