Aquaculture industry in the Philippines was virtually synonymous with milkfish culture. It is believed that the earliest fishponds were brackish water fishponds, and the earliest species to be grown was milkfish, or Chanos chanos. In the early seventies, milkfish farming operations expanded to include culture in bamboo and net pens set in Laguna de Bay, and in the early 1990s, milkfish culture in fish pens spread as well to shallow marine bays and estuaries. The technology to spawn the milkfish in captivity and produce fry in a hatchery was developed in 1979 by the SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department.