Monday, May 21, 2007 Armm creates body to protect marine resources By Bong S. Sarmiento
GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) has created a council recently for the management and development of fisheries and aquatic resources in the area.
Armm Governor Datu Zaldy U. Ampatuan established the Regional Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council through Executive Order 002, Series of 2007 to protect marine resources in the region from being exploited by foreigners.
"This will limit access to the fisheries and aquatic resources for the exclusive use of Filipinos, preferably the Armm residents," the order reads.
The council shall ensure that the fisheries and aquatic resources in the autonomous Muslim region are judiciously utilized and wisely managed on sustainable basis and conserved for the benefit exclusively of Filipinos, preferably the area's constituents.
The region, covering the provinces of Maguindanao, Shariff Kabunsuan, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and the Islamic City of Marawi, is a major producer of seaweeds in the country.
The council's functions, among others, are as follows:
* To assist in the formulation of the regional policies on fisheries and aquatic resources for the approval of the regional governor;
* To assist in the preparation of comprehensive regional fisheries development plan;
* To recommend to the Regional Legislative Assembly the enactment of fishery laws;
Ampatuan earlier stressed the importance of the region's seaweed industry in cutting poverty incidence in the coastal towns.
With assistance from the National Government, a pilot seaweed processing plant was constructed in Parang town in Shariff Kabunsuan and expected to be formally launched before the end of this month.
Janice Musali, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-Armm assistant director, said investments for the new alkali treatment plant reached P5 million.
The fisheries agency, which forms part of the recently created regional management council, is planning to put up similar plants in other parts of the autonomous Muslim region to beef up the area's seaweed production, she added.
Musali said the plant can process around four tons of alkali-treated seaweeds a day that would end into a form of a chip before selling to buyers.
Price of fresh seaweeds is presently hovering at P4 to P4.50 per kilo in the area, she added.
With the new processing plant, she expressed high hopes that more farmers and fishermen would see the potentials of seaweeds to reduce poverty incidence in the autonomous Muslim region.
Armm contributes at least 50 percent of the country's annual seaweed production volume for the export market.
But the country's international market share is facing grave competition from Indonesia.
In 2004, export earnings from seaweed products amounted $144 million, only 0.3percent higher than $ 143.59 million registered in 2003.
Thus from supplying around 80 percent of the world's demand for carrageenan, the Philippines in 2004 was only able to capture just 68 percent of the global market share.
Carrageenan is a hydrocolloid widely used in various industrial and pharmaceutical applications.
It is used as an ingredient in ice cream, toothpaste, pet food, medicine capsules, suture threads, and may even be effective against fighting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and dengue virus, reports said.
