Domoguen: Mountain fisheries

Bontoc, Mountain Province -- “Kahit sa Kabundukan, May Pangisda-an”

That quote came from Dr. Rebecca Garcia Dang-awan, retired regional director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR-CAR).

While in office, her efforts to promote fisheries in this mountainous region during public consultations and forums were colored with her Tagalog, “May isda sa kabundukan,” (There are fishes in the mountains too) she would tell those who wonder what a regional BFAR office is doing in the Cordillera.

At the same time, she would urge her listeners to protect and conserve the viability of rivers and creeks, dams, lakes, and the rice terraces as habitats for the fishes.

It was also during her term as a regional director that BFAR-CAR made a study of the different indigenous fish species in the Cordillera. That study should serve as baseline for the agency’s continuing fish conservation efforts and activities.

After listening to the report of Director Milagros Morales, BFAR-CAR, during the “inauguration of the Provincial Fishery Office” here, May 24, 2019, DA Secretary Emmanuel Piñol reiterated the same challenge to his listeners “to preserve their natural resources including indigenous fishes if they must sustain fisheries as a source of food, livelihood, and income in this mountainous region.”

Later, with Provincial Governor Bonifacio Lacwasan, Director Morales, and Undersecretary for Fisheries Eduardo Gongona, Secretary Piñol awarded postharvest equipment and fishing gears to the fisherfolks of Mountain Province.

Several bags of pond loach were given to the farmers to be released in their respective rice fields. The farmers practice integrated rice-fish farming.

Also given to twelve fisherfolks from Ifugao were six (6) fiberglass boats for their livelihood use at the Magat Dam.

In her report to Secretary Piñol and the public, director Morales said that there are 124, 944 fish eating population in Mountain Province, excluding those below 9 years old. Fish production is 13.87 metric tons (MT), with a fish sufficiency level recorded at 0.43%.

The province fishery resources from the aquaculture sector are fishponds (37.55 hectares), fish cage (0.16 hectares), and integrated farming (33.67 hectares).

The province has a fish sanctuary in Amolong River, in Lower Paracelis town.

The rivers include Chico River, Siffu River, and Tanudan River. The lakes in the province include Gawaan Lake in Tadian, Tufob Lake in Barlig, and Danum Lake in Besao.

The province has 3,637 registered fisherfolks.

Reiterating his message in Abra, Secretary Piñol said that the DA no longer delivers its interventions without properly consulting the farming community and their leaders about their real needs, not perceived needs.

In this regard, he said that the DA shall return to craft a master development plan for the agriculture sector in the province that fully appreciates the problems affecting local agricultural development, and what interventions should the government provide to address the problems.

Secretary Pi?ol told his listeners that all stakeholders of agricultural development, to include provincial and municipal LGU executives, provincial and municipal agriculturists, farmer leaders representing cooperatives and associations, agricultural fishery councils (AFCs), among others, should attend this planning consultation. The participants must look at their agricultural area, and decide and tell us what should be done in these areas, he said.

Aside from the fisherfolks, the launching of the Provincial Fishery Office in Bontoc was fully attended by the national directorate, and regional directors of BFAR as well as the provincial fishery focal persons of the agency in CAR, Governor Lacwasan, and LGU technicians.

The establishment of Provincial Fishery Offices by BFAR is a step in the right direction. Specifically for the Cordillera, these provincial offices will provide close coordination nd monitoring of fishery projects and programs on the ground. More important, they bring government closer to the people with the right interventions that dresses their problems and concerns, as Secretary Piñol earlier mentioned.

Kudos, BFAR-CAR!

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