Despite being widely regarded as the unofficial national fish, about half of the milkfish on Filipino tables are born in hatcheries in Indonesia and Taiwan. This is the result of a perennial shortage of fry, the baby bangus in the Philippines, that are seeded into fishponds, netcages and pens where they continue to grow to marketable sizes. Recently, the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC/AQD), an international research institution in Tigbauan, Iloilo, alongside the Department of Agriculture – Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA- BFAR), has been finding ways to lift the Philippines into bangus fry sufficiency.

SEAFDEC turns up the heat to meet bangus fry shortage. (2020, April 18-19). Panay News, p. 9.