THE mayor of Dagupan City, marketed as the Bangus Capital of the World, has rallied milkfish producers in the city to target the international export market.

Mayor Belen Fernandez said apart from a higher return on investment, exporting bangus will also help solve the oversupply in the city compounded by bangus production from other towns.

To help local producers, Fernandez has implemented a two-day schedule for the sale exclusively of Dagupan bangus in the city markets.

But the mayor, speaking during the Regional Bangus Summit sponsored by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the Dagupan City government held April 23 as part of the Bangus Festival 2014,  stressed that fish farmers should be looking at foreign markets to boost the aquaculture industry.

She called on bangus farmers  to take advantage of the city’s own Seafood Processing Plant in Bonuan Binloc, which already has the needed accreditations for export to major markets.

“We have not yet maximized the full potential of the plant. Right now, it is not yet operating 24/7 with only a hundred deboners working at the plant. If we can make full use of it, we will also be helping create more employment at the plant,” Fernandez said.

GOVERNMENT HELP

At the same time, she assured the stakeholders that the local government and other government agencies are ready to provide assistance to the stakeholders.

“I am happy to note that this summit is geared towards the growing threat of Free Trade Agreement which provides opportunities to those who are ready, while it is a threat to those who are not,” Fernandez said.

DTI Provincial Director Peter Mangabat said local producers already have the advantage of the reputation of Dagupan bangus as being of high quality as he noted that Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan are also exporting frozen bangus .

“We have to take advantage of the fact na ang kilala nilang bangus sa ibang bansa ay ang Bonuan bangus because ours is of high-qualify,” Mangabat said.

Eduardo C. Maramba, chairman of the Milkfish Technical Working Group Industry Cluster, lamented that the country is now far behind Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Taiwan and Japan in terms of bangus production.

“Dito mismo sa ating bansa, ang Pangasinan ay napag-iwanan na ng Saranggani at nasa level na natin ang Batangas at Laguna,” Maramba said as he echoed the call of BFAR for more investments in hatcheries.—LVM with reports from Johanne R. Macob and CIO

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