SEAFDEC/AQD has long worked on milkfish Chanos chanos. Traditionally raised in ponds, it is economically important in at least three countries in Asia and the Pacific: Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan. Milkfish research and development was pioneered by researchers at the Oceanic Institute in Hawaii (USA), Tungkang Marine Laboratory in Taiwan, and AQD in the Philippines.

Much has happened since the first breakthrough in spontaneous natural spawning in 1980 at AQD’s Igang Marine Station and the subsequent completion of the life cycle of milkfish in captivity in 1983. AQD was able to develop breeding and hatchery technologies and extended these through the Philippine government’s NBBP (National Bangus Breeding Program, 1981 to 1995) and through AQD’s own training courses on milkfish hatchery operations & management (starting 1984) and marine fish hatchery operations & management (offered yearly since 1987). AQD also developed a milkfish grow-out diet in 1997 and larval diet in 1995. By and large, AQD first supported its own cooperators (private hatcheries first mass-produced fry in 1991) until almost all production of milkfish fry now in the Philippines are from hatcheries. The latter is important considering the expansion of milkfish culture from brackishwater ponds to marine cages after mariculture parks were set up in several parts of the country (eg. Pangasinan, Guimaras, Negros Oriental, Cebu, Leyte, Misamis Oriental, Davao). These parks can produce a tremendous volume of fish, much more than brackishwater fishponds.