With the milkfish culture gaining popularity in the Philippines, there is a rapid increase in its production through the expansion of grow-out culture in coastal areas and the adoption of thorough farming practices. Consequently, with the latest strengthening of the milkfish culture system, disease occurrences have been unavoidable in all stages of milkfish culture.
To address this concern, the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) and the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC/AQD) published a manual titled, “Health Management of Milkfish Chanos chanos.” The manual presents key research findings on milkfish diseases in the hatchery, nursery, and grow-out.
The manual consists of up-to-date material on diseases of marine and brackishwater cultured milkfish in the country. It includes information on the causative agent, gross clinical signs, effects on the host, transmission, diagnostic procedures, and ways to prevent and control diseases. It also discusses the diseases in each culture phase –the hatchery-reared larvae and fry, fingerlings, juveniles grown in nursery and grow-out culture areas, and in adults maintained in brookstock facilities.
The manual intends to aid milkfish farmers in dealing with the diseases as well as prevent and control future diseases. It is an output of the Milkfish research and development (R&D) Program funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and coordinated by the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Natural Resources Research and Development of the DOST (DOST-PCAARRD).