Growing tilapia in a raceway

Raceway or flow-through system is one of the earliest methods used to culture freshwater species. It usually consists of rectangular basins or canals with an inlet and outlet wherein continuous water flow in and out of providing the required level of water quality.

In today’s modern times, this traditional method of growing aquaculture species is still very much alive and thriving among the Maeng Tribe in Tubo, Abra, a distant area in the north Philippines, which is home to around 6,000 people who are bound by their instinctive desire and love to conserve and protect their natural resources.

Surrounded by endless mountains and rivers, the Maeng Tribe has kept its culture and traditions intact.

One indigenous practice that has survived through time is the lapat system. Lapat, which literally means “to prohibit” or “to regulate,” is a century-old system of regulating the use of natural resources and its biodiversity.

Previous experience shows that harmonizing traditional and modern technologies can bring forth better chance of success in terms of better productivity and profitability for the farmers. Indigenous knowledge and practices, when given due consideration in introducing new technology or intervention, have a higher chance of producing successful generation and adoption at the farm level.

This was particularly proven true with the project, “Community-based Participatory Action Research (CPAR) on Tilapia Production in Fishponds” funded by the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) and implemented by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-Cordillera Administrative Region (BFAR-CAR).

CPAR is a location-specific research program that focuses on improving farming system technologies for micro agro-climatic environments within a municipality or a province. It merges research initiatives and the involvement of fisherfolk-cooperators in the implementation of projects in various regions of the country.

The project was initially implemented in two barangays in Abra: Tubtuba and Dilong with 70 fish farmers as project cooperators.

In Tubo, Abra, aquaculture is a promising industry while tilapia (along with carp, eel, gobi) is commonly being cultured.

Given the difficulty of buying fish, due to the area’s remoteness and the land barriers surrounding the community, people are learning to culture commercially demanded fishes like tilapia. They grow tilapia both as a source of food and as a livelihood, making aquaculture an important sector in the municipality.

Fish farmers in Tubo, Abra grow tilapia through the raceway system, which is done along the riverbanks. They pile stones to divide the river into terraces which act as barriers to prevent the escape of the fishes. This type of operation can be done by individuals, household or a group of farm fishers, stocking fish in the raceway that feeds on existing food in the environment.

As part of sustainable fishing, the lapat system prohibits and discourages the use of destructive fishing gears, chemical spraying near water bodies, and catching the young of fish species, and promotes the observation of close season or no fishing on specific periods of time.

The CPAR project introduced the fishpond culture technology. “The fingerlings are stocked in the lapat raceway in the river in November or December. These are harvested before the rainy season to prevent the fish from being carried away by strong rains,” the agency said.

Through the project, BFAR provided a micro-hatchery in Tubtuba which became the source of tilapia fingerlings.