THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is eyeing to seed 210 million fingerlings of indigenous and noninvasive fish species into the country’s major river basins and lakes by 2022 in its bid to hike fisheries production.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said he ordered the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to craft the National Inland Fisheries Enhancement Program (Nifep) that aims to “provide Filipinos greater access to available food and address poverty and hunger in the countryside”.
“[I ordered the BFAR to craft Nifep], because of my realization that rivers and lakes in the country no longer have the same amount of fish population as they had many years ago, when the use of chemicals in agriculture and illegal-fishing methods, like ‘electric fishing’ and cyanide, was not widespread,” Piñol said in a statement on Monday.
“Overfishing and the use of illegal and destructive-fishing methods have virtually decimated the indigenous fish species in the major lakes and rivers of the country,” Piñol said.
Piñol said the DA’s flagship program under Nifep, called Project Basil, or Balik Sigla sa Ilog at Lawa, aims to rejuvenate the country’s major bodies of water to recover from the lost production incurred in the previous years.
“By 2018 an estimated 26 million fingerlings will be seeded in the rivers and lakes, and by the end of the term of President Duterte, Project Basil, targets to seed about 210 million fingerlings,” Piñol said.
Project Basil will cover seven identified major lakes and six major river basins across the country over the next five years, Piñol said. The lakes include Laguna de Bay, which has 90,000 hectares; Lake Lanao, 34,700 hectares; Taal Lake, 23,4000 hectares; Lake Mainit in Surigao del Norte, 17,300 hectares; Naujan Lake in Oriental Mindoro, 11,000 hectares; Maguindanaos’ Buluan Lake, 6,500 hectares; and Lake Sebu, situated in South Cotabato, 354 hectares.
The major rivers included in Project Basil are Cagayan River Basin, 2.5 million hectares; Mindanao River Basin, 2.3 million hectares; Agusan River Basin, 1 million hectares; Pampanga River Basin, 974,000 hectares; Abra River Basin, 512,500 hectares; and Bicol River Basin, 377,100 hectares.
“Among the indigenous species seeded in the lakes and rivers are ayungin, biya, kanduli, martinique, the native catfish, or hito, and the black- head eel, or igat,” Piñol said.
“Acceptable fish species not considered threats to the ecological balance in the lakes and rivers, like tilapia and bangus, will also be introduced,” Piñol said.
The DA chief said Project Basil will start in Laguna de Bay this year to address the expected shortage of fish supply in Metro Manila due to the dismantling of fish pens in the lake.
“Local officials of towns, cities and provinces surrounding Laguna de Bay and other stakeholders will be invited by the DA to a forum before the end of this month for the presentation and validation of Project Basil,” Piñol said.
“With the launching of the program in Laguna de Bay, even Metro Manila residents will soon be able to catch large tilapia and bangus in the Pasig River,” Piñol said.
He pointed out that each and every body of water targeted by Project Basil shall undergo a scientific and socioeconomic evaluation before the production rehabilitation starts.
“Lake or river profiling will involve a scientific study on the actual condition of the bodies of water and ecological considerations,” he said. “This would mean that no foreign fish species will be introduced in an area if it could threaten the balance of the indigenous fish population.”
Piñol also said the DA will coordinate with the local government units and local communities will be tasked to monitor and sustain Project Basil in their respective bodies of water.
“Lake and river management would involve the local government units [LGUs] that will be tasked to enact development plans. The LGUs will also handle the monitoring of fishing activities and in reporting the volume of the catch,” he said.
“Communities will also be involved in the establishment of hatcheries so that future fingerling requirements will be bought by the government from them. Communities will also be involved in the establishment of hatcheries so that future fingerling requirements will be bought by the government from them,” he said.
Unfavorable weather caused the country’s fisheries production to decline by 6.34 percent to 4.35 million metric tons (MMT) in 2016, from 4.69 MMT in 2015, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
“The decline was reflected in all subsectors, namely, commercial [6.35 percent], municipal fisheries [6.47 percent] and aquaculture [6.27 percent],” the PSA said in its report, titled “Fisheries Situation 2016”.
The PSA report showed municipal fisheries production, which accounted for 26.13 percent of total output, declined to 1.4 MMT in 2016, from 1.22 MMT in 2015.
Of the figure, 976,838 metric tons (MT) were caught in marine municipal-fishing grounds. This was 3.45 percent lower than the 1.01 MMT recorded in 2015.
Meanwhile, fish caught in inland municipal fishing grounds declined by more than a fifth, or by 21.37 percent, to 160,989 MT in 2016, from 204,733 MT recorded in 2015.
“Less fishing activities were observed as prolonged hot weather conditions were experienced in the coastal areas followed by rough seas and typhoons toward the end of the year,” the PSA said.