Can fish cage operations be economically-viable yet environmentally-friendly and free from fishkills?
 
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in the Ilocos Region  has established mariculture zone projects (MZP) in Sto. Tomas and Rosario in La Union province which will implement  strict measures to achieve such visions.
 
BFAR Regional Director Nestor Domenden said the agency is the co-proponent of the projects along with the towns’ local government units, “thus the BFAR has the authority to implement the fishery policies and guidelines.”
 
He explained that in other coastal towns like Bolinao, Anda and Sual in Pangasinan, aquaculture operations are managed by the local government units with the BFAR only giving policies and directions.
 
“In the MZPs, the BFAR will be fined if there are violations of the Environmental Compliance Certificate issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to the projects. Thus, we will strictly monitor the fishery operations there,” Domenden said.

 
Rosario Segundina Gaelan, chair of the MZP committee, explained that a mariculture zone is an area in the sea and adjacent land from 100-400 hectares or more, with a communal, storm-resistant morning.
 
The area is subdivided into individual farm lots for fish cage operations, other marine culture techniques and land-based agriculture, and has infrastructure support facilities, communal fishing ground and navigational lanes.
 
The MZP follows the industrial estate concept with all concerns addressed, such as infrastructure, capability building, production, marketing and other ancillary industries or additional livelihood like feed suppliers and fingeling suppliers.
 
Gaerlan said investors who will put  fish cages in the MZP and the caretakers will have to undergo a traiing on fish cage management, aquaculture technologies, environmental monitoring and coastal resource management seminars.
 
The BFAR on the other hand, will extend technical assistance on feeding and culture management and water quality and disease monitoring. “We have studied the water flow in the area and the cages will be arranged in such a way that water flow to the cages will not be hampered,” she explained.
 
She said while is a mininal rental of the area, the investors are safe because the MPZs are provided with security by the LGU, Bfar and the military. 
The MPZs  are divided into areas where small, medium and large investors can put their cages. There will also be demonstration areas in both projects.
 
Its not only bangus (milkfish) that can be cultured in the MPZs. The BFAR recommends high value species like siganid, caranx, seargeant fish, grouper (lapu-lapu), seabass, pomfret (pampano), saline tilapia and red snapper (maya maya). Fishcage operators may also culture crustaceans like lobsters, king crabs, sea urchins, and seaweeds; and shellfish like pearl oyster, oysters, mussels and abalone.
 
But there is a limit to the number of cages that an investor can put up in the MPZ. “Each investor can put only a maximum of six cages there,” Gaerlan said.
 

 Bangus (milkfish), the national fish, carries the country’s flag as far as fishery export is concerned, next to seaweeds in volume but first in value (price) in exports, according to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics.
 
However, bangus has not made it to the country’s top ten exports because the production is still low despite the massive aquaculture production, Ilocos Regional Agricultural Statistics Officer Wilma Guilllen said.
 
In 2005, the exported bangus totaled 289,200 metric tons valued at P17.6 billion while the exported seaweeds totaled 1,338,600 metric tons valued at P6 billion.
 
The United States is the major destination of bangus at 43 percent, followed by Canada (19 %), Guam (8 %),  Korea (5 %), Japan (4 %),  UK Great Britain (3 %), and Australia and Hawaii at two percent each. The remaining 18 percent is exported to other countries.
 
Guillen said Pangasinan is the top producer of bangus starting in 2003 when the aquaculture industry boomed in the province’s coastal towns. Pangasinan produced an average of 45 thousand metric tons from 2003-2005 or 16.7 percent of the total production in the country.
 
The other bangus producing provinces and their share during the three-year period are Bulacan (12.87%), Iloilo (7.31), Capiz (6.84), Rizal (5.87), Negros Occidental (5.63% and Quezon (5.23%).
 
Bangus is Ilocos Region’s One Town, One Product, but it is Pangasinan that carries that weight of production, turning out 57,837 metric tons in 2005. In 2006, the province produced 71.746 metric tons, Guillen said.
 
It is because of Pangasinan’s frog-leaping bangus production through aquaculture that Ilocos Region became sufficient in fishery, Guillen said. The province accounts for 76 percent of the region’s fishery products.
 
Aside from being the top bangus producer, Pangasinan also produces quality bangus, according to BFAR Ilocos Regional Director Nestor Domenden.
 
“Bonuan bangus (produced in Dagupan City) traditionally and in modern times, remains a brand of quality in taste, but Pangasinan bangus (cultured in other towns) is not far behind in quality,” Domenden said.
 
He noted that in Manila market, Pangasinan bangus as labeled and are marketed separately for better price. But even those produced in other provinces are labeled as such. “Pangasinan bangus  should therefore carry a name that distinguishes it from those produced in other provinces,” he said.
 
Domenden said this can be done through a process of accreditation and certification to ensure genuineness of the Pangasinan bangus marketed and labeled as such.