Asian Fisheries Academy opens doors for training
A new building of the Asian Fisheries Academy, a training facility of the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI) built for aquaculture development in the province, was inaugurated February 23 and marked the graduation of its first batch of students.
The initial group of trainees, composed of 39 out-of-school youth from the coastal towns of Binmaley, San Fabian and Dagupan, were trained by the academy on oyster farming and other related aquaculture technologies.
Dr. Westly Rosario, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resource (BFAR) center chief and executive director of NFRDI, said with the new building, at least one international conference on fisheries and aquaculture can be organized every year beginning this summer season.
The first scheduled conference is on sea cucumber in time for the opening of the sea cucumber hatchery, another first in the country, which is now in the final stages of construction.
The academy facility, built at a cost of P45 million, is located within the 24-hectare compound of the BFAR center in Bonuan Binloc, Dagupan.
It aims to be the leading training center in the Philippines for sustained dissemination of new and improved fisheries technologies that include aquaculture, post harvest and fishing methods.
The fully air-conditioned facility has a seating capacity of 150 with a cinema style sound system.
The school was partly financed from the Countrywide Development Fund of 4th District Rep. Jose De Venecia Jr., who led the inauguration ceremonies.
With him were Dagupan City Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr, Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, San Jacinto Mayor Rudy Columbres, San Fabian Mayor Mojamito Libunao, Manaoag Mayor Napoleon Sales and Mangaldan Mayor Herminio Romero and barangay officials.
De Venecia has allocated an additional P25 million in the national budget for the 2008 operation of the academy.
De Venecia said the academy is part of his efforts in propelling the aquaculture industry. He has previously funded the establishment of Bangus Hatchery, Live Fish Market, and the development of Penaeus vannamei white shrimp ponds as an alternative to the collapse of tiger prawn industry, and the tilapia culture.#
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