WTH not enough fish to process, operating the seafood processing plant will not be economical.

This, according to Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Regional Director Nestor Domenden, is the major problem now facing the Seafood Processing Plant in Dagupan built through a P110 million grant from the Korean government through the Korean International Cooperation Agency.

Domenden said the plant cannot hope to have a financially viable operation due to the unstable input of raw materials to process.

“Ang operation ng processing plant ay nagde-depende sa stability ng raw materials. As of the moment, wala ho iyan,” Domenden said during the KBP Forum at the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) on Thursday.

The plant, located in Barangay Bonuan Binloc, is currently under the management of BFAR after the city government of Dagupan turned it over in June last year even before the full completion of the facilities.

BFAR has since undertaken several test runs and is said to be ready for full operations save for the lack of skilled manpower.

Dr. Westly Rosario, National Integrated Fisheries Development Center director and presently the designated manager of the plant, could not be reached at press time for his reaction.

OPERATOR

The BFAR officials stressed that the problem has nothing to do with who is handling the plant.

Mayor Benjamin Lim, who took office in July last year, has been pushing for the return of the plant’s management to the city government.

It was Lim who originally proposed the project as a city government undertaking but when the construction was completed during the term of Mayor Al Fernandez Jr., the city council decided to turnover the management of the project to BFAR for five years.

Domenden said the annual fish production of the province is enough to cover the demand of the market, including the processing plant, but the supply is just not being brought to the plant.

“Hindi kulang ang production, hindi lang nakakarating araw-araw,” he said.

Domenden advised that for the plant to be viable, prospective processors should put up their own fish culture facilities for raw materials and not depend on third-party producers.

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