An upcoming aquatic research project between Okinawa University of Science and Technology (OIST) and Hokkaido University (HU), both based in Japan, and Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU), based in Ilocos Norte, will examine how ocean currents influence the movement of fish larvae and their ecological impact on biodiversity conservation. A possible consequence of this study is that high-value freshwater fish will become more available on the market for public consumption.

The project will study larval dispersal patterns and compare fish populations on the east and west coasts of Northern Luzon, Palawan, Taiwan and Japan. According to Jesslyn Keith Valite of the MMSU Office of Strategic Communications, the project proposes that fish larvae from the Philippines would be transported by ocean currents to Taiwan and eventually Japan.

Titled “Philippine Freshwater and Estuarine Fish Fauna: Toward Elucidation of the Mechanism of Diadromous Fish Larvae Dispersal Along the Kuroshio Current,” it will begin in 2025. The research will provide basic information on the biodiversity of diadromous fish species in Northern Luzon, determining the integrity of its population, while leading to the discovery of new goby species in our rivers and estuaries.

OIST Scientist Ken Maeda and HU Professor Midori Iida met with MMSU College of Aquatic Sciences and Applied Technology-OCI-OIC Dean Ernesto del Rosario Jr., Chair of the Fisheries Department of the MMSU, Marjorie Ramos, and fisheries faculty members on November 29.

The research will be used for policy formulation, conservation and utilization. Then, “we will observe the regeneration as well as the repopulation of endemic species, which will balance the increase and improve the catches of fishermen in estuaries and rivers,” said del Rosario.

MMSU faculty members and students will assist with data collection, sampling, and monitoring throughout the research.

The research project will receive support from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and the provincial government of Ilocos Norte, and “will be funded by the Nagao Foundation for the Natural Environment, a Japanese non-governmental organization focused on nature conservation and human resource development,” Valite said.

Valite added that Maeda’s research follows a similar initiative he led in Palawan from 2015 to 2019, which “provided valuable information on larval dispersal and its implications for biodiversity conservation in the region .