The project Memorandum of Agreement with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in the Philippines was signed in September 2006. Initial planning and preparation for the official project launch was scheduled for November 2006 to coincide with the commencement of the first phase of the project participatory consultative meetings and the commencement of the fish cage aquaculture experiments.

The study area is in the Camarines Sur and Albay provinces (Bicol region) of the Philippines. The three Rinconada Lakes (Buhi, Bato and Baao - Bula) are located within the five local government Municipalities of Buhi, Bato, Baao, Bula and Libon and involvement of municipal staff in the project has been negotiated.

Unfortunately the Bicol region was impacted by a sequence of five typhoons from late September 2006 to mid December 2006. Three of the typhoons were of a significant nature reaching category 4 status (this is the most destructive category used in the Philippines rating system of 1 to 4).

Mount Mayon is one of the three active volcanos in the Bicol region and in November/ December 2006 the 4 day duration typhoon Durian (locally known as Reming) activated a major mud flow of volcanic tuff and ash left on the slopes of Mount Mayon from the February 2006 eruption. The combination of destructive winds to 195 kph, torrential rain and mud flows in the Bicol floodplain caused considerable loss of infrastructure and many human deaths.

As a consequence of these natural disasters the project objectives and scheduling of work tasks had to be reassessed and modified to accommodate the changes in the study area associated with the disruption to peoples livelihoods, damage and loss of fish cages and the flushing of the water hyacinth from the Lake system.

After the redrafting of the project methodology and work tasks, official briefings of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources regional staff and the local government officials of the four Municipalities (Buhi, Bato, Baao and Bula) including the incumbent Mayors were undertaken in January 2007. All Municipalities were very supportative of the project and committed to active involvement.

The project was officially launched on 1 February 2007 in the Municipality of Buhi. The launch involved officials from all municipalities and was combined with the release into Lake Buhi by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of 100,000 common and bighead carp fingerlings. This was part of the rehabilitation and enhancement of the wild capture fishery in Lake Buhi following the typhoon disaster.

After the launch capacity building seminars for stakeholders were held. Further targeted consultative and training workshops were held in early March in Bula, mainly for members of the FARMC's (Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Management Councils) of the different municipalities. The involvement of STREAM (Support to Regional Aquatic Resources Management) in conducting the livelihoods analysis for the project and the coordination with the capacity building activities for the local fisherfolk organisations to be done by regional staff was finalised.

Philippine project scientists Dr. Adelaida Palma and Dr. Maria Lourdes Aralar travelled to Australia in March 2007 to meet with Australian project staff and project collaborators working on the water hyacinth composting technology. Visits to a number of NSW Department of Primary Industries aquaculture facilities were arranged and detailed planning of the fish cage experiments in the Philippines on stocking density, feeding rates and cage spacing was undertaken.

In late April 2007, the stocking density trials in Lake Bato with four fish farmer co-operators were started. This involved transporting and stocking 45,000 size 17 Tilapia fingerlings into 36 fish cages (3 stocking densities x 3 replicates x 4 locations).The same experimental trials were started in Lake Buhi in late May.

Agreements on the establishment of the water quality laboratories and the water quality sampling program were reached with the Local Government Units via the Mayor in both Buhi and Bato. Training of the water quality technicians from the four Local Government Units was done during the April field work in Lake Bato, and monthly water quality monitoring commenced.

The water quality in Lakes Buhi and Bato during the early summer months April / May deteriorated significantly, with dissolved oxygen levels falling below 5 mg/l in surface waters and below 1 mg/l in bottom waters. Water depth in Lake Bato was also less than 2.5 m in some sites due to lack of water inflow and water drawdown. This has a significant effect on the effective stocking densities estimated for the experiments as the fish cages in Bato are 2.5m deep.

Water hyacinth presence in the Lakes has been significantly reduced by the flushing effect of the typhoons. Consequently a rescheduling of the water hyacinth composting trials to 2008 has occurred. The specifications and design of the locally manufactured rice threshers was investigated in relation to possible modification for use in preparing the water hyacinth for the composting trials. A discussion was held with Mr Glen Calleja of Eco Fish Park, re the use of probiotics (microbial accelerants) for treatment of compost and the possible trialling of the product he has developed in the composting activities.

The project Memorandum of Agreement with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in the Philippines was signed in September 2006 and the official project launch was in February 2007.

The study area is in the Camarines Sur and Albay provinces (Bicol region) of the Philippines. The three Rinconada Lakes (Buhi, Bato and Baao - Bula) are located within the five local government Municipalities of Buhi, Bato, Baao, Bula and Libon and involvement of municipal staff in the project has been negotiated.

Unfortunately for the second year in a row the Bicol region was impacted by a sequence of significant natural disasters which caused considerable loss of infrastructure and many human deaths. The major concern was flooding, which had a duration of 30 days (February to March 2008) and was rated as a red alert severity class 1 by the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS).

As a consequence of these natural disasters the project objectives and scheduling of work tasks had to be reassessed for a second time and modified to accommodate the changes in the study area associated with the disruption to peoples livelihoods, damage and loss of fish cages and the virtual total flushing of the water hyacinth from the Rinconada Lake system.

After the redrafting of the project methodology and work tasks, official briefings of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources regional staff and the local government officials of the four Municipalities (Buhi, Bato, Baao and Bula) including the incumbent Mayors and our participating fisherfolk were re-done.

The stocking density trials in Lake Bato and Buhi with four fish farmer co-operators in each Lake were completed in September / October 2007 after an approximate 5 month grow out.

The results in Lake Buhi indicate significant interactions between sites and stocking density. Growth was highest in the 10 fish/m2 stocking density with supplementary feeding compared to the 5 (natural feed only) and 15 (supplementary feeding) fish/m2 treatments. Site differences in water quality, especially dissolved oxygen, may be related to the variable survival data in individual cages (23.3% to 90.0%). An average feed conversion ratio of 2.9 was achieved across all cages. However, this value needs to be taken very cautiously since there were instances when feed delivery was delayed and there were days when the fish were not fed or the co-operator did not follow the feeding protocols.

In Lake Bato different analyses of data are necessary since the husbandry, feeding and harvest protocols established and agreed for the experiments were modified during the experiment by the co-operating fishermen. However, the general trends in the data suggest the best survival and growth rates were achieved in the 10 fish/m2 stocking density with supplementary feeding and this stocking density also provided the most cost effective feed conversion ratio.

The feeding experiment trials working with co-operating fishermen commenced in March 2008 and will go for approximately 5 months. The trials are based on a modified design to minimise the problems encountered in the stocking density trials. The experiment involves 24 reduced size fish cages in each lake stocked at 10 fish/m2 (4 feeding regimes x 3 replicates x 2 co-operators). Some difficulties in the supply of sufficient Tilapia fingerlings has been experienced and a delay in stocking the cages in Lake Buhi has occurred.

Monthly water quality monitoring is ongoing and the public dissemination of the data via the bulletin boards at the fish landing jetty or municipal offices is occurring. Unfortunately the water quality laboratory in Bato was flooded in the natural disaster in March 2008 and suffered significant damage. However, all the equipment was relocated and saved from water damage.

The water quality in Lakes Buhi and Bato during the summer months May / June deteriorated significantly, with dissolved oxygen levels falling below 5 mg/l in surface waters and below 1 mg/l in bottom waters. This was the most likely cause of the observed fish kills. During the start of the rainy season (July) the dissolved oxygen levels improved. Throughout the stocking experiment ammonia levels were variable in both lakes and often exceeded the preferred range for Tilapia culture.

Plankton sampling as an indicator of natural 'wild' food availability showed the dominant microalgae in Lake Bato are the diatom Nitzschia sp., and the Cyanophyte Oscillatoria sp.. Other species found were Aulacoseira, Asterionella, Volvox, Gymnodinium, Coelastrum, Pediastrum, and Closterium. In Lake Buhi the centric diatom Aulacoseira sp, the pennate diatom Fragillaria sp. and the chlorophyte Oocystis were dominant though plankton density was higher in this deeper less turbid Lake.

Substantial progress was made on the water hyacinth composting objective in September / October 2007 when Mr Ren Waterfall (Earthmakers) was successful in designing the water hyacinth chopper and conveyor system and working with Tropics Agro Industries, Naga and Morallo Industries, Pili on quoting for the manufacture of the equipment.

A successful meeting and discussion was held between Earthmakers and Mr Glen Calleja Eco Fish Park, Pili re the use of Mr Calleja's probiotics (microbial accelerants) for inclusion in the compost trials. However, the location and timing of the water hyacinth composting trials is being reviewed following the flushing of water hyacinth from the study Lakes in March 2008 by the continuing natural disasters (typhoons and floods) in the Bicol region.

The study area is in the Camarines Sur and Albay provinces (Bicol region) of the Philippines. The three Rinconada Lakes (Buhi, Bato and Baao - Bula) are located within the five local government Municipalities of Buhi, Bato, Baao, Bula and Libon. Unfortunately for the third year in a row the Bicol region was impacted by a sequence of significant natural disasters which caused considerable loss of infrastructure and human deaths. The major concern this year was flooding and mud slides, from typhoon Kujira (locally Dante) with wind gusts above 200 km/hr. As a consequence of these natural disasters the project objectives and scheduling of work tasks had to be reassessed for a third time.

The fish feeding trials were completed this year. The trials were based on 2 co-operators per Lake each provided with 12 experimental cages with dimensions of 5x5x2m for Lake Bato and 5x5x5m for Lake Buhi. Each of the cages was stocked with 500 GET-Excel Nile tilapia fingerlings with average size of 2.7 + 0.9 g. The stocking density used was 10 fingerlings m-3, and was based on the results of a previous stocking density experiment. Feeding treatments were designated as High feeding rate with feed dispensed daily (HD), High feeding rate dispensed 4 days a week (HS), Low feeding rate dispensed daily (LD) and Low feeding rate dispensed 4 days a week (LS).

Lake Bato
The data show that daily feeding results in better growth, compared to the skip feeding strategy. The total weight of the standing stock of fish during the experimental run did not differ significantly between the co-operator sites. This is because although the mean individual weights of fish in the daily fed groups (HD and LD) were higher than the skip-feeding groups (HS and LS), the higher survival in the later compensated when totalled per cage. The best feed conversion ratio at the end of the feeding trial was observed, in the LS group. No significant difference in the feed conversion rate (FCR) of the HS and LD was observed, and the poorest FCR was in the HD treatment. Since there was no significant difference in the total harvest of fish at the end of the experiment, the skip-feeding management with the low feeding rate (LS) is the most economically viable among the feeding strategies used.

Lake Buhi
In the case of Lake Buhi, the growth of Nile tilapia in all treatments was slower compared to Lake Bato. There were differences in the two co-operator sites, aside from the different feeding schemes.

In the case of co-operator 1, HD cages had the highest mean individual weights followed by LD. The HS and LS did not differ in mean individual weights. On the other hand, no significant differences in mean individual weights among the four feeding management schemes were observed in co-operator 2 cages. In general all cages had a low survival rate and previous experiments conducted by other researchers in Lake Buhi also report a low survival of 25% after six months of culture and 9% survival after 9 months of culture.

Our results were very encouraging with considerable interest shown by the fishermen in both Lakes as the best results in terms of economic return were from the skip feeding regime at 5% of standing stock for first two months of stocking reduced to 2.5% until harvest. The market size fish were also achieved in the reduced time of 4 months. However, as expected there was very high variation between replicate cages, cooperating fishermen and 2 different Lakes.

Monthly water quality monitoring is ongoing and the public dissemination of the data via the bulletin boards at the fish landing jetty or municipal offices is occurring. The water quality in Lakes Buhi and Bato during the summer months May / June again deteriorated significantly, with dissolved oxygen levels falling below 5 mg/l in surface waters and below 1 mg/l in bottom waters. This was the most likely cause of the observed fish kills.

Outcomes of the participatory workshops and interviews with the Barangay communities around the Lakes show an increased understanding that fish in the Lakes are not an unlimited resource. Within the span of about twenty seven years (1979- 2006) fish cage operators have been witness to the declining production of tilapia as well as the degradation of the lake ecosystem.

Food is a basic need that livelihoods provide for fishers and their families. This is reflected in our respondents' livelihoods objectives (both male and female) to earn income to meet and sustain the needs of the family. An increase in income is seen as enhanced if fish cage production is more efficient by using technology updates on stocking density, feed management, use of better quality fingerlings for stocking and better handling from the nursery ponds and transport to the cages.

Unfortunately the livelihoods of fishers in Rinconada are impacted by the endless natural threat of typhoons which can bring destructive winds, flooding and fish kills and the man-made threats of pollution, siltation and sedimentation, increased resource use and exploitation due to population increases in the region.

A mid project review was conducted by ACIAR (Mr Barney Smith) and PCAMRD Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (Drs Rafael Guerrero and Cesar Pagdilao) The project team made presentations on the completed tasks in both the Philippines and Australia:- the fish stocking density experiments, the fish feeding rate experiments, the water quality sampling, the livelihoods analysis of the cage culture, extension and training activities, the water hyacinth composting project and the Australian assessment of stakeholder participation in resource management. The review outcomes have been implemented.