How to Debone Bangus

How to Debone Bangus

Bangus or milkfish is one of the Philippines' hugely popular fish for cooking everyday fish dishes, such as:

· sinigang na bangus (bangus stewed in tamarind sour broth with lots of veggies),

· fried bangus

· fried boneless (deboned) bangus,

· bangus sisig (flaked bangus meat with onions, peppers, lemon and soy sauce), and

· rellenong bangus (bangus stuffed with its own deboned meat sauted in garlic, onions, and tomato).

Although most locals can eat bangus or milkfish with all its bones in place, quite a number of local consumers prefer to eat bangus dishes without the bones (baked fillet, sisig, relleno, lumpia shanghai, or fried boneless bangus). Easier to eat and safer for everyone especially the children.

Unfortunately, deboning skills are hard to come by. Housewives complain that it’s so hard and takes so much time to debone bangus. It’s so tough to locate the bangus’ many hidden and deeply embedded, pesky tiny pin bones – more so pluck them out one by one. So why bother. Best to just buy “boneless bangus” from the market. Or pay a skilled deboner to do the work for a fee.

Because of the huge demand for "boneless" bangus, Fish Pond Buddy has decided to prepare a blog on how to debone bangus.

Note: Procedures described below are drawn from the technique of Nana Beata, a veteran deboner for the last 40 years. Nana Beata and Teresa (her daughter in law) were kind enough to accommodate us in taking videos of the deboning process at their stall in the Binmaley public market.

And while we’re at it, we might as well proceed to the making of the “boneless bangus” (deboned bangus soaked in vinegar and rubbed with spice powder mix topped with sliced garlic) also courtesy of Nana Beata and Teresa.

Tools/Materials Needed

1. For deboning – a small forceps (with looped handle)

2. For boneless bangus making – deboned bangus, vinegar, spice powder mix (salt, pepper, MSG or its variants, or other local branded equivalent), slices of fresh garlic, plastic bag

Deboning Procedures

1. Lay the fish on the table flat on its side with the tail away from you, the head near you and its back to your right (body slightly angled to the right).

2. Slice open the bangus. With a sharp knife, slice the body from the tail, cutting along the back and toward the head, splitting the head into two. Make sure that the tummy is intact.

3. Open the sliced fish to expose its innards and lay the fish on the work table.

After slicing open the bangus, it assumes the shape of a butterfly (referred to as the “butterflied” fish).

4. Run the sharp edge of the knife under the backbone from head to tail. Break the last bone of the backbone connected to the head. Lift the backbone and detach it from the tail by breaking the last bone at the tail side. Set aside the backbone.

Note: Some flesh may still be found attached to the backbone so it’s possible that an enterprising person will ask for these waste materials and scrape off any remnant flesh to make bangus lumpia shanghai (small spring rolls with bangus flesh as main filling). Deboners usually give them away or sell them at a give-away price.

Typical “boneless bangus” has its tail intact and head still attached though split into two halves.

Also scales are not removed. All the five body fins are intact and not cut off (dorsal fin at the back, tail fin - as mentioned above, pair of pectoral fins at the side, pair of pelvic fins, and anal fin).

5. Remove the following:

a. Bile (“apdo” in Tagalog; “akgo” in Pangasinense)

b. Intestines (“pait” in Pangasinense; “bituka” in Tagalog)

c. Gills (“hasang” in Tagalog; “asang” in Pangasinense)

6. Throw the bile in the waste can.

7. Set aside the intestines because these can be sold as main ingredients for adobong “pait” (stew of intestines in a briny mixture of soy sauce, vinegar, onions, and spices).

Owners of bangus fish who contract deboning services for a fee usually take back the intestines for their own use in cooking.

8. Set aside the gills (“hasang” in Tagalog, “asang” in Pangasinense) (also sold for a nominal price, given away, or used as thrash fish materials to be eaten by prawns, crabs, or tilapia).

9. Focusing on the split-open or butterflied bangus, pluck out (using forceps) the large bones that are readily seen near the head and tummy. These are the large spines or parts of the rib cage that were cut when the backbone was removed (after sliding the sharp knife edge underneath the backbone).

10. Begin removing the more difficult pin bones or the much smaller, thin spines or bones embedded in the muscles or flesh of the bangus.

Locate the following lines, or more accurately arc lines (because they’re shaped like an arc), or as our expert deboner refers to as "layers”.

Note: For each half of the butterflied bangus, the deboner locates the 3 arc lines or layer as follows:

a. First arc line – about a quarter to a half of an inch from the edge of the fish. This is the arc line on the dorsal side (i.e., the back or near the backbone)

b. Second arc line or middle arc line – about half an inch from the first arc line

c. Third arc line or layer – about half an inch from the second line. This is the arc line on the ventral side (i.e., the tummy side).

Arc lines where pin bones are located - first line near the edge, second or middle line above it, third line near the black fatty abdominal wall (above the second line). First and third lines in photo have deeper grooves. 

Our veteran deboner explained that the tiny spines or pin bones of the bangus fish, which experts say number around 180 or so, are found in the first and third arc lines only. The second or middle arc line does not contain pin bones.

11. Deepen each arc line by a centimeter or so using the pointed end of the forceps, so that the “groove” of each line is clearly etched and readily visible to the deboner.

12. Beginning from the head, insert the pointed end of the forceps into the groove of the first arc line, tweeze the bunch of bones with the forceps, then rotate or twist the forceps to the right to pluck out the pin bones or detach them from the muscles/flesh of the fish. Set aside the plucked pin bones.

13. Continue moving along the groove of the first arc line, to pluck out the pin bones with a rotating motion to the right (clockwise), until you reach the tail.

14. Check out the groove of the first arc line and run your fingers along the groove to make sure no pin bone was missed.

15. Go to the third arc line and do Steps 12, 13 and 14.

16. Debone the other half of the butterflied bangus and repeat Steps 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15.

17. Do a final visual check of the deboned bangus to make sure no other bone is left (whether big bones or the small pin bones).

Washing, Soaking in Vinegar, Adding Spices, Wrapping of “Boneless Bangus”

18. Wash the deboned bangus in clean water to remove blood and other residues. After washing, transfer to a plastic strainer and let the water completely drip down.

19. When the deboned bangus is free of water, soak in vinegar then transfer for a while in a strainer.

20. Prepare a spice powder mix consisting of rock salt, pepper, and MSG (such as Ajinomoto or any other equivalent local commercial brand). Rub the spice powder mix on the body of the deboned fish (interior only, not on the outside of the fish). Add slices of fresh garlic at the middle.

Note: At this point, the deboned bangus is ready for cooking, usually fried, and served as breakfast meal with fried rice, diced tomatoes with salted eggs, fried, poached or scrambled eggs, and coffee or hot chocolate (using the local tablea cocoa roll).

If the deboned or boneless bangus is to be sold, it’s packed as follows:

21. After coating/rubbing the body with spiced powder mix, put the fish inside a clear plastic wrapping bag. Note that depending on the size of the bangus, a pack can contain one, two or three deboned pieces of bangus.

22. Put fresh garlic slices on the tummy area of each of the deboned bangus.

23. Fold and staple the pack and the “boneless bangus” is good to go.

Deboned, vinegar-soaked, spiced and wrapped bangus, 3 to a pack

For a video of how to debone a bangus, please refer to Parts 2 and 3 below. 

Part 1 is a video clip of an actual deboning of bangus and making of "boneless bangus" by an expert deboner in a public market in Binmaley, Pangasinan. Click https://youtu.be/z1rAyohCPx4

Parts 2 and 3 below show how the same method is applied by my farm overseer/cook at our fish farm. Thanks for watching guys!

For a complete list of Fish Pond Buddy blog posts on fish farm- related topics, please click the Index page.

How We Recently Stocked our Pond with Milkfish (Bangus) Fry

How We Recently Stocked our Pond with Milkfish (Bangus) Fry

In January of 2019, one of our two grow-out ponds (we call it Main Pond) contained near market-size milkfish (bangus). The other (East Pond) is free of bangus but teems with tilapia.

Plan was to take out the market-size bangus from the Main Pond and send the undersized ones to the East Pond next to it.

My harvest team cleared the East Pond of tilapia and mudfish to prepare it for the bangus.

Sweeping the Main Pond three times from end to end with a large seine net (“kalokor”) followed. As planned, harvest workers hauled out the bigger bangus to be sold. The smaller sized ones went to the adjacent East Pond where it will be grown for another 6 weeks or so.

You can view the 5-part videos on harvesting activities by clicking the links below for Parts 1 to 4.

https://youtu.be/PIoM1XdwYcg

https://youtu.be/PF5XcQ5j53k

https://youtu.be/PDTRVmkpNoA

https://youtu.be/dNG_KXFSTNk


Part 5 is shown below.





Pond Draining (“Limas”)

After the harvest, we drained the Main Pond of water. The night before, workers pumped out half of the water and swept the pond using a small kalokor net (“daklis”). This operation was repeated multiple times before dawn to catch several drums of remaining tilapia.

As the early morning sun rose, pond workers pumped out more water followed by hand picking of fish (“kemel”) when pond water was almost drained out and muddy bottom nearly exposed.

Around the area of the water pump where it’s deepest, remaining water from various parts of the pond flowed naturally and converged. It’s in this remaining waters or catchment area where the mostly tilapia fish took refuge.

The pond workers then swept the waters toward the catchment area using a device called “sikop” - bamboo slats or screen. Workers moved the "sikop" gradually toward the catchment area, where another set of bamboo slats awaited.

To prevent the tilapia from slipping out, another worker or two built an improvised canal by piling mounds of mud at the sides of the canal while the moving “sikop” approached along the canal. When the two sets of “sikop” met at the catchment area, the tilapia were trapped. Workers then scooped them out with a scoop net (“tapigo”) into half plastic drums that later went to the delivery area onto a waiting truck.

You can view the 5-part videos on Pond Draining by clicking the Youtube links below (Parts 1 to 5), respectively.

https://youtu.be/AgyetiQKS9Q

https://youtu.be/XMUcCq5IT8g


https://youtu.be/JnsQk0Vgl8M

https://youtu.be/sXVnx2XN03M

https://youtu.be/mA8UHUMDNnc

For Part 6 of 6, pls. click below




Pond Preparation

After the Main Pond was drained of water and all tilapia taken out (including the smaller ones picked up by neighbors who were allowed to scavenge (“kambog”) for remnant fish), we did the following pond preparation activities:

a. Exposure of pond bottom to sun

b. Tilling of pond (sweeping thorny branches of bamboo or camachile tree through the muddy bottom)(team failed to do this)

c. Sanitizing or poisoning of pond bottom using organic teaseed

c. Applying 30 sacks of chicken manure to fertilize the pond

d. Applying supplemental fertilizer 16-20-0

You can view the 2-part video on the above activities by clicking the Youtube link below for Parts 1 and 2, respectively.

https://youtu.be/gkQj_9bJV2Q


https://youtu.be/Rp5Xy8ScG0E


Stocking of Milkfish (Bangus) Fry

After our grow-out pond was drained and the pond prepared, water slowly seeped back in. Soon, pond water reached the level suitable for stocking of bangus fry.

a. Addressing Water Salinity

The only problem is how to increase the salinity of the Main Pond knowing that young bangus fry are salinity sensitive. I read that 7 day old bangus fry only tolerate 16 to 20 ppt (parts per thousand) salinity, while older fry can tolerate lower salinity. We do know that ours have much less, probably zero to 3 ppt.

Also it’s only January. From most growers' experience we know that November, December, January and February are considered cold months for bangus ponds. As such, pond waters are considered too cold for bangus fry to thrive. Hardly anyone dare to stock bangus fry in these cold months.

As to salt water, we normally rely on the opening of the village canal (where six or seven of us pond operators get brackish water). But this will happen only in April or May. I also considered applying rock salt.

But there was a better solution – build a deep water well, from which we can pump out salty water. For details, click this.

b. Increasing Pond Water Temperature

It was still February (an off month for fry stocking, with pond waters still "cold").To make the pond more conducive to bangus fry stocking, we applied 20 sacks of chicken manure. Immerse them, not pour the contents. This will make the pond waters warmer and thereby increase the chances of the fry to survive.



c. Installing Protection Against Bird Attacks

As deterrent to bird attacks, we also covered the entire pond with nylon strings or twines. With two thicker strings along the opposite length of the pond serving as anchor lines, we tied 0.5mm nylon twines across the width of the pond.

Flocks of predatory birds that normally fly above the pond (like the white heron or egret – “dulakak” in Pangasinense) avoid ponds covered by such strings and stay out as a result.



d. Installing of Gill Net (“Tabal”)

While we were installing the nylon twines, our pond workers noticed mudfish (“dalag”) a voracious predator of bangus, especially the young ones. This was surprising because we just poisoned the ponds very recently. But that’s how sneaky the mudfish is. I then asked one pond worker to install gill net (“tabal”) to catch the mudfish.

At first we used it as a moving trap, that is, swept the gill net across the full length of the pond. We caught 3 mudfish as a result.

After that, I had the gill net retained in place at the middle, as a stationary trap, in case other mudfish crawls its way again back into our pond from the adjacent fresh water ponds.

All these measures are aimed at increasing the survivability of the batch of bangus fry that we were about to stock in an “off-month".



Bangus Fry

We bought 28 bags of bangus fry, which are relatively larger in size and expectedly tougher compared to the typical 7 day old fry we typically buy. We decided to go for the bigger fry in view of the timing of fry stocking (it’s only February) and waters are still cold. It was our first time to buy and stock fry in the “cold” months. Hopefully, the bigger fry will have a better chance to survive in this weather. And to grow into fingerlings in two months to be sold to a ready market of fish pen/cage and grow-out pond operators.

Although the fry were reoxygenated by the fry importer upon arrival in Binmaley, Pangasinan we decided to replenish each bag with fresh oxygen before letting them out into the pond.

Before that, actual pond water was added to each bag at the supplier to gradually acclimatize the fry. Same thing was done right before they were stocked. Workers poured bag contents into Styrofoam boxes and added pond water.

Finally, the fry were stocked in the pond at about noon, when the sun was at its highest and pond water warmed up. 



For a complete list of Fish Pond Buddy blog posts on fish farm-related topics, please click the Index page.

How to Dig A Water Well for a Milkfish (Bangus) Pond

How to Dig a Water Well for a Milkfish (Bangus) Pond
 
In our farm, we have an old hand pump that draws fresh water from a relatively shallow well. We use it to water plants, wash colored clothes, clean pond implements (like drums, pails, basins, nets) and transport vehicles, clean fish for cooking, bathe pigs, pet dogs, etc.

For drinking water, the local water company supplies it.

Last week, we needed to dig another well. A deeper one.

This time, we dug a deeper well (more than 20 feet) and inserted a 4-inch diameter PVC pipe casing.

For what purpose? To draw not fresh water, but salty water for our bangus pond.

Without salinity, we know from experience that stocking bangus fry (especially the younger ones, about a week old) will not be possible. They’ll just simply die. So the pond must be slightly saline or brackish. Same with vannamei prawn post larvae.

Note: the local wild fry can survive in fresh water, but not the imported “Indonesian wild” fry (more easily available from direct importers).

It’s only January and our grow-out pond was drained and ready to be stocked.

But we still have no pond water of suitable salinity. During previous years, we just depended on the opening of the village canal during the dry season months of April/May which provides brackish water once a year to our close-system ponds.

What to do? We have four options: (a) apply rock salt to the pond, (b) let the pond go idle and wait for the opening of the brackish water canals - but this will happen only in April or May of each year, (c) buy the local wild milkfish ("bangus") fry which tolerate fresh water – downside is we can’t grow prawns in unsalted water, or (d) dig a water well to draw saline water from below the ground.

We chose option D for its long-term benefit. There’s initial cost for materials and labor (including cost of diesel-powered water pump if you don't have one yet), but after that we’ll have a ready source of saline water for the pond. With salty water, we’ll be assured of good survival rate for bangus fry as well as vannamei post larvae every year.

Following are the procedures on how we dug a water well as a source of salty water for the pond:

1. Buy the following materials for the water well:

a. 2 pcs. PVC pipe, 4 inch diameter and 10 feet per pipe (Note: total length of pipe would be 25 feet, but I have an extra 4 feet pipe on hand)

b. PVC elbow

c. PVC pipe cement

 

PVC pipes, elbow, pipe cement

d. Diesoline for the water pump

Note: Why go down 20 to 25 feet? I have no idea, except that my technician told me that based on their experience digging water wells, if they dig up to 20-25 feet in ponds in Binmaley, Pangasinan, northern Philippines (which is near the Lingayen Gulf) they are able to tap salty water. If they dig to a shallower well, they get fresh water.

Our regular fresh water well is only 10 feet deep and it’s able to draw fresh water.

Maybe, there’s a second aquifer (salty) below the first one (fresh). That’s only my layman's personal opinion.

Anyway, let’s carry on.

2. Make sure the following items are available in the farm:

a. Strips of rubber cut from old bicycle inner tubes

b . Water pump – preferably diesel (cheaper than gasoline), this will be used for drawing well water after the well is dug up

An old but still workable diesel-powered water pump

c. Water pump flexible hoses and clips

d. Metal drilling pipe, 12 feet, 1.5 inch diameter (provided by the 4-man crew, who are also my pond workers)

 

A 12-foot metal drilling pipe

e. Drilling water pump with matching narrower flexible hoses 15 feet long (provided by the drilling crew to be used when digging the well)

Note: Later, you need to buy the diesel-powered water pump and flexible hoses, if you don’t have one already, to pump out the water from the water well.

3. Get a foot-long piece of tree branch 4 inches in diameter; sharpen one end and insert the other end inside the 4 inch diameter PVC pipe. Fasten with nail at opposite sides to keep the sharpened wood stake in place.

 

See pointed wooden end attached to PVC pipe

4. Build a fire using firewood and tinder (small twigs and dry leaves). Put the boring metal (rod) in the middle of the fire to make it hot.

Boring metal rods made hot by fire from burning firewood and coals

5. Using the hot rod, bore a total of 75 holes (15 holes along the length of a 2 foot-line from the bottom of the pipe; repeat for a total of 5 parallel lines around the PVC pipe). See above photo in Step 3.

6. Cover the holes with a net, wrapping it around the bottom part of the PVC pipe. Secure with string. Also tie the net down to the pipe with rubber strips.

This will prevent entry of sand and earth materials into the pipe while letting in water during pumping operation.

Bottom part of PVC pipe with holes being covered by net

Securing the net by tying strings and reinforcing with rubber strips

7. Connect another 10 foot PVC pipe to the first one using PVC pipe cement (making the total length 20 feet). 

Note: in our case we connected an extra 4-foot long PVC pipe to extend total length to 24 feet.

8. Dig a foot deep hole in the exact spot in the pond where the well will be dug up.

Note: In our case, we already have an existing borehole which is 10 feet deep. (There's a 10-foot metal pipe casing inside the hole, so we lifted it up and transferred it to another location). Afterwards, we just had to deepen the borehole from 10 feet to 24 feet.

An existing inactive 10-foot borehole or well with an old metal pipe still inserted (top part is covered by plastic)

Lifting the existing metal pipe casing from our inactive 10-foot well, before digging deeper up to 24 feet.

But for those building a new well, don’t worry. The technique and procedure used in digging the well is the same whether one is starting from a foot-deep hole or from a 10-footer hole.

9. Set up the diesel water pump and attach the inlet pipe to a flexible hose. Tie down one end of the hose in the pond so it can draw pond water.

Setting up the water pump (this is shown in Step 2) and tying down the inlet hose to the bottom of the pond to draw water into the hole

Note: Later the digging crew discovered that they can't connect a narrow hose to the 4-inch outlet valve of the pump (which should connect to the 1.5 inch diameter metal digging pipe). So they had to use another water pump (see below).

A replacement water pump used for digging the well (it has a narrower flexible hose that can connect to the metal digging pipe)

10. Attach a 15-foot flexible hose to the outlet pipe of the water pump (see photo above). Wrap rubber strips around the joint to prevent air leaks.

11. Attach the 15-foot hose to the metal drilling pipe; wrap rubber strips around the joint (see photo above).

12. Start the water pump and prime the water pump with water.

13. Insert the 12-foot metal drilling pipe into the existing borehole.

Note: The water pump creates water pressure into the hole. This technique of digging is referred to as jetting. It’s the water pressure or jet that erodes the bottom materials of the borehole or loosens the sediments. Eroded sand and other particles at the bottom are forced out by water pressure to the side of the digging pipe and up into the surface. 

It only works for soft, sandy, fine-grained sediments as those found in fish ponds. Other materials like gravel are too heavy to be lifted by the return flow of pumped water under this technique.

Pumping water from the pond to the metal drilling pipe and flexible hose into the well; water jet creates pressure and erodes or loosens the material at the bottom of the well to gradually deepen it

14. Continue pumping in water into the borehole using an up and down motion. 

Water jetting process being continued by inserting the metal drilling pipe/hose through which water is being pumped into the well (up and down motion)

15. When borehole is deep enough, insert the PVC pipe to serve as well casing.

Trying out the PVC pipe if well or borehole is already deep enough (from the photo, well needs to be dug deeper)

16. If borehole depth is not yet sufficient and well needs additional depth, insert drilling pipe (with water jet) between borehole and pipe (that is, outside the pipe but inside the well).

Digging further to deepen the well; jet stream being pumped through the metal pipe goes into the well but outside the PVC pipe

This will loosen the sand and earth materials between the side of the borehole and the PVC pipe and allow pushing the pipe down some more.

17. Afterwards, insert the metal drilling pipe (with water jet) into the PVC pipe itself so that water jetting is done from inside the pipe down to the bottom.

Metal drilling pipe and flexible hose carrying the pumped water being inserted into the PVC pipe itself

18. Push down the PVC pipe until the required depth and clearance above ground is reached.

PVC pipe pushed down by the digging crew until the required clearance from ground level is reached

19. Attach an elbow to the 4–inch diameter PVC pipe.

A PVC elbow was attached to the upper end of PVC pipe; a 4-inch flexible hose going to the water pump is attached to the elbow

20. Attach a flexible hose to the elbow (see photo above). Wrap rubber strips around the joint.

21. Detach the drilling water pump used in drilling and install the water well pump to be used to draw out water.

Our old diesel-powered water pump now reinstalled in place; will be used to pump out salty water into the pond using 4-inch flexible hoses

Note: the drilling water pump is the equipment provided by the drilling crew, while the water well pump (diesel-operated) is ours.

The difference is that the drilling water pump has a smaller diameter hose that can be attached to the 1.5 inch diameter metal drilling pipe, while ours has only 4 inch diameter flexible hoses.

22. Inspect all joints to make sure that the water pump is sealed by rubber strips at the joints (no air leakage). Start the pump and prime with water.

23. Continue running the water pump until saline water starts to come out.

Our water pump now pumping out well water (of suitable salinity) from the newly dug 24-foot well into the pond

Note: Initially, fresh water is pumped out but after a while slightly salty water comes out. As the pumping continues, salinity reading improves. Our target is only 7 to 10 ppt (parts per thousand)(range we think is conducive to bangus fry growth; ours is the bigger fry – we avoided buying the young fry this year).

A FAO study shows that bangus larvae which are 7 days old are very sensitive to salinity, tolerating only 16 to 20 ppt. In contrast, 21 day old fry can tolerate much lower (near zero) or even very salty water (70 ppt). The typical fry used to stock a pond measure 10 mm to 17 mm and are around 2 to 3 weeks old (14 days to 21 days old).

Lesson for fry buyers – buy the bigger fry if they’re available to have a higher survival rate for the batch you’re stocking in your pond (more tolerant of stress and salinity changes).

Please see the related 2-part Youtube videos below. Thanks for watching guys!
 
 


For a complete list of Fish Pond Buddy blog posts on fish farm-related topics, please click the Index page.