Bangus or milkfish culture is a well-established fishing industry in the Philippines which dates back to the latter part of the 19th century. It became more extensively practised at the start of the 20th century and has since grown to a major industry. Its popularity and extensiveness may be attributed to the environmental condition and the geography of the Philippine archipelago. I he tropical climate here is conducive to the growth of various forms of aquatic flora and fauna that usually serve as the natural food of fishes cultured under controlled conditions.
Existing milkfish fishponds in the Philippines have a total area of about 140,054.84 hectares, both privately-owned and government-leased. These areas can produce at the present level of cultural techniques some 70,000,000 kgs valued at about P140,000,000. There are still huge swamplands available for freshwater and brackishwater fish culture totalling about 546,315 has. These can be developed to increase present production about three times. In the long run, even if only 50 per cent or roughly 250,000 has. of the available swamplands are developed using impioved scientific techniques of fish culture the country can be assured of an additional fish supply of about 200,000 mt annually. With this projected increase, the protein requirement and per capita consumption of the entire population as recommended by the nutrition agencies can be maintained at the medium level.