REPRIEVE. The Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Aquatic Resources will temporarily allow the catching, possessing, transporting, trading, and selling of mangrove crabs. The agency said it wants to support the aquaculture industry to mitigate the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. (Photo courtesy of DA-BFAR)
MANILA – The Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) temporarily suspended an order that prohibits catching, possessing, transporting, trading, and selling of mangrove crabs.
DA-BFAR halted Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) No. 264 series of 2020 to further support the aquaculture industry in this time of the Covid-19 pandemic, the agency stated in an administrative circular on Tuesday.
FAO No. 264 regulates the movement of mangrove crabs, juvenile mangrove crabs, and gravid mangrove crabs.
The suspension of FAO 264 Section 3 “allows crab breeders, traders, and growers to catch, transport, trade, and sell juvenile mangrove crab and mangrove crablets caught from the wild that are less than five centimeters wide in shell, provided that these crabs are used only for aquaculture.”
The administrative circular will remain in effect until the withdrawal of Proclamation No. 922 or the State of Public Health Emergency, or after one year, “whichever comes first”.
FAO 264, released January 2020, stated that registered traders and growers shall only buy/collect mangrove crabs from gatherers registered with the Fisherfolk Registry and with a license/permit from the local government unit.
DA Undersecretary for Agri-industrialization and Fisheries Cheryl Caballero earlier mentioned that the agriculture office is pushing for the aquaculture industry among Filipino farmers during the pandemic to further ensure food security.
The call came amid unstable supplies of pork and pork products due to the African swine fever. (PNA)
