The Philippine fisheries sector can hope for a more developed, globally competitive, and sustainable growth in the years to come.
This is according to Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala who stressed that, “inclusive growth is the goal of the entire fisheries sector.”
The agri chief further stated that, “inclusive growth, aimed at uplifting the lives of the basic sectors including the artisanal fisherfolk, can be attained when the country’s degraded resources have been fully restored, protected and sustainably managed.”
In line with this target, Alcala led the launching of the updated Comprehensive National Fisheries Industry Development Plan (CNFIDP) 2016-2020 of the DA-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) during the opening of the National Fisheries Industry Summit at the Philippine Trade Center in Pasay City, on February 3, 2016. The event, was witnessed by hundreds of stakeholders and industry players from four major fisheries subsectors.
Alcala said that the CNFIDP reinforces initiatives implemented during the Aquino administration, which includes efforts to protect whatever is left of the country’s pristine resources, to rehabilitate and restore degraded aquatic habitats, and to curb illegal and destructive methods of fishing and farming.
“The CNFIDP reaffirms the commitment of the Philippine government to the development of the fisher folk and the industry as a whole,” he said.
“With sound science as basis for consensus building, the government and the industry players were able to see how they can assist each other to address the challenges faced by the industry and ensure that the resources are protected and managed for future generations,” Alcala added.
The fisheries industry plan, which was crafted through a series of consultation-workshops in the last quarter of 2015, contains the aquaculture, marketing, postharvest, and capture fisheries sub-sectors’ targets and action plans for the next five years.
For capture fisheries, the commercial fishing stakeholders targeted a 5% annual growth by exploring new fishing grounds while the municipal fisher folk approved hiking annual production by 1%.
The aquaculture subsector agreed on increasing production of emerging, high value species and key species like bangus, tilapia, shrimps, seaweeds and shellfish; the postharvest group settled on reducing post-harvest losses from 25% to 15% and; trade and marketing acceded to increase quantity and value of traded fishery products for domestic and export consumption.
During the summit, BFAR awarded 252 community fish landing centers (CFLCs) to the local government beneficiaries. The agency also unveiled four national development programs for shellfish, crab, broodstock and the CFLC program, which will establish more centers in coastal communities this year. # Source - (Marlo Asis, AFID; BFAR-IPRG)/www.da.gov.ph
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