A retired couple runs a successful aquaculture business with their millennial son

8 TREASURES is a bangus (milkfish; Chanos chanos), alimasag (mangrove or mud crab; scylla serrata), and sugpo (tiger prawn; Penaeus monodon) farm located in Lubao, Pampanga. The area is comprised of fishponds that span different municipalities, some of which can only be reached by boat. The ponds are separated by dikes—strips of land where people can cross, some of which are equipped with wooden slats that, when piled on top of each oother, can be used to control how much water gets in and out of a pond. The fishery started about seven years ago by Pepe and Pat Cruz in a different barangay. Pepe used to work in a private corporation while Pat was a housewife and real estate agent. Unfortunately, that first pond flooded every year, so they had to give it up.

The current ponds are run by their son Patrick, 36, who is Operations Manager, with Pat as Finance Officer. “Patrick and I… like the idea of growing seafood,” Pat said, adding that it was mother and son who convinced Pepe to give the business a try. “My husband didn’t want it at first. We had major disagreements before (he agreed).”

Patrick studied nursing, but graduated at a time when job prospects were drying up. “It was exactly when we acquired this,” he said. The Cruzes have added 10 hectares (the average size of a pond) to their ponds every year, so what started out as 12 hectares is now 83.5 hectares spread across three barangays.

MONITORING AND MAINTENANCE

“The first thing for me is monitoring from day one to harvest,” Pat said.”Monitoring is important because you can track progress.”

Of the three, king prawns are the most sensitive, and there are times when the entire stock die for no reason. Like with any livestock, daily monitoring is important, especially after two months, when growth and progress can be seen with the naked eye and health and the fry can be held for inspection. Even then, the prawns are so sensitive that this is no guarantee of a big harvest.

Water quality, salinity (amount of salt contained per volume), and temperature are important. Prawns need a salinity level of 15-20% (within the range for brackish water), while the crabs can survive at higher levels. “The higher the salinity, the better, (but) 25% is preferred,” Pepe said. There are instruments for teting salinity, as well as other factors like pH, dissolved oxygen, and temperature. The ponds have to have a pH level of 6.5-7.5 and a temperature of 30 degrees Celcius. There are many factors to consider in keeping fishponds at optimum levels of production. The most important—and the most unpredictable—is the weather. “Too much rain can bring down the pondwater’s salinity and affect growth,” Patrick explained. “And strong rains could damage the dikes.”

Heavy rains can also raise the water level, allowing creatures from one pond to mix with other ponds nearby, a scenario

The fishponds are separated by dikes—strips of land that people can walk on and where structures are built. Some fishponds can only be reached by boat.

The catch is always fresh when you live by a fishpond! The Cruzes say they never get tired of fish, crab, or prawns.

Nets are carefully dried and stored when not in use. This is part of pond maintenance.

The dikes have wooden slats that can be piled on top of one another to control how much water gets out or stays in a pond.

The bangus are caught in nets. They are then transferred to sacks, which are passed along a chain of farmhands until they get to land.