FISH Visayas Project bridges skills gap in seafood processing

The Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) thru its Assessment, Certification and Accreditation Services (ACAS), in partnership with the AFOS Foundation for Entrepreneurial Development under the FISH Visayas Project, hosted the Seafood Processing Focus Group Discussion on October 11 at the Don Ramon Aboitiz Boardroom, Cebu Chamber Centre.

The meeting convened a diverse group of companies and academic institutions to pinpoint challenging job positions within industries that require specialized skills and collaboration across sectors.

One of the identified hard-to-fill positions in the seafood processing and manufacturing industries is Research and Development Officer and Food Safety Handler. One of the key objectives of the Dual Education Training (DET) program of the FISH Visayas Project is to bring in more industry partners and expand the distribution of learners and graduates. The meeting conducted was a significant step closer to realizing DET's vision.

The DET program aim is to address the industry's job-skills mismatch, thereby contributing to improving the workforce's skills and creating economic prosperity for individuals, businesses, and communities.

Through potential company sponsors and support from academia, workers will be equipped with the skills needed in thriving industries through upskilling and upscaling programs. Moreover, with the need to produce a more competent workforce and address job mismatches, FISH Visayas, through the DET program, invites companies to support the DET Program to help both enterprises and individuals in need of jobs.

Hence, the program follows a two-way approach: it reduces the unemployment rate by producing employment-ready graduates, and companies become more efficient in their production as their workers gain the necessary skills. As DET paves the way for a skilled and competent workforce, it simultaneously fuels economic prosperity on multiple fronts—individuals find livelihoods, businesses thrive, and communities prosper.

The meeting was attended by AKAI Foods Inc., LCG Seafood Trading, Siargao's Bounty Seafood Corp., Phil-Union Frozen Foods, Inc, and Seamaster Seafood Product. On the other hand, Salazar Colleges of Science and Institute of Technology, University of Cebu Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue, and CITE Technical Institute were among the participating schools from the academic side.

To know more about FISH Visayas’ DET Program, you may get in touch with Karen Joy Autor at 09996111506 ([email protected]) or Bienvinido Canangga at [email protected].