LESSONS ON MILKFISH AND CRAB FARMING: It’s online learning for PH aquaculture extension workers

By Juliana Rose Pagador

Learning online isn’t just for students, it is also for the country’s aquaculture extension workers who listened to lectures and practical sessions on milkfish and mangrove crab culture via an online platform.

Forty-eight participants, mostly staff of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) from the different administrative regions, recently completed the FishKwela Training Course to enhance their skills on the hatchery production of milkfish and mangrove crab.

The training course was the first technology and commodity-based online training course prepared by the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC/AQD) in collaboration with the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI).

Although SEAFDEC/AQD has been conducting online courses on fish health management and aquaculture nutrition since 2002, Caryl Vincent Genzola, officer-in-charge of its Training Section, said the recent FishKwela training course “was designed to provide an in-depth, step-by-step look” on milkfish and mangrove crab culture.

The FishKwela online training course held its first session last 31 August 2020 to 04 September 2020 and its second session from 14 September 2020 to 17 September 2020.

With the training hosted on Canvas e-learning platform, participants were given user accounts to access the content dashboard which hosts videos of lectures and practical demonstrations, specially created for the course.

The trainees were given guided video tours of SEAFDEC/AQD’s integrated milkfish and broodstock hatchery complex, mangrove crab hatchery, and feed mill. Online discussion boards also allowed trainees to consult with technical experts, while online examinations measured the participants’ understanding of concepts.

“The training was very good and informative. I also appreciate that it was recorded so I can repeat parts that I didn’t understand,” stated Norhata Dumasil, a participant from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Agrarian Reform, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

“The extended time and days of the training were very convenient to us because we were able to view the video lecture presentations in our free time,” remarked Riza Pulac, a participant from Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Cordillera Administrative Region.

More online training courses to come

Genzola assured that FishKwela is just a preview of other online aquaculture training courses they intend to develop, in collaboration with BFAR and NFRDI. Plans are also in place to convert other in-person training courses to online courses that will cater to both Filipino and international participants.

For the past 46 years, SEAFDEC/AQD’s stations in the provinces of Iloilo, Guimaras, and Rizal have hosted over 12,000 trainees from all over the world who took part in hands-on training courses organized to promote human resource development in aquaculture.

“Since the trainees cannot come here, we might as well bring the training to them via the internet,” said Genzola.