Bangus: The country’s most popular fish
(First of Two Parts)
If there’s one fish that most Filipinos love, it’s none other than milkfish, or more popularly known as bangus (scientific name: Chanos chanos). The undisputed national fish is the most preferred fish because of its mild, sweet flesh, and its melt-in-the-mouth belly fat.
“We love bangus because it is white and nice to eat whether roasted, fried or stewed,” summed up Dr. Rafael D. Guerrero III, an academician with the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST). “Besides, it can be made boneless.”
The popularity of bangus can be gleaned in such recipes as bangus en toncho (fried bangus served with a sauce of any of the following: tahure, tokwa, or tausi), bulanglang na bangus (with eggplants, ampalaya, sitao, malunggay, onion, tomatoes, rice washing and bagoong), rellenong bangus (a party dish in the past but is now available even in school cafeterias and malls), and bangus lumpia.
For a very long time, the Philippine aquaculture industry was virtually synonymous with bangus culture as it was introduced into the country 400 to 600 years ago. “The backbone of Philippine aquaculture” is how bangus farming has been regarded by most fishery experts. However, it was only in recent years that significant growth of the industry was realized.
Today, the Philippines is one of the top bangus producers in the world, along with Indonesia and Taiwan. “Until recently, the country has contributed around 55 percent share of the world’s bangus production,” said Dr. Guerrero, who once headed the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (PCAMRD).
The Philippines has been exporting bangus to about 20 countries like the United States, England, Canada, and Japan. “The main consumer market, however, is the United States, where there are large Filipino communities,” Dr. Guerrero said.
In 2022, the country exported 25,000 metric tons of bangus valued at $5.8 million. It exports bangus in different forms such as smoked, dried, marinated, frozen and canned products.
Excellent attributes
Bangus, considered the country’s fish icon, is most closely related to carps and catfishes. It occurs in the Indian Ocean and across the Pacific Ocean, tending to school around coasts and islands with reefs. A warm water species, it prefers water temperatures between 20-33 degrees Centigrade.
The Kuala Lumpur-based World Fish Center touted bangus as the superstar of Philippine aquaculture due to the following attributes:
* Bangus provides not only reasonably priced source of nutritious protein to people but also livelihood to countless of families engaged in aquaculture;
* Bangus is low in the food chain. It eats primarily plant materials and detritus but will readily eat rice bran, trash fish, formulated diet, among others, when natural food becomes scarce;
* Bangus can tolerate and live in extreme salinity ranging from 0-100 parts per thousand (ppt) but growth is optimal between 0.5-40 ppt which means it can be cultured in a wide range of environment from fresh to highly saline waters;
* Bangus has a wide temperature tolerance range (10-40°C) with optimal growth ranging from 25-30°C);
* Bangus does not feed on other fishes and so it can be grown at higher densities; they can also be raised together with other finfishes and crustaceans;
* Bangus is resistant to diseases with no known occurrence of serious disease outbreak in aquaculture;
* Bangus can be stunted under sub-optimal circumstances such as overcrowding or scarcity of food but grows fast when conditions become favorable once more; and
* Bangus is highly acceptable in fresh, frozen, fillet, deboned, smoked, canned and many other product forms. Its only negative attribute – having so many fine bones embedded in its muscles which can be removed during processing to increase its commercial value and acceptability.
Top bangus producers
Bangus can be raised in all regions of the country, except for the landlocked Cordillera Administrative Region. However, the top bangus producing regions are Central Luzon, Ilocos Region, and Western Visayas, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In 2021, the country made a significant increase in bangus production. PSA said that during the first half of 2021, production surged by 8.3%, resulting in a total volume of 184,926.7 metric tons by the end of June 2021. This volume was notably higher compared to the previous year’s production of 170,755 metric tons during the same period.
Economic importance
Bangus plays a significant role in the fishing industry as it provides an important source of income for the people living near the seashores, thus contributing to the local economy.
Bangus commands a high price in the domestic market. At primary markets, large-sized bangus are sold at P200 to P240 per kilo. In secondary markets – which source their supply from primary markets – the prices are much higher.
The price of milkfish is relatively high during the months of December to May and low in June to November. Monthly prices vary by about eight percent below and above the prices of the average month.
“About 10% of the 36.8 kilogram of annual fish consumed by an average Filipino household is milkfish. In terms of market and trade, milkfish is one of the largest volumes of fish merchandized every day in almost all public markets,” says the Philippine Milkfish Industry Roadmap (2021-2040).
There is also a market for milkfish outside the country. The Philippines exports bangus in frozen, canned, dried, smoked, or marinated forms. Bangus in frozen form is exported to 30 countries. Those in canned form are sent to 23 countries and dried or smoked bangus are sold in 17 countries.
The Philippines has been exporting bangus to the United States, Middle East, England, Canada, and Japan. “We export bangus to countries where there are a lot of Filipinos and overseas foreign workers,” said Dr. Guerrero III.
Raising bangus
Raising bangus can be done employing different production systems in freshwater and in brackishwater. “Depending on the available resources and level of management, the culture methods can vary from the traditional or extensive system, the modular or semi-intensive to the intensive system,” according to Milkfish: A Basic Domestic Need Commodity, a primer published by PCAMRD.
The semi-intensive system is an improvement of the traditional system where fingerlings are stocked at a higher density. With natural and artificial feeds, bangus fingerlings are stocked at densities of 6,000 to 12,000 per hectare. With dependence on natural food in the traditional system, low stocking densities of 1,000 to 3,000 fingerlings per hectare are applied. In this method, the culture period is longer thus allowing only one or two croppings a year. The modular pond system, on the other hand, allows a continuous operation and makes possible four to six croppings per year.
Bangus fry and fingerlings
To make fishponds and fish cages productive throughout the year, adequate supply of bangus fingerlings is necessary. “Historically, milkfish fry abound in the country, especially during the fry season in the months of April to October,” the PCAMRD primer reports. “During recent years, the number collected has been dwindling.”
Bangus fry grounds are found mainly on the west coasts of islands, the aquaculture department of Iloilo-based Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) reports. In 2021, the more productive fry grounds are in Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Zambales, Batangas, Palawan, Mindoro, Antique, Negros, Zamboanga, Cotabato, and Davao.
“Most fry grounds are sandy beaches with gentle slopes, but some are gravelly or rocky with steep inclines,” SEAFDEC says. “The greatest catches are obtained right at the surf zone, but bangus fry are also abundant near creeks or river mouths during flood tides.”
Among the causes cited for the diminishing supply of bangus fry were destruction of natural habitats brought about by the extensive conversion of mangrove areas to fishponds, destructive fishing methods and environmental degradation, among others.
“With the decrease in seed supply, the cost of fry and fingerlings has increased significantly over the years,” the primer said. To save the bangus industry from downfall, some have imported fingerlings from Taiwan and Indonesia.
Aside from being expensive, “imported milkfish fry are also known to perform poorly compared to those that are locally-produced,” said SEAFDEC.
Some companies saw this as an opportunity and so they engaged in bangus fry production. Finfish Hatcheries, Inc. (FHI) is one of them; it sells not only bangus fry but fingerlings as well. “We have been in the bangus fry production business since 1997,” says Rene B. Bocaya, FHI’s assistant vice-president for sales.
According to Bocaya, the price per piece of wild bangus fry was P1.00 a decade or so ago. “With the introduction to the market of hatchery produced fry (local and imported), the price now ranges from thirty to forty-five centavos per piece only. The hatchery-produced fry doesn’t only give very big savings to the fishpond operators, but it also provides them good quality and steady supply throughout the year.”
“Fry are harvested for distribution once they reach 21 days,” Bocaya says. “Our bangus fry’s survival rate is high.” (To be concluded)
Text and Photos by Henrylito D. Tacio
