Dr. Joebert D. Toledo, who hails from Oton, Iloilo, gets a third two-year term as Chief of the SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department. SEAFDEC or the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center is a regional treaty organization conducting aquaculture research and development (R &D) and is based in Tigbauan, Iloilo. The trust given to Dr. Toledo by the Philippine government is in recognition of the progress in aquaculture R&D that SEAFDEC has made during the last four years of Dr. Toledo’s leadership.
Among the institutional landmarks in recent years are the significant increase in the number of SEAFDEC’s foreign and local partners, and the increase in the number of researchers/scientists that have joined SEAFDEC and are now working on sustaining aquaculture in view of climate change and other environment issues.
Dr. Toledo has also successful lobbied for the 50% increase in budget allocation from the Philippine government. Aquaculture continues to be an important government strategy for food security and poverty alleviation especially in rural areas, and SEAFDEC plays a significant role in realizing this strategy by developing and refining science-based aquaculture technologies.
SEAFDEC has also assisted the fisherfolk in Guimaras get back on their feet after the 2006 oil spill through a milkfish cage culture livelihood project with Petron Foundation, Citi Foundation and Guimaras LGU. It has collaborated with fellow SEAFDEC member-countries in a human resource development project funded by the Japan-ASEAN Solidarity Fund of the ASEAN Foundation; and for the Philippines, abalone culture was made the focus of training and extension. There is now a new facility at SEAFDEC, a small-scale abalone and multi-species marine fish hatchery, which demonstrates to the private sector such a profitable venture. SEAFDEC also collaborates with the Department of Agriculture – Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in a national abalone breeding and culture program while it welcomes private investors in the SEAFDEC mariculture park in Igang, Guimaras.
Dr. Toledo also spearheaded the strategic change in institutional direction, and through a technical experts consultation in Southeast Asia, it was determined that the priority for aquaculture R&D should be small-scale, integrated farms because farmers play a pivotal role in the food supply chain and have better control over the sustainable use of farm resources. SEAFDEC is also primed to go into what scientists call “multi-trophic” aquaculture where fish, abalone, sea cucumber, and seaweeds, among others, can be grown simultaneously in a culture system to maximize resource use, minimize pollution in aquatic environments, and perhaps deal with climate change. This is what Dr. Toledo will set out to accomplish in his new term.
Dr. Toledo is a graduate of the University of the Philippines Diliman (BS Fisheries) and the Hiroshima University, Japan (Masters of Science and Doctor of Agriculture Degree in Applied Biological Science). He is a multi-awarded scientist, authoring or co-writing over 40 research papers, several of which were published in international science journals and proceedings. He was given the Dr. Elvira Tan Memorial Award 2001 for Best Published Paper in Marine Fisheries (together with co-authors M Ahmed, GA Magnayon-Umal, RA Valmonte-Santos, N Lopez, and F Torres Jr.) for the report Bangus fry resource assessment in the Philippines. In 2002, he obtained the DA Secretary's Award for R&D Paper Published in an Institute for Scientific Information-Current Contents journal. In addition, the Gawad Pangisdaan Award for the Outstanding Fisheries Professional was given to him in 2003 by the Philippine Fisheries Association. With co-authors EC Lacierda, CR Lavilla, NJ Ogburn, and NV Golez, he was given the Outstanding Monograph Award by the National Academy of Science and Technology in 2004 for the publication Husbandry and health management of grouper. AQD prepared this monograph on grouper health for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Fisheries Working Group, and the book has been translated into several languages used in Southeast Asia. Recently, Dr. Toledo was awarded the 2009 Outstanding Professional of the Year (Fisheries Technologist) by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).
Dr. Toledo’s appointment as a third-termer SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department Chief was announced in Lao PDR during the 42nd SEAFDEC Council Meeting. As the policy-making body of SEAFDEC, the SEAFDEC Council recently met in early April of this year.
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