Road To Fish Sufficiency! ‘Blessed With Abundant Water, We Should Be Exporting Fish!’

One of the most cruel jokes we Filipinos inflicted upon ourselves is importing food commodities which we could easily produce, if only we recognize our resources and potentials.
With over a thousand rivers and lakes, a coastline of 36,289 kilometers and coastal waters of over 26-million hectares, our country has all what it takes to be fish sufficient.
In fact, with the correct policies and focus on aquaculture and fisheries, we could be a major fish and marine powerhouse in this part of Asia.
During the three years that I was Agriculture Secretary, fisheries and aquaculture posted its first positive growth after decades of negative performance.
The measures implemented were very practical and doable.
First, there was a national fish restocking in all creeks, rivers and lakes all over the country in a program launched on June 19, 2017 called BASIL or Balik Sigla sa Ilog at Lawa.
Second was the repair and rehabilitation of existing hatcheries of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
Third was the launching of the program to boost fishcage production which required all BFAR Regional Directors to ensure the establishment of at least 300 fish cages in their respective areas.
The most dramatic program, however, was Project BASIL which I personally conceptualised to address the depleted and overfished inland fishing areas.
This was borne out of my longing for the happy days of my youth as a farm boy when fish was aplenty – in rice paddies when we plowed the waterlogged fields, in ditches nearby, in canals, in creeks and in rivers.
Years of use of chemical pesticides and herbicides and the wanton disregard of sustainable fishing methods, including the use of “tuble,” cyanide and electric fishing rods, emptied the fields of catfish, dalag, puyo, guramei and others.
In 2017, in time for the birthday of the national hero, June 19, Project BASIL which was crafted by scientist Adelaida Palma of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) who retired from government service yesterday but who was rehired as consultant of BFAR, was launched in Laguna de Bay.
From Laguna de Bay, the fingerlings dispersal program also covered other lakes all over the country including Lake Lanao, Lake Naujan, Lake Mainit, Taal Lake, Lake Sebu and Buluan Lake.
Rivers and creeks all over the country were also seeded with indigenous fish species and non-invasive species.
Elvers and freshwater shrimps or “ulang” were seeded in the rivers and creeks.
The launching of Project BASIL came after consultations with local government units who were tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that illegal fishing methods like “electric fishing” and the use of poison like cyanide.
The country’s lakes, rivers and creeks teemed with freshwater fish species, eels, crab lets and shrimps until “electric fishing” became a fad and almost totally decimated freshwater fish species in recent years.
Project BASIL was also designed to ease up the pressure on the country’s coastal fishing grounds which have largely been depleted because of overfishing.
The target was to seed 200-million fingerlings in all creeks, rivers and lakes of the country by the end of the term of President Duterte so that ordinary people could provide for their daily fish needs by just bringing hooks and nets to the nearby freshwater fishing grounds.
While I only stayed 3 years as Secretary of Agriculture, BASIL was institutionalized and it is now one of the national programs of the BFAR.
The only support needed now to sustain this program is for the Local Government Units to institute strict regulations against illegal fishing, especially the use of electric fishing rods.
#KungGustoMaramingParaan!
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!