THE Japanese government, through the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), is funding a project that will improve the Philippine’s bangus (milkfish) harvest, the country’s number one aquatic product.

ROSARIO

Dr. Westly Rosario, director of the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and spearheading the JICA-backed project, said the aim is to make the country self-sufficient in its supply of bangus fry in a few years.

Covering a period of three years, the project intends to modernize existing bangus hatcheries, numbering 17 throughout the country, said Rosario, also chief of the Dagupan-based National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (NIFTDC).

Rosario said the project is a big boon to Pangasinan because a big number of fishponds as well as fish cages and pens in various parts of the country are presently empty due to lack of fry.

Today, the Philippine Bangus Center in Dagupan City can only produce 200 million eggs a year which it distributes to the 17 satellite hatcheries all over the country where fish farmers source out their supply of bangus fry.

Moreover, the program seeks to evaluate the performance of the existing hatcheries, including their cost of maintenance, with the objective of improving their efficiency.

Hatchery personnel will also be given training on effective hatchery management.

Rosario said the training on hatchery management already started at the NIFTDC in barangay Bonuan Binloc, Dagupan City.

Rosario hailed the JICA-backed project as urgently necessary in the face of the continuing importation of hatchery-bred bangus fry from countries, like Indonesia, Taiwan and Thailand, which is draining the country’s dollar reserves.

A survey of the BFAR showed that the country needs at least 1.8 billion fry yearly in order to sustain the needs of the country’ bangus industry.

To date, little less than 300 million is being imported by the country while the rest is being sourced from local hatcheries, including from fishermen catching fry from the wild.

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