CAGAYANDE ORO CITY – In a novel way to honor the fisherfolk during the month of May which has been designated as Farmers and Fisherfolks Month, the DA-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources installed 17 fisherfolk leaders to head its national and regional offices and act as national fisherfolk director and regional fisheries directors for the whole month of May.

Elected by fisherfolk leaders as this year's national fisherfolk director is Felizardo Lim from Cavite. He will head 16 other fisherfolk leaders, 3 of them women, who were likewise chosen by their constituents in their respective regions.

The regional fisherfolk directors are: Joel E. Parurug (CAR); Benjamin A. Cabacungan  (Reg1);  Lupo B. Alava (Reg 2); Salvacion F. Ruiz (Reg 3); Edison Y. Jaramillo (Reg 4A); Charles M. Ramal (Reg 4B); Marco C. Visperas (Reg 5); Maximo S. Salavante (Reg 6); Juanito U. Obispo (Reg 7); Quinciano S. Galagar (Reg 8); Salud B. Cruz (Reg 9); Decie T. Bazar (Reg 10); Natividad C. Gunayan (Reg 11); Eduardo M. Casas (Reg 12); Isidro P. Pamonag (Reg 13); and Ustadz Jamad Z. Hairol (ARMM).

The fisherfolk leaders took their oath of office during the opening ceremony of the 1st National Fisherfolk Technology and Livelihood Festival (FISH for LIFE) held here on May 4-6, this year.

Officiating their oath was Dr. Gina Yap, Vice-President for Social Development of the Asian Social Institute. Misamis Occidental Governor Oscar Moreno, BFAR National Director Malcolm I. Sarmiento, Jr.,BFAR Asst, Director Gil Adora and NAPC-Artisanal Fisherfolk Representative Rogelio Amatorio, Jr. witnessed the ceremony.

The “Maningisdang Direktor” program, now on its fifth year of implementation, provides fisherfolk the opportunity to understand the bureaucracy and at the same time gives them hands-on-training and experience in running the agency while injecting suggestions and proposals from the perspective of the private sector clientele.

The merry month of May is officially designated as Fisherfolk month in recognition of the very important role played by fisherfolks in providing foods on our tables as well as in generating livelihoods to more than1.6 million Filipinos who are involved either in fish capture, fish farming and fish processing. The first week of May is also declared by the Arroyo administration as the Ornamental Fish Week

Transforming fishers into fish farmers

Director Sarmiento, in his message, urges the fisherfolk to venture into aquaculture or fish farming to give the seas the needed respite from overexploitation and prepare them from the challenges of global warming and climate change. Scientists believe that the fisheries sector is highly vulnerable from this phenomenon.

“Fish capture is highly extractive and unsustainable, aside from being a very risky occupation. At the turn of the decade, we shifted our production paradigm from capture fisheries to aquaculture or fish farming”, Sarmiento said.

“Our collective efforts with you, the fisherfolk and the LGUs paid off,  with aquaculture registering the highest growth rate contributing almost 50 percent of the total production last year. The municipal fisheries sector continues to recover registering 4 percent growth in the first quarter of this year according to BAS statistics”, Sarmiento added.

Reports from BAS indicate that the fisheries sector tops all other sub-sectors of agriculture with an average growth of more than 4 percent in the first quarter of this year.

Caring for the seas

Addressing the newly installed fisherfolk directors and some 150 other fisherfolk participants, Sarmiento admonished the fishermen to respect the seas.

“You must  always think of the sea as your office where you earn a living. Like any office or workplace where you know you would return the next day, you must make it clean and you should not destroy it by going into Illegal fishing. Cyanide and dynamite fishing do not only kill the fish but causes serious destruction to the corals that are considered as the food factory of the ocean, Sarmiento pointed out.

Sarmiento, who regards the fishermen as the world's greatest workers in the world's biggest workplace, added, "Your “office”  is located in the world's richest marine ecosystem called the Coral Triangle that harbors around 76 percent of the world's marine biodiversity and hence, you have to protect it.”

“The Philippine sea is a wonderful place. If managed in a sustainable way, it could be the country's vehicle that would take us to where we wanted to go and to transcend and go beyond the current financial crisis facing the world, he said.

Stronger LGU collaboration

Governor Oscar S. Moreno, who hosted the event along with BFAR Regional Director David Ernacio, lauded the government for the establishment of the Balingasag Mariculture Park in Misamis Oriental.

“The government through DA-BFAR has created a climate conducive to business and private investments. It is quite amazing how the mariculture park had attracted many investors. To date, there are now 200 fish cages bringing up the total investment to at least P100M in barely 2 years”, he said.

The Balingasag Mariculture Park was personally visited by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently where she awarded 10 fisherfolk-beneficiaries of the Rent-to-Own Fish Cages and launched the Fish for Upland Dwellers (FishFUD) programs of the BFAR.

Moreno who stressed the importance of becoming more self-reliant and dependent on the sustainable use of local resources cited the important role that could be played by fish cage farming in mariculture parks.

“With two more mariculture parks, I am confident, that in due time, we might even overtake Pangasinan as the top bangus producer”, he said.

Moreno said that he is very happy on how the BFAR had transformed itself from a laggard to a leading government agency as could be seen in the growth on investments in fisheries.

Month-long plan of action

Lim said that the focus of their one month stewardship is on the conservation and protection of the resource through a more vigorous enforcement of  fishery laws and fisheries conservation. Two other national activities are programed for implementation – simultaneous mangrove and watershed reforestation and fish dispersal.

“The FISH for LIFE” is the first salvo of our national programs designed to offer fisherfolk more investment opportunities complete with information on credit sourcing and other available financing schemes”, Lim added.

The fisherfolk were also taught to prepare and submit project proposals that will be reviewed by BFAR for possible funding and/or to link the same to other funding agencies.

Among the technologies that were taught are, in freshwater aquaculture: Recent Trends on the Culture and Breeding of Tilapia; Breeding and Culture of Pangasius; Culture and Breeding of Catfish; Ornamental Fish Breeding and Production and Culture of Ulang in Ponds.

For brackish and marine water aquaculture: Updates on the Culture of Vannamei (Pacific White Shrimp); Polyculture Method; Aqua-silvi Culture; Production of Soft-shelled Mudcrab and
Tawi-Tawi Modified Mariculture Development Project (Fisherfolk Livelihood Program).

Topics on value-adding include: Current Trends on Fish Processing and Value-Adding Including Packaging and Labelling; Value-Adding of Catfish; Lecture-Demo of Various  Fish Products; Demo on Shrimp Siomai, Noodles, Chips, Rolls and Spam and Bottled Catfish

For financing and credit, the presentations include: Agricultural Comprehensive Enhancement Fund (ACEF) Guidelines; Microfinancing (People's Development Trust Fund (PDTF) and DBP Mariculture  Park Financing Scheme. FISH for LIFE  is spearheaded by the BFAR in collaboration with the National Anti-Poverty Commission’s Artisanal Fisherfolk Sector and PAMPANO, Inc.  (Melannie R. Guerra)