BFAR eyes more community fish landing centers

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) plans to build 252 community fish landing centers in strategic fishing communities to reduce post-harvest losses, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said recently.

The fish landing centers, costing P2.85 million each, would house post-harvest equipment and tools that would enable fisherfolk to preserve the freshness of their catch as well as the value.

Local consumers would also benefit from the fish landing centers as they would have better access to safe and quality fishery products.

The facilities would also be used as venues for trainings on fisheries resource management.

“The construction of the fish landing centers is part of the government’s commitment to deliver precise intervention and promote inclusive growth in the fishery sector,” said Alcala.

The Department of Agriculture, through the BFAR, targets to reduce post-harvest losses from 25 percent to at least 18 percent.

Fisheries director Asis Perez said the bureau made use of its own fisherfolk database and the Registry System for Basic Sector in Agriculture (RSBSA) of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) – with the assistance of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) – in determining the sites where the CFLCS would  be established.

Based on NAPC’s recommendation, the areas were assessed based on poverty incidence, municipal density, fish production, number of registered fisherfolk and number of existing fish ports and fish landing areas.

Perez said that upon completion, the fish landings would first be operated by the local government units (LGUs) and later on by qualified fisherfolk cooperatives.

In a related development, the BFAR, in partnership with Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart), launched the Boat Admeasurement Mobile Application to fast track the national program on the municipal fishing vessels and gears registration (BoatR).

Under this program, BFAR would provide municipal agriculture officers a tablet where the mobile application could  be accessed.

BFAR also announced that 100 municipalities have already completed their fisherfolk database under the national program for municipal fisherfolk registration also known as FishR.

Perez said each municipality would now receive fisheries livelihood projects amounting to P2 million from the bureau.