Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala expressed confidence that the Philippines’ fisheries sector will recover in the first semester of 2013 as government intervention to replenish fish populations in key marine biodiversity in the country.
Although the Philippine economy registered a 7.1 percent growth in the third quarter this year, besting other Southeast Asian economies, agriculture also fared better in the third quarter than in the four previous quarters with increased rice and corn outputs but recorded weak in the fisheries sector.
Philippine fisheries production has shrunk over the years, with the decline hitting 0.68 percent lower in the third quarter of 2012 compared with the record in the same period in 2011.
Municipal fisheries and aquaculture production went down by 1.52 percent and 1.79 percent, respectively. Only the commercial fisheries increased with 2.77 percent more in output.
Issues such as pollution, overfishing, environmental degradation, and climate change have negative impact on Philippine fisheries.
To address overfishing, Alcala said he ordered a “closed season” for sardines, herrings, and mackerels in the Visayas Sea from November 15, 2012 to February 15, 2013, the fish species’ spawning season, to enable the fish to regenerate and propagate.
Furthermore, he said, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) also launched a new project that will help improve the management of the country’s marine and coastal resources.
The Ecosystems Improved for Sustainable Fisheries (ECOFISH) Project is a five-year technical assistance project designed to protect and manage eight marine key biodiversity areas (MKBAs) in the country — the Calamianes Group of Islands in Palawan, Lingayen Gulf in Pangasinan, Ticao Pass-Lagonoy Gulf-San Bernardino Strait in Bicol and Samar region, Danajon Double Barrier Reef in Bohol and Leyte, Southern Negros Occidental, Surigao provinces, the Sulu Archipelago and the Verde Island Passage in Batangas, and the Mindoro area.
ECOFISH aims to conserve biological diversity, enhance ecosystem productivity, and restore profitability of fisheries using ecosystem-based approaches to create broader social, economic and environmental impacts.
The Philippines currently ranks 8th in total fisheries production globally. Recent national stock assessment report, however, stated that two-thirds of the 12 major fishing bays in the country are overfished. There is also indication that the catch rates of reef fisheries as among the lowest in the world, partly due to the use of dynamite and cyanide in fishing.
Under ECOFISH, the government hopes to reverse the trend by establishing and implementing technical training programs, supporting local governments in improving management of municipal marine waters, and facilitating collaboration between governments, institutions, and private sector partners.
The project will also establish and enhance inter-municipal government alliances, establish a national training program for local and national government personnel involved in fisheries, undertake programs that will result to increase in fish population, identify opportunities for fishing communities to gain employment and improve their livelihood, and generate public-private sector partnership to support sustainable fisheries management.
On the other hand, seaweed production also went down by 3.95 percent or 12,859.28 metric tons (MT) as a result of continuous attack of ice-ice disease.
To pump-prime the country’s seaweed industry and regain its distinction as the world’s top seaweed and carrageenan producer, Alcala said he has allocated an initial budget of P265 million in 2013.
He said bulk of the budget will fund the provision of input assistance to seaweed farmers, consisting mainly of quality and disease-free seaweed plantlets or propagules, worth P232.7 million.
The rest will be spent for infrastructure and post-harvest facilities (P22.3 million), and establishment and maintenance of seaweed nurseries (P8.6 million).
The DA-BFAR also partnered with seaweed farmers and other industry stakeholders for the expansion of seaweed hectarage — from the current 56,600 hectares, which is merely 23 percent of total potential area of 255,000 hectares.
Of the P74.1 billion proposed budget of the DA in 2013, Alcala said some P3.66 billion will be allocated to the fisheries sector to assist the sector to enhance production.
“With the various government interventions being implemented to help the fisheries sector, its production will have a ‘positive’ record by the last quarter of next year,” he noted. [PNA]
