The Philippine Star

Pangasinan aquacultur­e practices wow US students

- Eva Visperas

DAGUPAN CITY — Students of the University of Rhode Island arrived in Pangasinan on New Year’s Eve for a 20-day study of the best aquacultur­e practices in various coastal areas of the province and got wowed.

From going to the rivers, the 10 students led by their professor Michael Rice experience­d demonstrat­ion and did hands-on sex determinat­ion/ cannulatio­n of milkfish breeders and feed preparatio­n/ enrichment at the Philippine Bangus Center, seining milkfish broodstock from a maturation pond at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources center, all in this city.

At the BFAR center, the students also had the opportunit­y to harvest bangus and saltwater tilapia from ponds.

They also went through the exercise of sexing the male and female species.

They took a boat ride and explored the fish cages in Sual town near a power plant and saw the big volume of

bangus harvest at 60 metric tons daily.

Visiting mangrove areas, the students were amazed at the sea cucumber farms and the seaweed laboratori­es and broodstock facilities in Cariaz Island being maintained by the BFAR Regional Office 1, as well as the traditiona­l salt farms, all in Alaminos City.

The group also toured the Feedmix hatchery in Infanta town and various bagoong (fish paste) factories in Lingayen.

They dived into the giant clam reserve and nursery in Bolinao town.

“So the students had a very, very broad experience here in Pangasinan that is absolutely not possible in the United States. The number of species under culture here far exceeds what we have in the US, not only in the number of species but also in the volume of species,“Rice said.

It was the fourth time Rice brought his students with him to the country to make them learn from Pangasinan’s experience, the Philippine­s being one of the leading countries in terms of aquacultur­e, production and research.

“As usual the Filipino hospitalit­y has been superb,” he said.

Rice is a Fulbright distinguis­hed senior specialist fellow who served in the US Peace Corps in the Philippine­s from 1981-1985 and worked with the BFAR.

 ??  ?? University of Rhode Islands students seine juvenile saltwater tilapia at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources center in Dagupan City as part of their academic curriculum.
University of Rhode Islands students seine juvenile saltwater tilapia at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources center in Dagupan City as part of their academic curriculum.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Philippines