Milkfish (Chanos chanos) Culture: Situations and Trends

In this article, we present an overview of milkfish (Chanos chanos) culture, in order to provide basic information on its life history, reproductive biology, fry production, culture methods, and genetics as well as its commercial importance. Milkfish is a warm-water marine species, and its culture is widespread in the Asian-Pacific region; it is a unique species in the family Chanidae. Currently milkfish is an important brackish water aquaculture species in Southeast Asia and represents an important component of the fisheries sector and national economy in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Taiwan; in Taiwan, annual total production has surpassed 450,000 metric tons since 2000. However, milkfish production is faced with limitations, the most significant of which is the unpredictable and limited supply of fry. Milkfish production comes mostly from aquaculture, and the availability of fry for stocking plays an important role in the success and development of the industry. Traditionally milkfish production relied on the capture of fry from the wild; but important attempts have been made to develop milkfish broodstock-hatchery technology, and significant successes have been achieved in the artificial propagation of this species.