Philippine fish farmers are struggling to farm fish such as milkfish and tilapia due to a shortage in feeds and lack of fish fry, local news reported.

Due to the low quality of feeds, farmers need more feeds to grow fish to marketable sizes which could also spike the cost of this once-readily available fish in the market.

Fish farmers are also experiencing a shortage of fish fry usually imported from other countries such as Indonesia. Fish farmers are demanding the implementation of a broodstock project to lower the cost of fish farming in the country. “We need a central hatchery to provide adequate fry to our growers. This way, we can stop our dependence on Indonesia. We are not getting consistent fry quality from them,” Villaluz said.