Bighead carp edges out milkfish in Laguna Lake

Bighead carp, locally known as "karpa," has displaced milkfish as the dominant fish species in Laguna de Bay.

Latest figures of the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (DA-BAS) indicated that bighead carp has edged out bangus as the preferred fish for stocking in fishpens in the freshwater lake.

Over the past five years, noted Wilfredo G. Yap of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC AQD), carp production has increased considerably – from 2,500 tons in 1997 to 18,945 tons in 2001.

Milkfish production in fishpens, on the other hand, has shrunk from 15,325 tons in 1999 to 2,159 tons in 2001.

"The bighead carp has always been a secondary species in milkfish pens where they may be stocked together with milkfish but at low numbers," said Yap, who heads SEAFDEC AQD’s Technology Verfication and Commercialization Division. He said that bighead carp has been part of the propagation program of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) since 1968.

The SEAFDEC AQD Binangonan Freshwater Station (BFS) in Binangonan, Rizal has also been in the forefront in refining and popularizing the propagation of the bighead carp. Moreover, it has produced a manual on the subject.

For a long time, its culture never caught on owing to lack of consumer acceptability. But it appears that demand is increasing and many private hatcheries now produce bighead carp fingerlings.

Dr. Alex King of Pililia, Rizal, is one of the pioneers in bighead carp propagation. – Rudy A. Fernandez