STATUS, POTENTIAL AND DEVELOPMENT OF COASTAL AQUACULTURE IN THE
COUNTRIES BORDERING THE SOUTH CHINA SEA
by
Shao-wen Ling
The South China Sea area has very great potential for coastal aquaculture development. It has been estimated that there are in the area nearly 400 000 hectares of land and water used for coastal aquaculture, producing some 200 000 metric tons of protein food. With proper development and improvement of existing practices the production from existing farms could be doubled. In addition there exists in each country of the region huge areas of estuarine/coastal areas suitable for coastal aquaculture, with an estimated total of at least 2.5 million hectares. When properly developed an average production of 1 000 kg/ha/ann can be expected, or a total of 2.5 million metric tons of additional high quality protein food, worth over U.S.$ 1 150 million every year.
Although the potential for development is extremely great, to reap such rich resources would require extensive concerted effort and patience in conducting practical research, pilot scale field trials, extension of technical skills, and implementation of commercial operations, on both national and regional levels.
Coastal aquaculture in the South China Sea area has a history of over 400 years, with Indonesia and the Philippines as the leading nations. The practice there was started with milkfish as the principal species, and a mixed variety of crustaceans as secondary products. Through centuries of slow but steady progress there has developed the world famous milkfish farming industry, involving over 350 000 ha of fishponds, employing over 200 000 labourers and producing some 160 000 metric tons of fish annually. In many countries of this area the farming of oysters, clams and mussels was started at the beginning of the 20th century, while modern methods for farming shrimps and luxury species of fish are of more recent introduction.
The origin and development of coastal aquaculture in the South China Sea area differ from country to country and from species to species. All countries have one important objective: to ensure a reliable supply of aquatic organisms as food for the people. Farming is pursued either (1) by constructing a simple barrier around the organisms natural habitat, or (2) by creating a new environment where the organism is stocked and held alive, ready to be caught when needed. Step by step these actions have led to the development of the various practices.
In milkfish culture, it is reasonable to believe that socio-economic factors were responsible for the existing extensive development in wild swampy jungle areas. It is possible that persons exiled to remote and venomous animal-infested mangrove swamp areas in Indonesia were the pioneers in milkfish farming. Shellfish farming may have been started by enterprising cockle, mussel or oyster collectors who claimed the rights to fish in certain productive areas, and who took action to protect and maintain the productive conditions of such areas. Simple operations in the trapping of shrimps and prawns in paddy fields and in salt pens or waterways and depressions in the mangrove swamps, have evolved to the present trapping-holding-growing operations.
Coastal aquaculture of one kind or another has been practised in all the countries of this region for a long time. Throughout the last four centuries the development of these practices was slow, possibly because there existed abundant natural resources. After the second world war, because of the pressing need for narrowing the protein gap, the increasing demand for high quality seafood, the high prices obtained for fish and shrimps for export, the need for foreign exchange, and the opportunities for employment, great interest has been generated in the development of coastal aquaculture. Efforts have been made to reactivate and improve the existing operations and to introduce and develop new techniques for commercial operations. Various national and international projects have been formulated and some have been implemented. Unfortunately, because of the lack of basic knowledge, technical skill, experienced personnel, and a well coordinated regional programme, the progress of development remains slow and ineffective. It is with the objective of promoting an effective regional development programme that this report is prepared. It reviews the present status of coastal aquaculture practices and the potentials and problems for their development.
The countries covered in this review are those included in the South China Sea Fisheries Development and Coordinating Programme: Indonesia, Khmer Republic, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and the Republic of Vietnam. All these countries have the same general tropical climatic conditions, high productive potentials, much the same culturable species, long traditions of aquaculture operations, and similar socio-economic backgrounds and development problems. In spite of some political, ideological and religious differences this group of countries can be regarded as a regional entity, and all of them will be benefited by a well organized regional aquaculture development.
