Asian fisheries execs meet in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines - Representatives from 10 Asian countries gathered in Cebu for a five-day meeting to promote sustainable fisheries development in the region.

The 45th council meeting of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) kicked-off yesterday at the Radisson Blu Hotel. The meeting which the Philippines is hosting this year will discuss new technologies that fisher folk can use to ensure abundant fish supply in the future.

SEAFDEC is an inter-governmental organization established to promote sustainable fisheries development.

Department of Agriculture (DA) spokesperson Salvador Salacup, who was yesterday’s keynote speaker, welcomed and thanked the council directors who committed to their goal.

“It is very important we secure fish security but then the challenges are how to maintain this and how to sustain measures to ensure that we will have abundant fish in the generations to come,” said Salacup, who is also assistant secretary for Fisheries, Agribusiness and Marketing of DA.

Salacup said SEAFDEC and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources are faced with challenges, one of which is climate change.

“We experience now different seasonalities, which affect the productivity levels of our fishery resources,” he added.

Lawyer Asis Perez, director of BFAR who represented the Philippines, said the country’s fishery is on its way to recovery following the fishing ban previously implemented. In the past 40 years, he said, fish production in the country had negative growth.

“We have now seen increase in the production starting last year. Our export for tuna has increased by 40 percent from 2011 to 2012,”said Perez in a press conference yesterday. He said the increase was P40 billion worth.

The BFAR director said they will adopt better measures for fish conservation including aquaculture to maintain being in the top five nations in terms of fish production.

Aside from the Philippines, the meeting is being attended by council directors from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. There was no representative from Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Perez said he directed BFAR-Cebu to investigate the recent killing and attempt to sell of a Mobula Ray in a Cebu City market last Wednesday.

“Philippines is one of the very few countries that preserves manta ray. If we determine who the culprits are, we’ll definitely prosecute them,” said Perez.

The Cebu City Fisheries Division confiscated an estimated 60 kilos of Mobula Ray, which was reportedly transported illegally from Bohol.  (FREEMAN)