Fisheries Grew by 1.5% Bangus Fish Cage Farming Grew By 3.7% in 2018-2019

Nakakalungkot na mismong pinuno ng ahensya ay sumang-ayon sa assessment ng mga legislators na non-performing ang fisheries sector ng bansa at hindi ito dapat bigyan ng karagdagang pondo.

For the first time in so many decades, the fisheries sector posted a positive growth of 1.5% in 2019, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Here are excerpts from that official PSA report:

“In 2019, fisheries production improved by 1.5 percent. Total volume of production was estimated at 4,421.22 thousand metric tons, higher than the 4,356.87 thousand metric tons reported a year ago. Of the three subsectors, outputs from municipal fisheries and aquaculture went up by 1.5 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, commercial fisheries production registered a decline of 0.7 percent.

“By species, the major contributors to the increase were seaweed (1.5%), milkfish (3.7%), tilapia (0.03%), skipjack (5.2%), roundscad (11.8%), yellowfin tuna (3.9%) and tiger prawn (2.5%). All of them displayed production increments from their 2018 level of production.

The annual volume of commercial fisheries production was registered at 940.00 thousand metric tons, lower by 0.7 percent than the 946.44 thousand metric tons output in 2018. Commercial fisheries comprised 21.3 percent of the total fisheries output.”

Take note that Bangus or Milkfish production increased by 3.7% and I attribute this to the efforts of the Department of Agriculture Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) to rehabilitate existing hatcheries in the different regions of the country.

Another program which contributed to this was my tasking to the BFAR Directors to ensure the establishment of at least 300 fish cages in each of their area.

Ito ang pinaka-unang pagkakataon sa loob ng maraming dekada na ang Fisheries Sector ay nakapagtala ng positive growth subali’t hindi ito nakita ng mismong pinuno ng Departamento.

Kaya ayon, sa halip na madagdagan ang pondo ng BFAR, hindi tuloy na aprubahan dahil hindi man lang naipagtanggol ng pinuno ng ahensya ang sarili nyang programa.

Isa rin ito sa nakita ko na problema sa Senado where budget proposals are simply dismissed by just a wave of a Senator’s hand without even looking into the merits of the proposal.

This whimsical legislative decision-making should be corrected if we are to improve Agriculture and Aquaculture in the Philippines.

Most of all, spineless officials who could not even defend the budget proposals of their departments must not be allowed to stay a minute longer in their positions.

#StandUpForYourAdvocacies!

#SenateIsTheHeartOfTheNation!