COASTAL VILLAGE. Children play on the shore in the coastal barangay of Macabalan, Cagayan de Oro City, as a fishing boat floats idly nearby. The Region 10 office of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources is located in this coastal barangay. (Photo by Jigger J. Jerusalem)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The creation of a fisheries agency independent from the Department of Agriculture (DA) would be a welcome development given that the country is made up of thousands of islands, an official of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) said Tuesday.
Teodoro Bacolod Jr., BFAR-10 director, said the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR) proposed earlier by deputy House Speaker Rufus Rodriguez would enhance the Philippines’ fisheries sector.
"The establishment of the DFAR would mean a new and separate agency that will address issues such as inadequate budget, insufficient resources and equipment, and lack of skilled technical personnel," Bacolod said.
In a statement, Rodriguez said there is a need to establish the DFAR considering that the country is “blessed by enormous bodies of water with abundant marine resources.”
“Two-thirds of the territorial area of the Philippines is composed of water, covering a total area of 171 million hectares. For this reason, a significant number of Filipinos engage in fishing as their main source of livelihood,” he said.
He said the proposed DFAR has to be created “to ensure the preservation and proper development of the nation’s archipelago waters and marine resources.”
The planned new department, Rodriguez said, shall have the power to manage, develop, protect, conserve, and use all fisheries and aquatic resources of the country, except for municipal waters, which shall remain under the jurisdiction of local government units.
“This is to make sure that the country's marine wealth is to be exclusively used for the benefit of the Filipino people. The creation of the DFAR will help in pursuing the government's thrust to increase food production to meet the demands of our fast growing population and alleviate poverty among fishermen,” he added.
The BFAR’s regional office here, for instance, has operated on a PHP150-million budget this year. Rodriguez, however, said the region’s fisherfolk could have been served better if there was ample funding for the provision of motorized boats and equipment and the latest technical knowledge on fisheries.
Of the budget’s total amount, Bacolod said 80 percent went to interventions including the distribution of fishing boats and gear, technical assistance, training, and loan program that benefited the region’s 200,000 fisherfolk.
Under DFAR, he said, the agency can also hire and deploy more fisheries technicians at the local governments to assist fishing communities.
“Right now, we lack technical people at the local government unit level. We need LGU technicians to monitor and implement fisheries projects,” Bacolod said. (PNA)
