Ocean Voice International and The Haribon Foundation for Conservation of Natural Resources, are working on Environmental Education and Sustainable Livelihoods in the Philippines. This project is funded by the EDSP (Environment and Development Support Program) through the Canadian Environmental Network by CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency). We are grateful to these organizations for their support of economically, socially and environmentally sustainable development.One of the components of this project is related to the development of the Federation of Aquarium Fish Collectors (PMP), which is looking for alternative methods of marketing the healthy, net caught fish. To achieve this goal it was considered to evaluate the handling methods and holding facilities, that fishermen and exporters are actually applying.
For many years I've been studying the exploitation of marine fish and invertebrates for the marine aquarium trade. I'd like to share with all of you, the findings of my recent trip to the Philippines.
Importers as well as retailers and aquarium hobbyists buying ornamental marine fish from the Philippines and Indonesia are recording high mortality rates. In a previous article (Sea Wind, July Sept 92), I underlined the fact that cyanide was not the only factor responsible for these high mortality rates. One of the most important factors is the physiological damage inflicted on the fish by fisherfolk and by exporters.
(Mis)Handling Methods and Holding Facilities
The ordeal of the fish starts when it is removed from the reef. But this is only the start of its miseries.... Once ashore, there are no holding facilities and submerged cages are not widespread because of the lack of protected areas, the tides and theft. Thus the fish are dumped from the bags in to a bucket with up to 30 fish at once. The fish are then transferred abruptly into bags filled with new water from the shoreline. Depending on the species, they are bagged individually if they are expensive, or by pairs in smaller bags, or several in larger bags. The bagged fish remain on the floor or on wooden structures usually 3 5 days before they are shipped (in this case to Manila). During this time water from the bag is changed once a day. Expensive fish get two water changes a day. The water changes are always abrupt. Small inexpensive fish do not get water changes for 3 5 days. I observed large bags with, for example, more than 10 poisonous lionfish per bag, 15 fragile butterflyfish per bag and more than 70 damselfish in the same bag. It is common to see fish dying from ammonia poisoning in the bags.
Once the fish are delivered to Manila (6 hrs from Masinloc in this case) to the exporter, the fish are screened to detect damaged fins, injuries or sickness. Such fish, called rejects, are discarded, sold for the local market and very seldom returned to the sea by the buyer or middleman. The accepted fish pass to the main system, with no acclimation process. The transfers are made abruptly.
Now the fish are ready to be exported. There is no quarantine period. It was found that some exporters, not all, do not feed the fish that remain in their aquaria. When an order is placed, the fish are packed in shipping water, which could come from the Manila Bay, or, in the case of one exporter, as far away as 160 km from Manila. This water is poured into large pools, without filtering out the plankton or other kinds of material in suspension.
The fish are not acclimated to the physical and chemical conditions of the water, thus increasing the stress that the animals experienced from the moment they are harvested. At this point, it was critical to introduce the Water Quality Criteria new to the Fisherfolk and PMP organizers. Several workshops were conducted with PMP organizers and fishermen from three communities: San Salvador and Matain in the Province of Zambales and Bolinao in the province of Pangasinan. At the workshops, samples of water from the shoreline, and from some of the bags holding the fish were tested to determine the concentrations of ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, phosphates, specific gravity and temperature.
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