The rapid spread of aquaculture in recent decades has brought riches to some, ruin to many, exclusion to the poorest coastal dwellers, and environmental degradation. Scientists in the Philippines are adapting aquaculture to make it sustainable over the long term and suitable for small-scale, family-level operators. An innovative system of captive crab culture in live mangrove is being developed in the central Philippines and is now being verified and demonstrated on the southern island of Mindanao. “Aquaculture needs to become more mangrove-friendly to be sustainable,” argues Dr. Jurgenne H. Primavera of the Iloilo, Philippines-based Aquaculture Department of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Centre (SEAFDEC), an 11-member inter-governmental treaty organization headquartered in Thailand. “That means developing aquaculture techniques that don't require clearing the trees.”

Crab culture with a conscience. (2005, May 17-19). The News Today, pp. 11, 14.