Road To Food Sufficiency! 36,298-Kms. Coastline, Clean Sea: PH Doesn’t Need To Import Fish!

This video showing a school of “Tamban” landing on the shores of Labason, Zamboanga del Norte and posted by an unidentified netizen on YouTube a few years ago is proof that our waters in our 36,298-kilometer of coastline teem with fish.

In fact, since the imposition of the 3-month Closed Fishing Period in the fishing grounds of the Zamboanga Peninsula from December to the end of February every year, the “Tamban” population had dramatically increased.

During peak fishing season, “Tamban” is sold for as low as P5 per kilo or sometimes just thrown away when the local markets could not absorb the fishermen’s catch.

So, why do we have to import fish?

Here are the reasons why:

First, in the many fishing grounds of the country, there are no ice-making and other post harvest facilities.

In my trips to the rich fishing communities of the country as Agriculture Secretary, I saw this problem and budgetary recommendations were made.

Sadly, these were not considered by our budget planners and I blame this on the lack of understanding of the actual needs on the ground.

When I moved to the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), I crafted the Mindanao Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Program which identified 26 fishing grounds all over Mindanao where Fish Centers complete with ice making machines, blast freezers, cold storage and refrigerated transport facilities would be established.

This program will be included in the European Union funded-MINPAD RISE Program which could serve as a template for the whole country.

Second, support for Aquaculture Projects, especially Fish Cage Farming, had been weak, especially from our government lending institutions.

Funding for projects supporting fish cage farming like Aqua Feed Mills had been sorely lacking.

The country, given its long coastline, has so many coves and bays where Fish Cage Farming for Bangus, Grouper and other high-value fish could be established to contribute to the country’s fish production.

Third, in the absence of an efficient and government supported logistics program, the transport of fish from the different fishing grounds of the country to the big markets had been costly and difficult.

These are the issues which must be resolved for the country to produce enough fish for its population.

The proposal to revive the Food Terminal Incorporated and expand its coverage to the different food productions areas of the country could provide solution to this problem.

Production, to be boosted, must be supported by an efficient marketing system.

In a geographically fragmented country where the movement of goods is very costly, government must be involved in food repositioning and distribution.

#GovernanceIsCommonSense!

(Credit to the unidentified netizen who took this video. This video was taken in Labason, Zambo Norte and shared with us by the Southern Phils. Fishing Assn through Jaydrick Yap..)