ENVIRONMENTAL solution provider World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature-Philippines is eyeing full-cycle mariculture as solution to the declining grouper stocks.
A full-cycle or closed loop mariculture entails breeding and rearing fish in complete captivity. It is meant to eliminate the need to draw from wild stocks, hence, allowing the fish in the wild to breed and multiply.
Green grouper and tiger grouper have been successfully bred and grown in captivity since the year 2000 but few have success with what WWF described as “finicky” leopard coral trout, the most expensive among grouper fishes.
The Palawan Aquaculture Corp. claims to have successfully bred them, according to WWF, which is a vital first step for the road to full-cycle mariculture.
There are 161 grouper species, of which the leopard coral trout, an orange fish, is the most expensive yet sought-after because of its taste and texture. It costs around P7,200 per kilo in Hong Kong, and P13,500 per kilo in China.
However, the leopard coral trout and other grouper fish species are slowly disappearing, WWF says.
This was attributed to overharvesting of the fish, which is in demand in Hong Kong and China.
“When the trade started in the 1980s, most wild-caught groupers were market-sized, each around a foot long,” Dr. Geoffrey Muldoon, WWF’s LRFFT strategy leader said in a statement.
“After 30 years, most of the large ones have been fished out. Today just one in five wild-caught groupers is market-sized. Since there aren’t enough adults to go around, the trade turned to grouper ranching, a system where juveniles are caught and grown in guarded offshore cages,” he said.
Across the Philippines, millions of juveniles are caught before they reproduce, raising serious concerns about live reef food fish trade.
LRFFT began in the 1980s as an experiment in Samar and now employs over 100,000 people in Palawan alone. Palawan’s annual grouper exports exceed P1.7 billion, according to WWF estimates.
According to WWF, the current LRFFT collection is untenable. A survey conducted by the WWF revealed that over half the groupers taken from Palawan’s reefs are juveniles, a clear sign of dangerous stock depletion.
“Overharvesting has been a huge problem. Fishers were catching five times more than what could be sustained. Spawning aggregations were targeted, depleting brood-stock. Fortunately local governments and fishing communities have embraced conservation efforts,” WWF-Philippines Project Manager Mavic Matillano said.
WWF is now leading efforts to facilitate the recovery of suno stocks by establishing marine protected areas, plus enhanced enforcement, licensing and education. Alternative solutions may also exist.