The tungog (Ceriops tagal) industry and prospects for mangrove rehabilitation

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Authors Primavera, Jurgenne H.; Pena, Lilian de la

Download date 02/10/2021 05:03:59

Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/1834/35152 Special report

T he tungog (C eriops ta ga l) industry and prospects for mangrove rehabilitation

BY Did you know that the red color of tuba, Jurgenne Honculada Primavera,PhD meters high) in well-drained clay soil but the fermented coconut drink daily imbibed Senior Scien tist grows as a short shrub (1 meter tall) in by countless Filipinos all over the islands, AND poorly drained soils frequently inundated comes from a dye obtained from the dried Lilian de la Peña, MSc by tides. extract (called cutch) of mangrove bark? Associate Researcher Aside from fermenting tuba, cutch The cutch from tangal (a mangrove spe­ SEA F D E C / AQD from tungog is also used to color rice, to cies whose scientific name is C eriops dye thick leather, cotton, nylon, mats, tagal), called tun gog or baluk, is tradi­ etc. and to prevent scales from form­ tionally used for tuba because it is ef­ ing in water boilers. One hectare of fective in retarding fermentation. But well-developed mangrove forest can because the supply has been depleted produce 17,700 kilos of dried tanbark. due to excessive ta n g a l harvesting, The export of mangrove tanbarks and tu n gog nowadays is routinely mixed cutch extract is an important industry in with cutch from Rhizophora, another some tropical countries but not in the mangrove locally called bakhaw (hence Philippines where the barks are used the term bakhawan or bakawan to de­ locally to only a limited extent (Brown note a mangrove area) although tuba & Fisher 1918). prepared using bakhaw extract can cause Stripped of its bark, the tangal tree indigestion. provides hard, straight-grained, fine-tex­ tured wood used as poles for baklad (fish Uses corrals) and material for furniture and house construction. This species is also Tungog (from which katunggan, another a favorite for Christmas trees. term for mangrove is derived) is also used as the fermenting agent for The tungog industry: 1930s-1950s bahalina, a special variety of tuba that gets mellower with age, unlike ordinary The following account of the industry tuba. It is produced only in Cebu, Bohol, was provided by former Boholano Leyte and Samar. Tuba is also combined tungog gatherers, now 60-70 years old. with a carbonated drink (Royal Tru- They started their trade at the age of 14- Orange) and beer into a cocktail called 15 years during the peak of the industry mestiza. Old women drink tuba mixed with Mr. Juan de Jesus, a tuba gatherer of Ibajay, in the 1930s to the 1950s. At this time, Aklan has been planting and harvesting tsokolate (made from cacao beans) every around 100 sailboats fortungog gathering tangal trees for over 20 years now evening to ease tensed muscles. Tungog is were based in four villages in Pangangan also believed to cure anemia. Because of Island, Bohol. the great demand for tungog cutch, espe­ northern Australia to North Caledonia and Each sailboat had a keel 60-90 feet cially in eastern Visayas, the region has to Micronesia in the South Pacific and to long, two masts each measuring 70 feet, a import hundreds of tons of cutch yearly Hong Kong. It is called the yellow man­ buwang (opening) of 12 feet, and dagpak from as far away as Zamboanga and Sabah grove because of its bright yellow-green of 8 feet. The largest sailboat could load in North Borneo. leaves which may be dark green in shaded 6,000 kilos of driedtungog. An Indo-Pacific species, C eriops tagal areas. It is a typical constituent of the inner Among the crew, it was the m aestro is widely distributed from East Africa and (middle and landward) m angrove zone and who directed the trip (e.g., the route to take, Madagascar, throughout tropical Asia and forms pure stands of small trees (2 to 7 where to sell and at what price) while the

6 SEAFDEC Asian Aquaculture Vol. XX No. 6 December 1998 tungog industry • primavera & de la peña

segunda maestro supervised the crew and A tangal (Ceriops tagal) plantation in Aklan, country and longer to Borneo. the tu n g o g gatherers. The m a n u n o n g northern Panay with pencil-like propagules Places for collecting tungog bark were dangling from tree branches. guarded the boat and kept watch for bahura Dumaran in Palawan, Ulutanga in (coral reefs) which could ground the Zamboanga, Surigao, Cotabato, Tungkil boat. Island near Jolo, Mindoro, Camotes, Polilio Island in Luzon, Kudat and Financiers and the sharing system Banggi in North Borneo. Philippine mangroves used to be Although there were many boat owners divided into concessions by the Bureau in Pangangan in the 1930s, only four of Forestry. Two financiers from people had enough capital to finance a Pangangan were granted concessions in trip. A boat owner and financier would Palawan and Polilio Is. in Luzon. Gath­ usually combine resources in a partner­ erers paid fees to these concessionaires. ship called kompanya. From the gross In Borneo, gatherers paid 14 bundles of income for each trip, the financier would dried tungog to a certain Datu Mustafa, deduct the capital plus 5-10% monthly governor of Kudat, North Borneo. To interest. The net income was divided into enter Borneo however, they had to pay three equal parts, one each for the fin­ protection money (2 sacks of rice) to a ancier, boat owner, and crew. Muslim leader in Balabac, Palawan. Sharing or partida was according to the skills of the crew. A crew mem­ Bark removal ber who could untangle the boat’s an­ chor from coral stones was paid more Because a Department of Forestry ordi­ incentives or p a b or than one who could nance prohibited the sale of mangrove neither dive nor swim. Diving and swim­ bark less than one-fourth to one-half of ming skills were needed for the gather­ an inch thick, gatherers look for man­ ing of sam ung (shells made into buttons groves with thicker bark. Trees with for export), a side activity of the crew. thick bark could be found only in The cook and apprentices or those from Banggi, North Borneo. Therefore, farming villages usually did not get in­ Banggi bark was used as a sample for centives. One system of sharing among showing to prospective buyers but not the crew followed this scheme: one for sale. m aestro - one part and 10 pa b or, one Unlike other mangroves such as segunda maestro - 1 part and 7 pabor, pagatpat, tungog easily dies when one m anunong (diver) - 1 part and 6 stripped of its bark. There are two ways pabor, 20 m anunungog (tungog gath­ of removing the bark: by kuyo for short Tungog or the extract from dried bark of erer) - 1 part each, and one cook - 1 part. mangroves (e.g., parang-parang) and by tangal (shown above beside propagules) gives However, a hardworking gatherer could be padyag for tall mangroves (e.g., tabyog). tuba its typical red color given an incentive by the m aestro. In the kuyo system, most of the bark is Another system was by percentage or removed but the tree is left standing. In the porsiento. From the gross income was de­ (because it is difficult to retrieve figures for padyag, the tree is first cut and then stripped ducted the capital including 5-10% monthly the operational costs). For example, a trip of its bark. interest. The net gain was divided in two: to Zamboanga with 20 crew required 60 Dried tungog were classified as big or 30% to the boat owner (20% to the owner sacks of corn, 1 sack of m onggo, 2 sacks of small. Bundles of 20 pieces each were sold and 10% to the m aestro) and 20% to the sugar, 1 sack of salt and 300 liters of drink­ at P0.10 for small pieces and P2.00 for big crew (5% to the maestro, 2% to the segunda ing water. Fish was caught by crew mem­ ones. The bundles were peddled by the crew m aestro and 3% to all kasko leaders). Each bers (or purchased) during the journey. by means of “ suroy suroy” in Waray speak­ kasko (or canoe for entering the mangroves) Trips were undertaken in March to July ing places, e.g., Tacloban, Ormoc, had 2 crew members and a num ber of gath­ (during the northwest monsoon or amihan) Calbayog, Carigara, Maasin. Or dried bark erers. and the return during the habagat or south­ was sold wholesale by the financier mostly The scale of a gathering operation or west monsoon to take advantage of the to Chinese buyers in Cebu. trip could be gauged by the food supply wind. Trips lasted 4-5 months within the page 8

SEAFDEC Asian Aquaculture Vol. XX No. 6 December 1998 7 special report

tungog industry ... from p 7 AQD journal publ … from p 5

Whether as source of cutch for tuba or were conducted in 1994 and 1995. Shrimp Aquaspirillum sp., Pseudomonas sp., baklad poles or wood for house construc­ samples were taken from 23 grow-out Streptococcus sp. and A. hydrophila in­ tion, tanga l is an important reforestation ponds, 14 of which had disease outbreaks. duced slight, slight, moderate and severe species whose products can be sold for cash Luminous bacterial (LB) load of the dermomuscular necrotic lesions, respec­ or used for domestic purposes by coastal shrimps’ hp with [mean = 2.4 x 101 colony tively. Among O. striatus, o n ly A. families. forming units (CFU)/hp] and without h y d ro p h ila induced severe lesions. Its characteristics of year-round repro­ [mean = 0.3 x 101 CFU/hp] disease out­ Streptococcus sp. induced slight lesions 2 duction and relatively large size of breaks were comparable during the first 15 days post-injection which healed rapidly, propagules make tangal an ideal species for days of culture (DOC). During disease out­ while Aquaspirillum sp. and Pseudomonas rehabilitating degraded areas. Flowers and breaks at 18 to 32 DOC, however, LB load sp. did not manifest any dermal lesions. fruits of tangal may be found throughout of affected shrimps (mean = 9.0 x 104 CFU/ Experiments indicated that among the four the year; the 15-20 centimeter long hp) were higher than healthy shrimps (mean EUS-associated test bacteria, A. hydrophila propagules look like pencils dangling from = 7.0 x 101 CFU/hp). At 50 to 60 DOC, was the most pathogenic, inducing severe the parent tree (see photo). H owever, seed­ levels of LB were comparable in older dermomuscular necrotic lesions in lings should be planted in the inner man­ shrimps with or without disease. Total intramuscularly injected catfish ( C. grove areas because mortality rates are high viable and presumptive Vibrio counts were batra ch us) and snakeheads (O. striatus). in the seaward zone. also comparable in both shrimp samples Differences in the susceptibility of O. Old timer Juan de Jesus, a tuba gath­ from 1 to 60 DOC. Characterization of the stria tus and C. batrachus to Aquaspirillum erer from Bgy. Naisud, Ibajay in northern 172 bacterial isolates collected showed that sp., Pseudomonas sp. and Streptococcus sp. Aklan (see photo) has been planting tangal most (90.12%) were Vibrio species domi­ were evident. Furthermore, this is the first for over 20 years now. Because of its popu­ nated by V. harveyi (27.91 %), V. splendidus evidence of the association between larity as housing material, they say that a II (13.37%) and V. parahaemolyticus Aquaspirillum sp. and diseased fish. man needs to plant as many tangal trees as ( 10.46%). the number of his children multiplied by 4, representing the posts of the future houses they will build. The trees are harvestable Focken U, Groth A, Coloso RM, Becker in 5 years. L io Po GD, Albright LJ, Michel C, Leano K. 1998. Contribution of natural food and EM. 1998. Experimental induction of le­ supplemental feed to the gut content of REFERENCES sions in snakeheads ( Ophicephalus Penaeus monodon Fabricius in a semi- Baconguis SR, Ociones FT, Panot IA, Lavega RM, stria tu s) and catfish (Clarias batrachus) intensive pond system in the Philippines. Siapno FE, Cariño CR, Holgado DY and Reyes with Aeromonas hydrophila, Aquaspirillum Aquaculture 164 (1-4): 105-116. FM. A guidebook on the mangroves of Puerto sp., Pseudomonas sp. and Streptococcus sp. Galera. ERDB-MAB Puerto Galera Ecosystems Special Report. Department of Environment and Journal of Applied Ichthyology 14 (1-2): Abstract. Juvenile Penaeus monodon were Natural Resources, Ecosystem Research and De­ 75-79. stocked in grow-out ponds and fed a com­ velopment Bureau, Laguna. Philippines, 63 p. pound diet at high rates for 19 weeks un­ Brown WH and Fischer AF. 1918. Philippine man­ A bstract. Isolates of Aquaspirillum sp., grove swamps. Department of Agriculture and der semi-intensive conditions. At three Natural Resources. Bureau of Forestry Bull. No. Pseudomonas sp., and Streptococcus sp. stages of the rearing period (weeks 6, 11 17. Bureau of Printing, Manila, 132 pp. recovered from epizootic ulcerative syn­ and 16), the gut content of the shrimp was Melana EE and Dagalihog SD. 1993. Feasibility of drome (EUS)-affected snakeheads analysed microscopically at every hour of tangal (Ceriops tagal) for enrichment planting of (Ophicephalus striatus) in Thailand as well degraded mangrove stand. Ecosystems Research the day. Additionally, possible sources of Digest 3 (2): 76-83. as an isolate of Aeromonas hydrophila re­ natural food (lablab, lum ut, zoobenthos, Tomlinson PB. 1986. The botany of mangroves. Cam­ covered from EUS-affected snakeheads in etc.) were analysed microscopically and bridge University Press, 413 p. the Philippines were characterized and where possible for proximate composition. Yao CE. 1983. Tangal for the bahalina industry. identified. Each isolate was injected Canopy International June 1983: 9-10. At week 6, the gut content consisted of Zeller BM and Moore NG. Ceriops tagal var. intramuscularly (IM) into healthy catfish 28.9% supplemental feed, 42.3% plant australis. Queensland Department of Primary In­ (Clarias batrachus) and snakeheads (O. materials (other than from the pelleted diet), dustries Leaflet No. 5: Know your mangroves. stria tu s). Results showed in tests with C. Department of Primary Industries, Brisbane, Aus­ b a tra c h u s that 24 h after injection, tralia, 2 p. page 10

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