By Manny Piñol
Palo, Leyte – After a long day yesterday where I travelled from Mapanas, Northern Samar to Baybay, Leyte, via helicopter and later by car for about five hours, I will be flying to Aklan today to meet with all the regional directors and key officials of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and other agencies involved with fisheries.
The meeting is intended to thresh out once and for all the problems and challenges which stunted the growth of the Captured Fisheries Program of the country.
It follows the visit I made to Malalag Bay in Davao del Sur where fish cage farming of Bangus is a thriving industry and my trip to Samar where coves ideal for fish farming are found in almost every coastal town.
The visit I made to the production area of Bangus in fish cages in Malalag Bay opened my eyes to the very serious problems confronting the industry.
Fish cage operators complained of the lack of Bangus fry and fingerlings and the very high cost of Aqua Feeds which account for almost two-thirds of the expense in maintaining a fish cage for about six months.
I found it ludicrous that the country which has given the Milkfish a name which has become an international word – Bangus – needs to import Bangus fry from Taiwan and Indonesia.
I also consider as incomprehensible the very high price of aqua feeds even when most of the raw materials are sourced locally.
Today, in Aklan, the BFAR directors, including officials and scientists of the SEAFDEC based in Tigbauan, Iloilo will be asked to present their recommendations on how to produce more Bangus fry to provide for the yearly requirement of about 3.5-billion fingerlings.
SEAFDEC will also be asked to share with the other stakeholders the researches and advancements they made in feeds formulation.
SEAFDEC Director Dan Baliao informed me last week that scientists in the agency have formulated feeds which induce greater egg production by the mother Bangus or “Sabalos.”
I will also ask the BFAR directors to account how many “Sabalos” are there in the different hatcheries operated by BFAR all over the country.
All of these hatcheries will be rehabilitated and the needed funds provided to increase the production of Bangus fry to a level where we do not have to import anymore.
Fish cage farming, aside from being very profitable, will also ease up the pressure on our traditional fishing grounds where fishermen sail and catch fish everyday to fill up the needs of the consumers.
We have the ideal areas for fish cage farming and all that is needed is a sound national program based on the failures and successes of the past to improve our production.
Fish cage farmers in Malalag Bay report a net profit of almost P1-M per fish cage with a 60,000 Bangus fingerling population every six months.
This will be a tremendous boost to the economy of the country since Philippine Bangus is preferred in foreign markets, especially in Filipino and Asian stores in America, because of its distinct taste.
We should take advantage of this God-given blessings of vast coves and clean seas and produce more fish for the market.
(Photos of the seeding of Bangus fingerlings in fish cages in Mapanas, Northern Samar taken by Alan Jay Jacalan while the last two photos of the more modern circular fish cages in Malalag Bay, Davao del Sur were taken by Mayette Tudlas.)
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