General Santos City – The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) will convene next month the country’s fisheries and aqua industries sector stakeholders to prepare a 10-Year Development Road Map which would set the needs and priorities of the industry to prosper.
The Road Map which I proposed yesterday during the opening ceremonies of the 19th Tuna Festival in General Santos City will identify the problems and challenges in the fisheries industry and the government interventions needed to address these.
While the Philippines ranks first among the countries of the world with the longest coastal lines at 39,284 kilometres, the country continues to import fisheries and aquatic products to fill the needs of the local market.
Among the biggest problems confronting the fisheries and aqua industries are the depleted freshwater fish sources because of overfishing and destructive fishing practices.
This results in added pressure on the traditional fishing grounds in the coastal areas because of the need of people for more protein.
The country also loses an estimated P3-Trillion every year to illegal fishing including poaching by foreign and more modern fishing fleets.
Many of these poachers are now operating in the 25-million hectare Philippine Rise, formerly called the Benham Rise, which has been acknowledged by the United Nations as part of the continental shelf of the Philippines.
The captured fisheries program has not been given enough support by the government and all these years hatcheries have just focused on the production of Bangus and Tilapia fingerlings.
The 10-Year Road Map will also institutionalise the MMK Program of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) or Malinis at Masaganang Karagatan (MMK) which awards the cleanest coastal communities.
It is also expected to institutionalise the Project BASIL or Balik Sigla sa Ilog at Lawa which involves the seeding of lakes, rivers and creeks with indigenous and non-invasive fish species fingerlings.
The Fiberglass Boats Distribution Program will also be institutionalised and poor fisher folk families will be taught how to make fishing boats without cutting down trees.
The Road Map will also identify the rich fishing grounds of the country and establish post-harvest facilities like ice plants and cold storage which are now absent in many areas resulting in losses of abourt 40% of the fishermen’s catch.
The stakeholders will be asked for their inputs on what should be done to protect the country’s fishing interests in the West Philippine Sea and the Philippine Rise, two of the richest fishing grounds where illegal fishing operations are on-going.
Other aqua-marine potentials will also be identified and the small fishermen will be assisted by government in an attempt to address poverty in the sector.
When the 10-Year Fisheries and Aqua-Marine Road Map is completed, this will be submitted to President Rody Duterte just like what we did with the Road Maps for other commodities like Coffee, Cacao, Mango, Abaca and others.
(Photos of the opening of the 19th Tuna Congress and General Santos City fishermen receiving their fishing boats taken by Micah Panzo.)
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