Fisheries bureau leads Tuba town’s tilapia harvest

BUREAU of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-Cordillera are beefing up efforts in encouraging communities to engage in aquaculture.

In a harvesting activity held in Tadiangan, Tuba, Benguet last week, local officials harvested 500 kilograms of tilapia at three to four pieces per kilo in the barangay.

Around 160 kilograms of these harvest was bought to be sold at the Barangay Bagsakan in  La Trinidad and Sablan, Benguet to help fisher folk recoup their capital.

The remaining fish harvest was sold in the locality while 57 kilograms of tilapia were brought to Mt. Province for use in propagation of the fish and use of breeders.

Dr. Lilibeth Signey, BFAR assistant regional director, said the project that was launched a few months ago already made significant harvest that if replicated in other provinces would help them reach their goal of increasing fish sufficiency in the region.

With the establishment of techno-demo projects for possible adaptation of local folks, even a land-locked region like Cordillera Administrative Region could produce fish that remains a source of food to many Filipinos.

The techno-demo project was launched last May 14, 2010, in partnership of BFAR with Feliberto, Longboan, a member of a fishing cooperative in Sitio Sipitan in Tadiangan, Tuba.

The tilapias were harvested in fish terraces which is an innovation applied by the agency as mountainous slopes in the region provide difficult terrain for the propagation of fishes.

Manuel Fernando, barangay chief of Tadiangan said the success of the fish propagation project is reason enough for farmers to venture into tilapia culture as an alternative livelihood to the people.

Benguet Provincial Fishery Officer Pino Wakit, meanwhile, added that the harvest field day was undertaken to show that the region could also be a successful breeding area for freshwater fishes like tilapia.