Mariculture park on the drawing board

A mariculture park in the country is now looming large on the horizon.

Set to conduct a study and initiate the piloting of such a park is the Society of Aquaculture Engineers of the Philippines, Inc. (SAEP).

SAEP agreed to spearhead the move during its 13th annual meeting held recently at the Central Philippines University (CPU) in Iloilo City.

Along this line, a multi-disciplinary task force will be created to prepare a feasibility study of the project and, once the costs are estimated, to find funding sources.

Toward this end, Dr. Rolando Platon, chief of the Tigbauan, Iloilo-based Southeast Asian Fisheries Development center Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC AQD) and SAEP immediate past president, pledged the full technical support of his institute.

Sani Macabalang, Region 12 director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), offered to collaborate with SAEP in setting up a mariculture park within Iligan Bay in northern Mindanao since the Lanao del Norte provincial government is interested in promoting mariculture. In fact, he reported, it has set aside funds for the purpose.

A mariculture park is an area in marine waters designated for mariculture (growing of marine species) and provided with the appropriate infrastructure to make it convenient to install and operate.

It will operate very much like a marina where private yachts can dock and avail themselves of service utilities for a fee. Like a marina, the mariculture park shall be provided with mooring facilities and perhaps even a floating breakwater.

ON land, said SAEP, docking facilities to make it easy to land and market the harvest will also be provided. The difference is that while a marina caters to the rich and is intended for pleasure craft, the mariculture park is intended as a livelihood center primarily for fisherfolk.