There’s money in sea bass culture

By Roberto Garcia

SEA bass (Lates calcarifer) or what is locally known as apahap is indigenous in Pangasinan waters. It has a delectable white flesh comparable to grouper and thus command a good market price. Moreover, there is an increasing demand from seafood restaurants both local and international. Though it is only now that it is being started to be cultured in some parts of the country, it is widely grown in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Taiwan.

So how is it done?

Sea bass farming generally requires a higher level of culture technique compared to other conventional aquaculture venture. Commercially, it is more successfully cultured in floating cages than in ponds. In a study conducted by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Lingayen Gulf in the 90’s, it was shown to be economically feasible to be grown in fish pen, which is, as we know, also suitable for culturing milkfish.

The fry, which is collected from the wild or hatched from a hatchery, is initially stocked in a nursery facility until it grows to about four inches in length in 30-45 days. The nursery process can be skipped if the fish farmer can buy adequate juveniles caught from the wild. This young fish is then cultured in sea cages, pens or ponds and fed with trash fish until it reaches the marketable size of 300-400 grams in three to four months.

Some of the reasons why sea bass farming was not popular then in the Philippines were the lack of fry or fingerlings and the limited supply of trash fish. Now with the establishment of hatcheries and the development of commercial feeds in the country, there should be no reason why sea bass farming cannot be successful in Lingayen Gulf where many suitable culture sites are found.

Farming sea bass is a profitable aquaculture enterprise according to a study conducted by the Brackishwater Aquaculture Center of the University of the Philippines–Visayas. A fishpond stocked with 20,000 fingerlings can produce 5,000 kilos of marketable fish in six months. At a market price of at least P250 per kilo, that’s a whopping P1,250,000!

Happy farming!

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