Laguna farm cultures koi,
other decorative fish for export

The Department of Agriculture has designated a fish farm in Laguna run by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) as a Freshwater Ornamental Fish Aquaculture Park (FOFAP), in step with ongoing DA efforts to let the Philippines corner a sizeable share of the $500-million global trade on koi and other decorative fishes.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the BFAR Freshwater Demonstration Fish Farm in Sto, Domingo, Bay, Laguna was launched recently as a FOFAP in compliance with his directive-Special Order 185-that aims to develop the freshwater ornamental fish business into an export winner and job generator.

The Medium-Term Ornamental Fish Development Plan is designed to make the Philippines a supplier of 10% to 20% of the global demand for decorative fishes, which, in turn, will generate jobs for 5,000 to 15,000 lakeshore families.

"The scattered, home-based, hobby-driven and small-scale characteristics of the country's freshwater ornamental fish business have produced inadequacies and weaknesses in the way the industry is being developed," Yap said. "Hence, the need for a government-private sector partnership to make such efforts better-organized and better-managed through the establishment of an ornamental fish aquaculture park."

"We have a great advantage when it comes to developing the ornamental fish industry as an export winner, given the country's abundant freshwater resources, large pool of skilled manpower and practicing entrepreneurs, advances in fish culture practices, suitable culture areas and proximity to major international markets," Yap added.

Yap said the FOFAP will serve as a model for government-private sector partnership in enhancing the competitiveness of the country's ornamental fish industry through research and development on breeding, hatchery management, feeding and post-harvest technologies and large scale production of high-value, in-demand and healthy freshwater decorative fishes.

These include ornamental fish species such as koi, angel fish, guppy, molly and tetra.

Traded ornamental fishes in the world market consist of 85 percent freshwater species and 15 percent marine species. Of these, 90 percent are cultured and only 10 percent are caught from the wild.

Most freshwater tropical fishes sold to hobbyists around the world come from South America and Africa. Several Asian countries, however, have recently developed multimillion-dollar industries from breeding freshwater tropical fishes and exporting these to the US, Canada and Europe.

For the entire fisheries subsector, the DA is adopting a slew of countermeasures, which include encouraging the shift to organic and extensive aqua-farming and establishment of more fish sanctuaries and hatcheries, to sustain its growth amid spiraling oil prices and changing climate patterns.