BASIL Lives On! 1.1-M Baby Eels Seeded By BFAR IN Cagayan River

A few days ago, I was greatly pleased to read a post made by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) on the seeding of over 1.1-million elvers or baby eels in the long stretch of Cagayan River and its tributaries under the BASIL Program or Balik Sigla sa Ilog at Lawa.
The BASIL Program was one of the innovations I designed and implemented during my 3-year stint as Secretary of Agriculture to address the dwindling freshwater fish population in the country’s creeks, rivers and lakes.
It was a product of my experiences as a young boy growing up in the farm where we caught catfish and mudfish as we plowed the rice fields because during those days, the use of pesticides and insecticides were not known.
The rivers and creeks then were teeming with fish and eel but these slowly disappeared when the electric fishing rods were introduced.
The concept of BASIL was strengthened by the accounts made by Filipino-American farmer-scientist Rocky French, whom I befriended in 2014, of a similar program by the U.S. Fish and Game Agency where he worked for so many years.
According to Rocky, the U.S. Fish and Game seeded all rivers and lakes with trouts and all other fish species and allowed people to fish for a fee during the open season.
Ang idea ko naman was just to bring back the old days when people could just go to a nearby creek, river or lake and catch a few fish para may pang-ulam.
The program, of course, involved the local government units which were asked to enforce the ban on the use of electric fishing rods and “tuble” in catching fish.
Whether the LGUs are doing their task to ensure the success of the program is something that needs to be validated.
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
#dreamsvisionofthefarmboy!
(Photos attached to this post were downloaded from the Facebook page of BFAR Region 2 taken during the seeding of 1.1-M elvers in Cagayan River.)