Bongao, Tawi-Tawi (26 July) -- Even as consumer demand for specific seafood has risen in China and other parts of Asia, natural stocks of these marine species are declining throughout the tropical Pacific, due to overfishing and other factors.

The imbalance between supply and demand has driven prices up--high enough so that many sought-after species, such as tiger grouper, humpback grouper, and tropical abalone, can now be cultivated profitably and sustainably through commercial aquaculture operations. This will also allow natural stocks time to recover.

Following the successful establishment of the first hatchery in Tawi-Tawi province for these and other high-value species, investors are interested in establishing similar hatcheries in Mindanao.

Establishing a fully equipped hatchery, capable of producing one million juvenile fish per year, requires an investment of approximately US$500,000-$700,000 with annual operating costs of approximately US$30,000-$50,000.

Combining hatchery operations with "grow-out" operations-designed to all the juvenile fish to grow to maturity- increases profit margins, said Lauro Ilagan, senior aquaculture specialist of USAID's Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program, which has assisted investors to locate appropriate sites in Mindanao for the establishment of commercial aquaculture ventures.

In 2007, the GEM Program has helped to establish a PhP26-million grouper and abalone hatchery in Tawi-Tawi to provide juvenile fish to growers. The hatchery was established in partnership with the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), the provincial government, and other partners.

The Tawi-Tawi hatchery, is the only facility of its kind in the Sulu archipelago, and is now being operated by the Zamboanga-based Mega Fishing Corporation, a deep-sea purse seine fishing company that ships its canned fish products to 22 countries.

The range of GEM's technical assistance available to potential hatchery investors includes business plan development, site selection, hatchery design, and the establishment of linkages with key agencies and service providers.

The GEM Program's assistance supports government efforts to increase the amount of high value marine products, produced through commercial aquaculture, exported in the high demand China seafood market.

BFAR has launched the "Philippine Mariculture Highway," envisioned as a network of mariculture parks along the western and eastern corridors of the country, which will serve as consolidation areas for cultured high-value fish.

"The mariculture highway [along the western seaboard] will start in Tawi-Tawi and head north. It will pass Zamboanga, which has a mariculture park, and extend to Palawan, Mindoro, and La Union, and thence to foreign markets such as Hong Kong and China," said BFAR National Director Malcolm Sarmiento.

Manila (26 July) -- Western Mindanao is considered one of the most promising areas for hatchery development, due to its pristine marine waters, its stable temperatures suitable for year-round hatchery production, and the absence of typhoons.