The Philippine Fisheries and Coastal Resiliency Project, known as the FishCoRe Project, of the Department of Agriculture – Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources is rolling out “FishCoRe Talakayan,” an activity which aims to popularize the government’s flagship project to fisherfolk communities in target Fisheries Management Areas (FMA) 6 and 9.

Hosted by the DA-BFAR, FishCoRe Talakayan is a series of forums that will gather fisherfolk beneficiaries, partner local government units, and other stakeholders to raise their knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the FishCoRe Project through open, comprehensive, and engaging discussions.

A close to a hundred participants, mostly fisherfolk from the municipalities of Lubang and Looc, were gathered in the local gymnasium for the pilot episode of FishCoRe Talakayan, today, October 15, 2024, in Lubang, Occidental Mindoro. Succeeding episodes will be conducted in November in the provinces of Bohol, Misamis Oriental, and Ilocos Norte where interventions are already set.

The FishCoRe Talakayan aims to share relevant information about the FishCoRe Project, Fisheries Management Areas, and the project’s three main components: 1. Fisheries and Coastal Resilient Resource Planning and Management (FishCRRM); 2. Modern and Resilient Livelihood Investments (MARLIN); 3. Support to Project Implementation and Management (SuPrIM).

Following the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM) and the Fisheries Management Areas scheme, the FishCoRe project’s objectives and interventions on sustainable fisheries management and livelihood provision effectively supplement one another. By communicating the importance of these projects and how they are closely interconnected, the FishCoRe Project aims to encourage fisherfolk to take ownership of projects given to them to attain long-term sustainability.

The FishCoRe Project is a seven-year collaborative project between DA-BFAR, the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI), the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA), and the World Bank.

The FishCRRM and MARLIN components aim to achieve improved management of fisheries and coastal resources, and enhance the value of fisheries production through investments in livelihood enterprises, technologies, facilities, and support services, respectively.

These two components are interdependent and their implementations are closely coordinated. For instance, while FishCRRM aims to regulate fishing efforts to ensure sustainability, MARLIN aims to mitigate short-term negative impacts of these policies through the provision of alternative livelihoods and enterprises. Further, the conditional support for fisheries enterprise development also enables the community to comply with resource management systems and regulations.

The SuPrIM component establishes the support infrastructure and system to enable the efficient management and implementation of the project in the two FMAs.

With a total funding of US$209 million or Php 11.42 billion, the FishCoRe Project is now on its second year of implementation to provide multiple fisheries interventions and benefit over 1.15 million fisherfolk, small to medium enterprises, other fisheries stakeholders, and residents in coastal communities across 11 regions and 24 provinces in the country.