A TOTAL of 4,000 fishing vessels and gears in Davao Region have been registered this year under the Municipal Fishing Vessels and Gears Registration or BoatR as of last week, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)-Davao said.
The BoatR program was regionally launched in Davao June of last year.
BFAR-Davao director, Fatma Idris said that the figures reached were a result of the region's intensified BoatR program.
BoatR is designed to fast-track and complete the nationwide registration of municipal fishing vessels with capacity of three gross tons (GT) and below and municipal fishing gears, as required under Executive Order No. 305 s. 2004 and section 19 of the Fisheries Code of 1998.
In a previous interview, Raul Millena, officer-in-charge of the Fish Production Division and the Regional BoatR Focal person told SunStar Davao that the registration will provide reliable information for concerned agencies, groups, or individuals.
Under the BoatR program, the agency will use the Boat Ad measurement mobile application which will facilitate the registration data and compute the registration breadth, depth and length. Each municipality will have at least one tablet with the Boat Ad measurement mobile application which will also serve as a monitoring tool to the agency's projects and programs.
Idris added that most of the 4,000 are wooden boats.
"That is why we have this program in BFAR where we give free fiber-glass fishing vessels to our fisherfolks," she said.
Last August 17, at the Davao Fish Port Complex, Toril, Davao City, Department of Agriculture secretary Manny Piñol led the distribution of a total of 300 units motorized fiberglass boats with complete set of fishing gear (5.5hp engine) benefitting a total of 600 fishermen belonging to the poor, marginalized (Indigenous People, women, Persons with disability) and those who are affected by the implementation of the Closed Season in Davao Gulf.
Each of the 300 bancas will be shared by two families.
The last month's distribution is part of DA's target which is to deliver some 200,000 bancas before the year ends.
The BoatR is a second level technical support to LGUs following the year-long completion of the Municipal Fisher folk Registration Program or FishR in December of last year.
As of last week, some 47,000 fishermen are registered under FishR.