The Bangus Capital Of The Philippines Is Looking Into Using Uninhabited Bangus Fry To Appease Shortage
BANGUS FRY SHORTAGE – Bangus Capital, Dagupan, is looking into using uninhabited bangus fry to provide for the annual demands.
Recent reports showed increase in fish and fish meat prices in some markets due to high demands and low supply.
Meanwhile, chair of the Philippine Milkfish Industry Group, Alex Soriano, reported that the amount of Bangus fry requirement to fulfill annual demands in the Philippines is almost 4 billion. Local hatcheries can only produce 800 million fry a year due to lack of broodfish.
Local producers claimed three out of four bangus cultured in aquafarms across the country were bred abroad.
This according to an article from Inquirer.
Up to 75 percent of the Bangus fry to fill the requirement is from the aquaculture produce of Indonesia. This was confirmed by the National Integrated Fisherires Technology Development Center (or NIFTDC) in Dagupan.
NIFTDC is an aquafarming research outlet of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (or BFAR) in Dagupan.
NIFTDC also said that an estimate of 10,000 govern-owned and private bangus breeding aquafarms can only produce a portion of the demand.
Due to the supply shortage, there was a price increase in imported bangus fry from Indonesia. It came from 10 centavos and went up to 30 centavos per fry.
And to supply for the shortage gap, NIFTDC chief, Dr. Westly Rosario is looking to exploit wild or uninhabited bangus fry. He said that Iloilo City aquafarmers also catch their fry from the wild.
However, the current shortage is not a critical threat that can bring down the milkfish industry in the country since bangus is still one of the best food choice for Filipinos.
That is all there is to it, at least for now. We’ll post updates as soon as we got them.
