Thursday, May 08, 2008 Capitol gives out fingerlings to fisher folk By Ian Ocampo Flora
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The Pampanga Provincial Government, through the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), has distributed about 2.2 million fingerlings to fisher folk in the province.
The program is in replication of the initial project of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (Bfar) wherein communal fisher folk are given free fingerlings to augment and strengthen the local fresh water fish business.
It is estimated by the OPA that almost 3,000 individuals are involved in communal fish propagation, most of which are raising fish along waterways and bays. The program, however, is not available to commercial fresh water fish raisers in the province.
Since its initial inception on March 4 of this year, the OPA was able to disburse fingerlings to towns with communal fishing activities.
Distribution was determined through the number of communal fisher folk in the said municipalities.
OPA information officer Edita Vega also announced that the funding for the distribution is now being shouldered by the Provincial Government. "In the past our funding was sourced out from the National Government, but now we are also fortunate that funding is also coming from the Capitol," Vega said, pointing out that the main purpose of the program was to help "small sustenance farmers" get through the summer season.
Sulcery Pineda, OPA planning officer, added that they expect a surge in the production of fish in the market in the span of three months.
She added that by this time, farmers would have had an available source of livelihood and food. "The supply of fish would be stable in the local market and these (fingerlings) can also spawn new fingerlings by that time, this is very advantageous for the farmers," she said.
The fingerling distribution program is part of the OPA's goal of strengthening the local fish industry to complement other projects in farming and various sectors of agriculture. The OPA is expecting that by the end of May, farmers and the local town markets will feel the effect of the project as harvest time approaches.
