Senator Cynthia Villar said she hopes that the problem of dwindling fish catch in the country would be addressed when the bills creating provincial fisheries research and training facilities are signed into law.
Villar, chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, cited the Upper Chamber’s recent approval of three local measures seeking to establish a fisheries and aquatic resources training, development and product center in Aklan (House Bill 7491); freshwater multispecies hatchery and research center in Balo-I, Lanao del Norte (House Bill 7500); and a fisheries research center in Abulug, Cagayan (House BIll 7484).
“These bills will help resolve overfishing and dwindling fish catch for the small fisherfolk in these areas since they will be given priority access to their own town’s marine resources and new technologies including the processing and preservation of their fish catch,” Villar said in a statement.
Villar underscored the need to provide more infrastructure for the fisheries sector to improve productivity of fisherfolks. Earlier, she pushed for the establishment of similar facilities in 14 other provinces.
“Many of our traditional fishing grounds are getting overfished and we need to create breeding grounds and hatcheries to help arrest the dwindling fish stock,” she said.
“With the creation of these hatcheries and more in the future, our people are now assured of a source of food. Through these facilities, we can provide the opportunity to our fisherfolks to undergo training and improve present practices to improve productivity,” she added.
Villar echoed anew the warning by study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, saying that oceans could become “virtual deserts” by 2050 if sustainable fishing is not practiced.
“We want to solve this shortage not only because fish is an important part of the Filipino diet. We also want to take advantage of the ever-increasing demand for high-value marine species in both local and export markets and to satisfy the world’s growing appetite for fish,” she said.
The fisheries sector, she noted, also provides direct and indirect employment to over one million people, or about 12 percent of the agriculture sector of the labor force.(Vanne Terrazola )
