Marine parks expansion program seen to energize further the fisheries sector

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
February 8, 2007

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte  –  Even as Region 8 is in the middle of preparations for the first Eastern Visayas Mariculture Parks Congress which will be participated in by both local and international stakeholders, the Department of Agriculture has announced the expansion of mariculture parks in coastal areas across the country in order to energize further the fisheries sector.

The setting up of more mariculture parks with the help of foreign investments mostly from China will raise fisheries production to 4.7 metric tons this year and would create some 190,000 jobs in marginalized fishing communities, Secretary Arthur Yap said.

The Department of Agriculture through the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) expects to increase to 41 the existing number of 13 mariculture parks this year by promoting partnerships with local government units or LGUs and foreign investors on the development of fish cage farming across the country.

The Philippines can become a major player in the multibillion-dollar live food-fish export business by developing two fisheries highways linking the network of existing and still-to-be-established mariculture parks nationwide.

Through these fisheries highways, transport vessels can collect high-value cultured fish harvests from mariculture parks en-route to their respective ports of destination like China, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The mariculture park concept is similar to an industrial estate where an area in the sea is subdivided into different plots for the farming of fish and other aquatic life using only approved and environmentally sound culture systems.

To date, BFAR's partnership with LGUs has led to the establishment of five mariculture parks in storm-sheltered and environment-friendly coastal areas nationwide.

The mariculture highway in the eastern seaboard will start from Surigao and will connect to Samar and Leyte, which both operate several mariculture parks. The highway will lead further north to Casiguran Sound in Aurora, where a 300-hectare mariculture park is now in place.

The western seaboard highway, on the other hand, will start from Tawi-Tawi where the construction of a P10-million multi-fish species hatchery and a P5-million mariculture park project are currently undertaken in collaboration with foreign financial institutions and the provincial government. This would connect to the parks in Zamboanga and Palawan.