SAN FABIAN—Food production is not entirely taking a back seat in this mid-term election season.

In the midst of the campaign frenzy, the coastal village of Rabon here has been chosen by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) as pilot area for the Ilocos Region on the use of modified fyke net for catching assorted fish in the Lingayen Gulf.

Bundles of fyke nets, called banwar in the local dialect and lambaklad in Tagalog, were made available for the project that will be managed by the Rabon Fisheries Association headed by Danilo Ducusin with guidance from the BFAR’s National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI).

The project will initially benefit 40 marginal fishermen who are among the 140 member families of the association.

NFRDI Executive Director Westly Rosario said fyke net is a semi-ordinary trap fishing gear fixed in municipal waters usually made of meshed nets and effective in catching miscellaneous fishes and planktonic shrimps.

Rosario, Ducusin andSan Fabian Mayor Mojamito Libunao signed a memorandum of agreement for the P1 million project that includes the study and evaluation of its efficiency, economic performance and local adaptability, to be conducted by NFRDI.

House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., who witnessed the signing, hailed the project as a big boost in the campaign of the government to reduce poverty and produce more food for the Filipino dining table.

In contrast with other types of fishing methods, the gear, after deployment at the fishing site, will not be labor intensive, time consuming and will entail very minimal pressure to habitat.

Rosario said that harvesting of fish could be done in the morning as well as in the afternoon without the need of overseeing the nets in between harvests.

The experimental gear will be installed in San Fabian’s municipal water within a seeing distance from the shore.

Aside from providing fishing gear, the NFRDI will extend technical expertise for the construction and rigging of four units of the test gear.

The municipal government is bound by the MOU to grant a special fishing permit for fishing trials free of charge while fishermen will provide labor as their counterpart.

During the study period, 70% of the income from the catch will be utilized and shared by the members of the  association as an additional source of income while 20% will be utilized for maintenance and operation cost. The remaining 10% will be allotted for other fishery livelihood projects and/or information campaign of the local government unit.

Rosario said the project will enhance community-based participation and co-management of municipal waters.

After the research work, the gear will be formally turned over to the association as an incentive and for continued livelihood enhancement purposes.

The research project of NFRDI may eventually contribute in reducing and replacing destructive fishing method into environment-friendly and sustainable fishing activities in the Philippines.

It also aims to make fish available and affordable to consumers, thus contribute in poverty alleviation among small-scale fishermen.

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments