FROM THE EDITOR

In less than six months, it will be two years since the first few cases of infection 
from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) had been 
reported in Wuhan, China. Since then, a number of SARS-CoV-2 variants have come 
and gone, but we are still dealing with the threat posed by the Delta Variant, which 
has severely affected many countries including the Philippines in recent months. 
Thanks to science, a number of vaccines against the coronavirus disease 2019 
(COVID-19) have been developed and proven effective in preventing and reducing 
the number of severe cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. In the Philippines alone, 
as of this writing, 10 vaccines have been approved for use and around 24 million 
(representing around 22% of the population) have been fully vaccinated. Gradually, 
mobility restrictions are being eased, and hopefully there will be no more new 
variants of concern that will arise so that we can all go back to normalcy again. 

In this issue, we feature three research articles. The first research article is from 
the group of Dr. Lemnuel Aragones of the Institute of Environmental Science and 
Meteorology, University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD). Aragones and his team 
simulated explosions from dynamite fishing in order to analyze the underwater 
noise that is generated and infer its possible effects on marine mammals. These 
marine mammals include dolphins and whales. Although dynamite fishing, also 
known as blast fishing, is illegal, fishermen in some localities in the Philippines 
stealthily resort to this destructive fishing method, which kills not only large fishes 
but also small ones, including larvae, juveniles and other organisms that are close 
to the blast site. If done near coral reefs, dynamite fishing may kill corals and 
splinter coral colonies. The underwater noise produced by dynamite fishing also 
negatively affects marine mammals that make use of underwater sound for their 
foraging behavior, communication, and orientation. Aragones et al. inferred from 
the results of their study that marine mammals within 150 m of the explosion 
may suffer injuries such as acoustic trauma and disorientation even from a single 
pulse. These results highlight the importance of instilling into local fishermen 
the negative effects of dynamite fishing. Efforts to achieve this can be initiated by 
appropriate government agencies and non-governmental organizations involved in 
environmental and animal protection, particularly of marine mammals.



The second research article is from the group of John Vincent Pleto of the Institute 
of Biological Sciences, University of the Philippines Los Baños. Pleto et al. studied 
the effects of probiotics on the water quality and on the growth performance and 
health of milkfish that are grown in ponds that are supplied with polluted water from 
the Marilao-Meycauayan-Obando River System. The application of probiotics is an 
established practice in aquaculture. This practice is aimed at improving gut health 
and water quality, which would eventually result in improved growth performance 
and higher yield. Pleto and his co-workers used commercially available probiotics 
that consist of a strain of the bacterium Bacillus. Their analysis also showed the 
presence of bacteria belonging to the genera Chlorobium and Chlorobaculum. 
Although they failed to detect these bacteria in the guts of milkfish sampled at two 
months and at four months of culture, they found that ponds treated with probiotics 
generally had better water quality and that milkfish grown in these ponds had 
higher survival rates and better feed conversion efficiencies. 

The third article is by Lu Kevin Ong from the Institute of Mathematics, UPD. Ong 
used probability distributions known as recombination models to describe binary 
interactions in a particle system. In his paper, Ong introduced some definitions and 
ideas to prove propagation of chaos for this particle system.

                                                                                              Jonas P. Quilang, Ph.D.

                        Editor-in-Chief