Journal Articles - UP - MSI
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- Vulnerability drivers for small pelagics and milkfish aquaculture value chain determined through online participatory approachMacusi, Edison D.; Geronimo, Rollan C.; Santos, Mudjekeewis D. (Elsevier, 2021-11)Climate change impacts on the fisheries can be short-term or long-term, making them highly vulnerable. Fishers' vulnerability encompasses several factors and includes, among others, their sensitivity, exposure to the elements, and their adaptive capacity. The main aim of this study was to help develop a vulnerability assessment tool that can be applied in the various nodes of the fisheries and aquaculture value chains with a long-term view of enhancing the resilience of the fisheries and helping increase the adaptive capacity of the fishing communities. A participatory technique using online workshops was conducted together with various stakeholders (N = 214) who gave insights and suggested indicators that drive climate change impacts and vulnerability. Based on the online workshops conducted, the common hazards/drivers were increasing temperature, typhoons, flooding (sea-level rise), and the recent pandemic, which consequently destroy coral reef ecosystems, affect fisheries yield, increases fish mortality, damage boats, fishing gears, pens, cages, pond dikes, erode beach properties, and devastate houses. In association with these impacts, mobility, travel, processing, and logistic operations are severely reduced. In the human dimension, the fishers and fish farmers are directly affected in terms of income loss, destroyed fishing gears, nutritional deficiencies and health impacts, less fishing operations, early or reduced harvest yield, and low market value of products. In the adaptation options, the infrastructure, social, economic, awareness/knowledge, and relevant governance/policy dimensions are needed to address and help mitigate various climate change impacts.
- Evolving governance structures in community-based sandfish mariculture and their interactions with livelihood outcomes: Evidence from the PhilippinesFabinyi, Michael; Gorospe, Jay R; McClean, Nicholas; Juinio–Meñez, Marie Antonette (Frontiers Media SA, 2022-11-02)Sea cucumber mariculture is an important emerging field of practice and applied research in the coastal tropics. This is due to the existing importance of tropical sea cucumber fisheries for wealth generation and poverty reduction, and the potential for mariculture to contribute to the longer term sustainability of these fisheries while generating benefits additional to those from wild caught sea cucumber. Understanding the optimal institutional arrangements for sea cucumber mariculture is an important area of focus in this field, with a variety of arrangements currently in place. This paper documents the establishment of a communal form of sea ranching in the Philippines, as a case study of community level institutional processes. It describes the background to establishment of the sea ranch in the community of Victory, challenges encountered and how these were managed, and the evolution of governance arrangements. In charting this process, we assess the impacts on livelihood outcomes, highlighting this as a crucial aspect influencing this evolution and the nature of community involvement in the sea ranch. While the sea ranching project generated a range of benefits for livelihoods, including possible spillover effects for the surrounding fishery, substantial economic returns from harvests did not occur. Thus, the system of governing the sea ranch evolved from a communal model to a more exclusive household model primarily to improve operational efficiency. In order for possible benefits of the sea ranch to be sustained and enhanced, greater integration with fisheries management and government support will be needed.We are grateful to the Samahan ng Maliliit na Mangingisda ng Barangay Victory, Inc., the local government unit of Barangay Victory and Bolinao for their support to the Sea cucumber Research Program. We are also thankful to Tirso Catbagan, Josh Caasi, Rona Cabanayan-Soy, and Garry Bucol for their invaluable assistance during the field monitoring of sandfish in the sea ranch.
- Ensuring aquatic food security in the PhilippinesCabral, Reniel; Geronimo, Rollan; Mamauag, Antonio Samuel; Silva, Juan; Mancao, Roquelito; Atrigenio, Michael (National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, 2023-12)The human population of the Philippines is expected to reach 158 million by the year 2050, or an increase of 37% relative to 2022. This implies increased demand for aquatic food (or “fish” hereafter). This begs the question of whether the Philippines can meet the expected increase in fish demand. We estimate that even if the Philippines can maintain its current fish production, the Philippines will still require 1.67 million metric tons more fish per year by 2050 to at least maintain its current per capita fish consumption of 34.27 kg per year. Continued mismanagement of inland and marine fisheries will further widen the gap in fish supply. However, we argue that simultaneously rebuilding overfished fisheries, restoring degraded habitats crucial to supporting productive fisheries, addressing current threats to fisheries sustainability, and expanding sustainable marine aquaculture (or mariculture) have the potential to meet future fish demand in the Philippines. Sustainably expanding mariculture requires careful siting and management of mariculture development areas so that mariculture can improve food security without disenfranchising and marginalizing local coastal communities.This policy brief is the product of the address delivered by RBC during the 44th Annual Scientific Meeting of the National Academy of Science and Technology, Philippines, last July 2022, with the theme Foresight 2050: Science for a Sustainable Future. We dedicate this work in memory of our friend, Lito Mancao, who championed good governance in the Philippine fisheries and has generously supported numerous fisheries researchers and practitioners.
- Feeding and reproductive phenotypic traits of the sea urchin Tripneustes gratilla in seagrass beds impacted by eutrophicationBangi, Helen Grace P.; Juinio-Meñez, Marie Antonette (MDPI AG, 2023-07-11)The sea urchin Tripneustes gratilla is a major grazer and is, hence, an excellent key model organism to study to gain a better understanding of responses to changes in its habitat. We investigated whether there are significant variations in the feeding and reproductive phenotypic traits of populations from three seagrass bed sites, with respect to their proximity to fish farms in Bolinao, northwestern Philippines. We established three stations in each of the three sites: the far, the intermediate, and those near the fish farms, and compared the sea urchins’ phenotypic traits and determined whether these were related to seagrass productivity and water parameters. Regardless of the sampling period, adult sea urchins (66.92 ± 0.27 mm test diameter, TD, n = 157) from the areas intermediate and near to the fish farms had significantly lower indices of Aristotle’s lantern, gut contents, gut and gonads, and lower gonad quality (high percentage of unusual black gonads), compared to those from the far stations. Multivariate analysis showed that the smaller feeding structures and gut, lower consumption rates and lower gonad indices and quality of sea urchins in the intermediate and near fish farms were positively related to lower shoot density, leaf production and species diversity, as well as lower water movement in those stations. The larger size of the Aristotle’s lantern in the far stations was not related to food limitations. More importantly, the phenotypic variability in the feeding structures and gonads of sea urchins in the same seagrass bed provides new evidence regarding the sensitivity of this species to environmental factors that may affect variability in food quality.The authors are very grateful to the anonymous reviewers for providing significant comments and suggestions to improve the manuscript. They are also indebted to the following: Rene R. Rollon, for providing advice on seagrass sampling techniques; Symon Dworjanyn, for providing valuable inputs in the earlier version of this manuscript; Marilou San Diego-McGlone, for providing some water quality data in Bolinao; Charissa M. Ferrerra, for the assistance provided on the Ocean Data View mapping software; Ma Josefa R. Pante, for some statistical advice. The authors would like to thank Jay R Gorospe for reviewing and providing valuable suggestions on the revised version of the manuscript, likewise to Lambert Meñez, for critically editing the manuscript, and to Jerwin Baure for additional assistance in copy editing the manuscript. The authors are thankful to Larry Milan, Jack Rengel, Lawrence Ramoran, for assisting the authors in field sampling and laboratory processing of samples. L. Milan, Jan Noelle Rimando and Aphrodite Entoma assisted in laboratory analysis of samples, particularly in gut content analysis.
- Seaweed as a resilient food solution after a nuclear warJehn, Florian Ulrich; Dingal, Farrah Jasmine; Mill, Aron; Harrison, Cheryl; Ilin, Ekaterina; Roleda, Michael Y.; James, Scott C.; Denkenberger, David (American Geophysical Union, 2024-01-09)Abrupt sunlight reduction scenarios such as a nuclear winter caused by the burning of cities in a nuclear war, an asteroid/comet impact or an eruption of a large volcano inject large amounts of particles in the atmosphere, which limit sunlight. This could decimate agriculture as it is practiced today. We therefore need resilient food sources for such an event. One promising candidate is seaweed, as it can grow quickly in a wide range of environmental conditions. To explore the feasibility of seaweed after nuclear war, we simulate the growth of seaweed on a global scale using an empirical model based on Gracilaria tikvahiae forced by nuclear winter climate simulations. We assess how quickly global seaweed production could be scaled to provide a significant fraction of global food demand. We find seaweed can be grown in tropical oceans, even after nuclear war. The simulated growth is high enough to allow a scale up to an equivalent of 45% of the global human food demand (spread among food, animal feed, and biofuels) in around 9–14 months, while only using a small fraction of the global ocean area. The main limiting factor being the speed at which new seaweed farms can be built. The results also show that the growth of seaweed increases with the severity of the nuclear war, as more nutrients become available due to increased vertical mixing. This means that seaweed has the potential to be a viable resilient food source for abrupt sunlight reduction scenarios.
- Physiological and biochemical characterization of new wild strains of Kappaphycus alvarezii (Gigartinales, Rhodophyta) cultivated under land-based hatchery conditionsNarvarte, Bienson Ceasar V.; Hinaloc, Lourie Ann R.; Genovia, Tom Gerald T.; Gonzaga, Shienna Mae C.; Tabonda-Nabor, April Mae; Roleda, Michael Y. (Elsevier, 2022-12)The red alga Kappaphycus alvarezii is globally cultivated as a major source of k-carrageenan. Farming of this species through clonal propagation has been confined to a few good-quality commercial strains. After more than 50 years of successful cultivation and high productivity, the production of K. alvarezii in most “cottonii”-producing countries like the Philippines had declined in recent decades. This can be attributed to low genetic variability, making “old” cultivars more susceptible to environmental stressors, pests (epi- and endophytes) and diseases (e.g., ice-ice). Hence, the establishment of new cultivars from wild strains with desirable traits may provide alternative seedstocks with different genetic makeup from the currently farmed cultivars. Here, we examined the physiological and biochemical properties of 10 new wild strains of K. alvarezii, belonging to four non-commercially cultivated haplotypes, collected from Eastern Samar, Philippines. These strains were cultivated in an outdoor, land-based hatchery with ambient light and flow-through, nutrient replete seawater. Growth rates, ranging from 0.44 % to 3.74 % d-1, significantly varied among the strains but did not significantly vary among haplotypes. The cultivars also showed a notable change in color and morphology as they adapted to hatchery conditions. Pigments and total phenolic content did not significantly vary among cultivars. Proximate analysis showed that the dry biomass of all K. alvarezii strains was composed mainly of ash (ranging from 39.2 % to 51.0 %), followed by carbohydrate (ranging from 26.0 % to 35.3 %), and with trace amounts of proteins (ranging from 1.02 % to 4.61 %). Moreover, tissue stoichiometry (C, N and P) was comparable among the 10 strains. Considering the promising growth performance of strain SamW-014 under hatchery condition, we recommend its cultivation at sea and conduct corresponding carrageenan yield and quality analyses on its raw dried biomass. Among the 10 strains, five others are also of interest and for consideration. Thereafter, selected strain(s) will be introduced to seaweed farmers for future cultivation to increase biomass production, harvest yields, and income.This is contribution no. 492 from the University of the Philippines- the Marine Science Institute (UPMSI), Diliman, Quezon City. We thank the BFAR 8 Regional Director Juan D. Albaladejo, Vicenta Z. Projimo, and the staff for their hospitality in facilitating the collection of wild Kappaphycus samples in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, and the Bolinao Marine Laboratory (BML) and the Marine Biogeochemistry Laboratory of UPMSI for providing a venue to conduct hatchery and laboratory experiments. We also thank Guillermo Valenzuela and Jerry Arboleda for maintaining our cultures at the BML hatchery. MYR acknowledges the Philippines Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Balik Scientist Program (BSP) fellowship.