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A few decades ago, Cambodia was rich in both freshwater and marine fisheries resources because of its favorable geographical area. However, the fisheries resources have depleted and were unable to totally fulfill the increasing fish demands of its people. This was caused by various factors including unfavorable climate changes, increase in population, improper agricultural production practices, and other human affecting activities. In this sense, aquaculture development in Cambodia becomes increasingly important in order to reduce the fishing pressure on its natural resources which are mainly for food security and economy of Cambodian people. Aside from this, aquatic animals in the country are vulnerable to infectious aquatic transboundary diseases as a result of insufficient and low transboundary diseases monitoring capacity. Neither the official list of aquatic transboundary diseases was created nor are the emergency preparedness and response systems for effective management of transboundary disease outbreaks in Cambodia has been well-established. Nonetheless, the government fisheries officers of both central and provincial levels have conducted fish health monitoring and undertake sample collection from fish farmers since 2016 in 10 targeted provinces as funded by the European Union s Programme. Regarding the capacity of the diagnostic laboratory, officers can perform level I and II but not for all species and diseases. Level III diagnoses cannot be effectively performed yet due to the lack of facilities, skills, and knowledge. The Marine Aquaculture Research and Development Center (MARDeC) is the only main laboratory for aquatic animal health diagnosis in the country. To minimize the spread of aquatic transboundary diseases in freshwater and seawater, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has been moving to initiate and establish policies regarding: (1) the registrations, licensing, and law enforcement; (2) the inspection of sites; (3) and the issu

The silver therapon, Leiopotherapon plumbeus (Kner, 1864), is an endemic and economically important freshwater food fish in the Philippines. The natural populations of this species have been declining during the past years, mainly due to intense fishing pressure, habitat degradation, and introduction of invasive alien species. At present, it is considered a target species for domestication and conservation efforts. Despite several attempts of artificial reproduction and larval rearing, little is known on larval and early juvenile development of silver therapon. The presently reported study was therefore intended to fill this gap in the knowledge by determining the growth and describing body proportions, pigmentation, and fin formation of this fish. Newly hatched larvae were reared in mesocosm tanks at a mean temperature of 29.5°C. Larvae up to 30 days after hatching were sampled at irregular intervals and preserved in 5% buffered formalin. Early development stages for 245 preserved specimens were described in detail with reference to changes in morphology, growth and body proportions, pigmentation, and fin formation. Five developmental stages of silver therapon were identified: yolk sac larva (1.88 mm TL), preflexion (2.51 mm TL), notochord flexion (4.50-8.27 mm TL), postflexion larva (6.90-12.21 mm TL), and early juvenile (>13.40 mm TL). Growth was isometric for eye diameter and gape size whereas positive allometry was observed for body depth, head length, and preanal length. Some body proportions showed abrupt changes from preflexion to postflexion larvae before it stabilized during the early juvenile stage. Pigmentation in the form of stellate and punctate melanophores increased with developmental stage, with larvae becoming heavily pigmented from postflexion to early juvenile stage. These morphological changes, together with the full complement of fin rays and squamation observed in specimens larger than 13.4 mm TL, suggest the attainment of the juvenile stage o

Lake Caluangan is a saline type of lake ecosystem. It provides fishery resources, numerous goods and services for residents in the area. The study aimed to assess Lake Caluangan ecosystem in terms of fishery resources and physico-chemical parameters. Specifically, it aimed to identify taxonomically the present fish species; (b) determine the catch per unit effort expressed as biomass/hr; (c) assess the physico-chemical parameters of lakes and relate the occurrence of fishes and (d) determine the social issues and activities that possibly affect the lake ecosystem. Five and three sampling stations were established in littoral and limnetic zones, respectively. Physico-chemical parameters were measured with three replicates per station. Fish sampling was conducted using different fishing gears. Cast net was used in the littoral zone, whereas various fishing gears such as hook and line, gill nets and lift nets were used in the limnetic zone. Fish were identified using fish keys/guides and FISHBASE. Social issues and activities were determined through interviews and ocular observations. A total of 18 fish species were collected in both zones. Six fish species were caught in the littoral zone, comprised of Scorpaenidae and Tetraodontidae families, Photopectoralis sp., Scolopsis sp., Gerres sp., and Mugil cephalus. On the other hand, nine species were caught in lift nets. These species were Sertola sp., Caranx sp., Mugil cephalus, Stolephorus sp., Apogon sp., Photopectoralis sp., Upeneus sp., Gerres sp., and Siganus sp. Moreover, Dussumieria sp., Glossogobius sp., Sphyraena sp., Terapon jarbua, Monodactylus sp., and Chanos chanos, were caught using hook and line and gill nets. Siganus sp. had the highest CPUE with a value of 1,421. 21 g/hr. This species has the highest commercial value among the fish species caught in the limnetic zone, followed by Caranx sp. and Apogon sp., which were observed in both littoral and limnetic zones. Results showed that physico-chemical param

Lake Mainit in Northeastern Mindanao is an important shared resource of the Provinces of Agusan del Norte and Surigao del Norte. It is distinguished as the deepest (219.35 m) and the fourth largest (17,060 ha) lake in the Philippines with 28 river tributaries and only one outlet river that flows into Butuan Bay. The most recent assessment in 2007-2008 showed that at least 15 species of aquatic plants, 41 species of fish, five crustaceans, and 10 mollusks occur in Lake Mainit and its outlet Kalinawan River. Lake Mainit has a very diverse fish community classified into three different groups, namely, true freshwater fishes (lake and riverine), amphidromous fishes, and catadromous fishes. This highly productive and diverse wetland ecosystem supports a thriving freshwater fishery and the livelihood of more than 3,000 fishers using a highly diverse fishing gear technology. The municipality of Kitcharao, Agusan del Norte has the largest contribution to fisheries production (Fig. 1). Environmental and human factors have threatened the biodiversity and productivity of the Lake in recent decades. Certain species of fish are feared to have been extinct; at least 13 of 37 species reported by Pauly et al. (1990) were no longer encountered in the present study. More than 65% of the fish are migratory between the lake and Butuan Bay through the Kalinawan River. The population of the once abundant giant mottled eel (Anguilla marmorata) has drastically declined, resulting from massive fishing on adult eels during their seasonal spawning along Kalinawan River. The native white goby (Glossogobius giuris), locally known as pijanga, remains the most important fishery resource in Lake Mainit (Fig. 2), but the current fish catch is about 63% of the 1997-98 production as reported by Galicia and Lopez (2000). Many species are caught in progressively smaller sizes, resulting in lower economic value and hence, marginal fisher incomes. Pollution, unsustainable fishing practices, high fishing

A landed fish catch survey was conducted in ten landing centers around Taal Lake from June 2008 to May 2009. Fish catch and unit effort were recorded at 2 days interval for 10 days a month in the established sampling stations. Inventory of fisherfolk, boats, and gear was also conducted. A total of 300 'tawilis' samples per month were measured and dissected to determine the biological and population parameters. Results showed that there were 2,488 fisherfolk, 2,250 fishing boats, and 15,947 units of fishing gear recorded in Taal Lake. Tawilis production in the lake has declined. In 2009, tawilis production was 132 mt, a reduction of 82 % from the average production from 1996 to 2000. However, tawilis remained to be the most dominant fish in the open waters with about 36% of the total fish catch. The major gear used to catch tawilis were gill net and beach seine with catch per unit effort (CPUE) of 6 kg/day and 35 kg/day, respectively. There were 4,646 fish samples analyzed with an average fork length of 9.8 cm, average total length of 11.1 cm and an average weight of 13.2 g. The sex ratio obtained was 1 male to 0.85 female. Spawning of tawilis is all year round with highest gravid samples from March to May and November to December. Tawilis with an average fork length (FL) of 9.9 cm and weighs about 13.9 g has an estimated 4,848 eggs. The analysis of length frequency data has an estimated L8 of 16.8; K value of 0.59; total mortality (Z), 3.46; fishing mortality (F), 1.93; natural mortality (M), 1.54; and exploitation rate (E), 0.56. The fishing mortality was higher than the natural mortality and the exploitation rate exceeded the optimum 0.3-0.5 which implies that there is overfishing of tawilis in the lake.

An assessment of fishery resources of Taal Lake was conducted from January to December of 2010. Fish landed catch survey was done in major landing sites of 11 coastal towns around the lake. Sampling was done 20 days a month during peak landing time at 2 days interval. A participatory approach was done by training and hiring fisherfolk leaders to be the data enumerators of their respective towns. A survey form was used to gather the number of fishermen, boats and gears, catch/species composition, volume of catch, gears used, and fishing effort. A total of 1,054 fisherfolk was recorded in Taal Lake. Inventory of the fishing gear listed a total of 2,084 units of 15 different types of fishing gears used in the lake. Gill net was the most dominant gear with 1,258 units or about 60% of the total gears operating in the lake. Three active gears were identified namely, beach seine, motorized push net, and ring net. The average catch per unit effort of gill net was 6.6kg/day while beach seine, motorized push net, and ring net were 26 kg/day, 544 kg/day and 30 kg/day, respectively. There were 1,484 units of boat operating in the lake, of which 1,110 were motorized, 168 non-motorized, and 206 bamboo raft. Previous data showed that total fish production from 1996 to 2000 has declined from 1,420 mt to 882 mt. The highest catch was 1,672 mt in 1998. In 2010, the total production was 273.62 mt, a reduction of 69.7% from the 1998 production. A total of 47 species were recorded comprising of 38 finfishes, four crustaceans, three mollusks, and two reptiles. Of the finfishes caught, four were endemic, 10 introduced and 24 migratory species. The major fishes caught in the lake were Sardinella tawilis, 39.2%, Chanos chanos (26.2%), Oreochromis niloticus (10.8%), Parachromis managuensis (4.8%), and Glossogobius guirus (3.2%). New record of introduced species include pangasius (Pangasianodon hypopthalmus), jaguar fish (Parachromis managuensis), bighead carp (Aristicthys nobilis), red pacu

Barangay Looc is located in the municipality of Castillejos, Province of Zambales, Region III, Philippines. It has a distance of 7 km from the town proper while the municipality of Castillejos is about 60 km from the Province Capital, Iba, Zambales, and approximately 19 km from Olongapo City (Balaybay Agrarian Reform Community Development Plan, 2004). Surrounded by long mountain ranges and divided into three puroks, Barangay Looc has an area of 7,562 ha of slightly wooden terrains, including agricultural lands. It is also traversed by the Pamatawan River, one of the major rivers in Castillejos (Balaybay Arc Development Plan, 2004). Looc Lake is found at the southern part of Barangay Looc. It is identified as Cadastral Lot No. 1443 Castillejos Cadastre, having a total area of 52 ha. The mountains embracing it are Mt. Carmen from east to west, Mt. Sillangin in the west and Mt. Nagsasa in the south which is part of the municipality of Subic. As observed, it has an average water depth of 1.8 m and an average water temperature of 30°C (surface) and 27.5°C (bottom) during the month of September. The common aquatic macrophytes growing in the lake are water spinach ('kangkong'), tape grass ('balaiba'), water snow flake ('tukod-tukod'), creeping water prime rose ('kangkong dapa'), and ('tarabang'). Water birds, both migrating and non-migrating like heron, egret, bittern, and waterhen, are found frolicking in the lakeshore and fields surrounding the lake. It is naturally endowed with a rich aquatic fauna. It is also open for fishing. However, when Mount Pinatubo erupted, it was severely silted, depositing about 0.5 high ash and sand fall. Siltation was a permanent impact caused by this historical phenomenon over Looc Lake (Balaybay Arc Development Plan, 2004). Looc Lake plays a vital role in providing means of livelihood and serves as a source of income to its residents. At present, few studies had been done regarding the lake. It is for this reason that the researchers would