Sugpo successfully raised in marine pens

CALAPE, Bohol - A technology breakthrough has been achieved yesterday here in this sleepy and rustic municipality in the Visayas with the bountiful harvest of tiger prawn or Penaeus monodon raised experimentally by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in marine fishpens.

Known more by the locals as sugpo, P. monodon are usually cultured in brackishwater fishponds along coastal areas particularly in Bacolod, Capiz, and Iloilo in the Visayas and Bulacan, Pampanga and Quezon province in Luzon.

BFAR Director Malcolm I. Sarmiento, Jr. said the research on the culture of sugpo in marine enclosures was conducted to test the technical feasibility and economic viability of raising P. monodon in this environment. "This is an initiative to develop new low-cost technology to produce more fish and aquatic products in line with the government twin goals of expansion of production areas to have more fish supply for the population and lessen production cost", he said.

In his message after the ceremonial harvest, Sarmiento said that the success of this experiment will revolutionize the country’s shrimp industry. "We have a good thing going on here. Tiger shrimp farming is no longer for the rich. Everybody, even the poorest of the poor could now venture into this industry", he announced.

However, he warns that we must not abuse the environment as nature has a way of getting back. "We should not exceed the carrying capacity of the area. BFAR will be working in collaboration with the LGUs to set appropriate guidelines, zoning and control before the commercialization of this technology. We must ensure that this will be sustainable and will go on and on", Sarmiento said.

The research is meant to be a part of the proposed 5-year development roadmap for the shrimp industry which aims to revive the once flourishing sugpo industry which reached its peak in the late ‘80s averaging some 80T metric tons production.

With only around 35T metric tons production today, a shrimp roadmap is being drafted and finalized in collaboration with the stakeholders to cover strategies that will address the whole gamut of the industry including disease control, marketing and credit, post-harvest and introduction of new technologies and species among others, Director Sarmiento said.

Dionisio de la Pena, BFAR regional director for Region 7, Cebu City, and chief implementer of the project disclosed that the experiment used 9 fishpens measuring 3m 3m x 3.5m installed in the marine waters of Calape Bay Panggangan Island in Bohol.

Here, sugpo post larvae (PL 18 — 20) were stocked and reared to marketable size for 188 days or for a six month period. Water quality monitoring which included pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature and salinity was done twice daily, dela Pena said.

Feeding was done using commercial shrimp feeds.

Prior to the stocking in the pens, the post larvae were nursed in fishponds for 45 days, the BFAR 7 director revealed.

Initial results showed that among the three stocking densities — 10/m2, 20/m2 and 30/m2 - the stocking density of 20 post larvae per one square meter gave the most promising results with 76 percent survival rate and 1.7: 1 food conversion ratio or FCR.

This means that a fish pen measuring 3 meters by 3 meters with a depth of 3.5 meters could produce almost 4 kilos of marketable high-value shrimps or 4.4 metric tons per hectare says Mario Ruinata, project leader of the experiment.

Compared to tiger shrimps reared in fishponds, production is almost the same but net profit is higher due to big savings in electricity, equipment and other water management cost.

Director Sarmiento disclosed that the experiment was initially in collaboration with Bonjie Aniag of Dawis, Bohol but because of some administrative problems, BFAR proceeded on its own to complete the project in Calape, Bohol.