BFAR readies plans to raise fish production

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has outlined various plans for the country’s fisheries sector as a group of fishers is asking the government to immediately address the declining fisheries output.

In a statement, the BFAR said its catch-up plan is meant to beef up domestic fish production and reduce dependence on imports. It is targeting to implement the blueprint by the second half of this year.

Last week, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the value of fisheries production dropped by 2.3 percent, with tiger prawn (sugpo), blue crab (alimasag), mudcrab (alimango), cavalla (talakitok) and milkfish (bangus) registering significant declines.

The BFAR pegged the projected deficit of the country’s food fish supply at 44,000 metric tons annually, which it said is “more than 1 percent short of what is needed to attain full sufficiency.”

Industry modernization

Among the measures to be implemented by the agency is the modernization of the sector. It entails improving the design and expanding the use of fish aggregating devices in strategic fishing areas in the country, mechanizing irrigation supply canals and provision of pond aeration to fish farms, and developing a cold chain program in island municipalities to reduce postharvest losses.

“Through the establishment of more fish aggregating devices for our fisherfolk and production of more seedstocks for the aquaculture sector, this catch-up plan seeks to unlock the hidden potentials of the bureau, and more importantly, the fishery sector as a whole, in ensuring fish sufficiency in the country,” BFAR officer in charge Director Nestor Domenden said in a statement.

The BFAR will work on expanding the National Fish Broodstock Development Program to include other high-value species such as siganids, snappers, pompano, groupers and seabass.

Specifically, it will bolster seed and fish fry output by developing additional hatcheries as well as the local production of fingerlings, minimize fry importation and lower the cost of aquaculture production.

Not only will the bureau optimize mariculture parks nationwide but it will also intensify its Balik Sigla sa Ilog at Lawa program so that more communal bodies of water will be sustainably stocked with marketable fish species.

Further, it will promote urban aquaculture and unconventional production systems including tanks, dams, small water impounding ponds, small farm reservoirs and natural ground level or elevated fishponds, and enhance aquaculture through the use of green energy.

Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas is urging the BFAR to “urgently address” the downward trend in output by ramping up fuel and production subsidies for small fisherfolk.

It also pushed the agency to provide livelihood support and direct cash subsidy to the local industry.

House Bill No. 2024 is seeking a P15,000 production subsidy, which covers fuel expenses of small fisherfolk for at least two months, for some 1.1 million fisherfolk affected by steep fuel costs and massive fish importation.