Fish production grows 5.5% to 3.1-M tons in ’01

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) projected yesterday a 10-percent increase in fish production this year, with much of the growth to come from aquaculture, including marine culture or mariculture.

The fishery sector grew by 5.5 percent in 2001, with the aquaculture subsector growing by 10.6 percent, municipal fishermen subsector by 4.4 percent and the commercial subsector by four percent.

BFAR Director Malcolm Sarmiento Jr. told newsmen at the Fish Talk forum hosted by the Philippine Agricultural Journalists and sponsored by the Fisheries Resources Management Program (FRMP) of BFAR, that total fish production this year will reach 3.2 million metric tons.

He projected that in 10 years, the aquaculture sector will supply over 50 percent of the country’s total fish requirement. BFAR considers this as the "ideal ratio."

Sarmiento reported that total fisheries output steadily increased from 2.7 million metric tons in 1998 to 2.8 million MT in 1999; 2.9 million MT in 2000 and 3.1 million MT in 2001. Of this output, 35 percent came from aquaculture, 33 percent from municipality fisheries and 32 percent from commercial fisheries.

Sarmiento said BFAR will launch this year three more mariculture parks (the first being Samal Island, launched in November 2001) to be located in Subic, Masinloc, Zambales and in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. Next year, another four mariculture parks will be set up mostly in the Visayas and Mindanao.

In the Samal Island mariculture park, he said, BFAR set aside 50 hectares (out of 200 hectares) for BFAR techno center, where municipal fishermen can be accommodated in the areas nearest to BFAR’s. The fishermen to be affected by the mariculture park will be provided with seacages and inputs for the next two cropping seasons. Similar schemes will be adopted in other mariculture parks.

Sarmiento said aquaculture fishing has enabled the Philippines to reduce its dependence on the depleted marine fisheries while at the same time covering adequate supply of affordable fish to the people.