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Aquaculture and biotechnology THE holiday season was at its peak when all too sudden the earth moved and caused giant waves to rise and, within hours, the southern coastlines of Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, as well as the Maldives and Andaman Nicobar Islands was a sight of massive destruction all around. Surreal as it may seem, Christmas of 2004 will be remembered precisely for this nightmare. Reports about the devastation promptly came via television, reliving the experience by the hour for weeks that followed. Hundreds of thousands were reported dead or remained missing and unaccounted. The damage, so massive, was beyond imagination. There is no doubt that rehabilitation would take years just as this singular experience would impact not only on the lives of survivors but the rest of the world as well. Just as badly hit was the marine culture in the coastal areas swept directly by the tsunami. Many fishing industries and communities were severely damaged just as fishing infrastructures, vessels and gears, and livelihood assets of fishermen were destroyed. The sea, a major source of food for those in the region, has become a killer as well. The rehabilitation of
fisheries and contribution of fisheries to the local
food security has since turned into a major concern with
the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC)
playing a leading role in coordination and collaboration
with the affected member-countries as well as donors in
the fisheries relief program for the disaster. This
underscores the relevance of SEAFDEC’s Aquaculture
Biotechnology Project in the continuing research on food
security and sustainability. “Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food-producing sectors in the world,” said Dr. Rolando R. Platon, chief of the Aquaculture Department (AQD) of SEAFDEC. “There is an increasing demand for food fish as we strive to meet the need of the growing world population.” The phrase “fish be with
you” (pun intended) translates the significance of
aquaculture research and development in very
understandable terms, especially among the researchers
and staff of AQD at the Tigbauan Main Station in Iloilo. “AQD has made important
advances in aquaculture research and is a leading
aquaculture center in the region,” he continued. “It
remains to be the biggest of four departments that
composed SEAFDEC. Even with the recent downgrade we had
to undergo, our operation is still the biggest in terms
of facilities and expertise.” SEAFDEC aims specifically to develop the fishery potentials in the region through training, research and information services to improve the food supply by rational utilization and development of the fisheries resources. Its services cover the broad areas of fishing gear technology, marine engineering, fishing ground surveys and stock assessment, post-harvest technology as well as development and improvement of aquaculture techniques. The Center has a
Secretariat located in Bangkok as its administrative
arm, and four technical Departments, namely the Training
Department (TD) in Thailand, the Marine Fisheries
Research Department (MFRD) in Singapore, the Aquaculture
Department (AQD) in the Philippines, and the Marine
Fishery Resources Development and Management Department
(MFRDMD) in Malaysia. The Tigbauan Main Station, the AQD headquarters, is a 40-hectare complex located on the beach on the south coast of Tigbauan, Iloilo. It includes various research laboratories, hatcheries and brood-stock tanks for experiments in artificial propagation, feed development and health management. Within the sprawling compound are the training facilities, library, museum, administration offices, and a medical clinic. On-campus housing, cafeteria, and recreational facilities cater to resident staff, trainees, guests and visiting researchers. The AQD research staff has six service laboratories analyses of research samples and other materials, which are also made available to the private sector and government institutions that are charged at cost. These facilities are also utilized for various training activities. “Our biotechnology
laboratory came from a grant aid of the government of
Japan to the Philippine government, to be jointly
implemented by the Department of Agriculture and SEAFDEC,”
said Platon. “The ongoing research and development on
aquaculture biotechnology is a national project.”
“Major activities will also focus on improving feed quality using indigenous materials,” he continued. “This means improving feed digestibility and bio-availability of feeds, as well as the development and use of hydrolyzed protein and single-cell proteins as fish meal substitutes.” He added that algal biotechnology and fermentation technology are also areas of study in this project. Recently, SEAFDEC/AQD
research in aquaculture led to the successful cloning of
rabbitfish and milkfish growth hormones or GH allowing
the use of recombinant DBA technology for its
production. “The aquaculture industry is soon bound to
benefit from this breakthrough in biotechnology
research, according to Drs. Felix Ayson and Evelyn Grace
de Jesus of SEAFDEC/AQD research team. While such a development may enhance current efforts to achieve greater food security through aquaculture, Drs. Ayson and de Jesus however stress that, while their studies show significant increase in the fish body weight, they need to run more tests to determine how much of the fish growth period is shortened with the use of the growth hormone. “Our next challenge is to
find the best way of getting the hormone inside the fish
body system. Something that can be fed is obviously
better than injection considering the large number of
fish involved, continued Dr. Ayson. SEAFDEC/AQD has applied
for patent for the cloned cDNA sequence, considering
that such patens are usually held by big corporations.
“We want to protect the work of SEAFDEC/AQD scientists
and our research institution itself. At the same time,
we want some assurance that with these patents, our
technologies are accessible to more people, especially
the small fish farmers. This way, more people will
benefit in the long term,” said Dr. de Jesus. “All our researches are aimed at answering four critical areas of national and regional concern: poverty alleviation, food security, environment-friendly technology, and export and cash crops,” explained Platon. To date, appropriate aquaculture technologies and technical advances have been developed for marine fishes (grouper, milkfish, red snapper, sea bass, rabbitfish, marine ornamental fish), freshwater fishes (native catfish, tilapia, bighead carp), crustaceans (mudcrab, giant tiger shrimp), mollusks (abalone, window-pane shell) and seaweeds. “There are also studies on environmental and socio-economic concerns in aquaculture including coastal resources management, mangrove-friendly aquaculture, and lake ecology and biodiversity conservation,” he continued. “Also, we have embarked on aquaculture biotechnology and genetics research to keep abreast with the latest issues in the field.” Likewise, Platon stressed that research results would be useless if not applied, extended or shared with the target clientele: the fish farmers, research and academic institutions, policy makers, regional and international organizations, member countries, public and the private sector. “Therefore, three major technology transfer strategies are continuously done to facilitate dissemination: technology verification, packaging and commercialization; training and extension delivery systems; and mass media strategies,” he continued. Despite economic drawbacks currently experienced worldwide, the AQD chief expressed optimism about the future and assurance that SEAFDEC/AQD remains committed to it goals in aquaculture development. “As we enter into another era of aquaculture research and development, SEAFDEC/AQD views the coming years with much enthusiasm. We shall consciously strive to develop technologies that respond to our objective of making aquaculture sustainable and responsible,” he said. |
