The farmers inspect each monoline of seaweed seedlings to rid it of plastic and other foreign matters. These pollutants pose a threat to the survival of the growing seedlings and affect the quality of the harvest, Eusebio "Sebio" Aboymi, 35 years old, a middleman-farmer, points out.
During the interview of Mang Sebio by this writer, a new Tacloban-based trader delivered buoys, moorings and lines that were distributed to the local fisherfolk association under a contract farming arrangement. Seedlings would likewise be given to the farmers by the trader while the group would supply labor, farm management and maintenance. This means that marketing is not an issue for the association as all harvest would be bought by the trader.
After reluctantly attending a seminar-demo conducted by BFAR, Mang Sebio gained several insights. He realized why the fish catch in their area was declining in terms of both volume and size. He learned of the destructive impact of dynamite and other illegal means of fishing to coral reefs and other fish habitats. More importantly, he realized the imperative of conserving and sustainable development of their remaining coastal resources. And most important of all, he learned that, more than promising a more lucrative alternative livelihood to save fishery, particularly from blast fishing, seaweed farming poses no threat to life and limb. And who could contest him? He lost one finger to dynamite fishing.
Seaweed farming has increased family incomes and brought improvements in the fisherfolks way of life in Ngolos. As how much a farmer earns per harvest depends whether he sells his produce either in fresh or wet form for seedling purposes at P8/kg or in dried form, at P28 to 30/kg for further processing as additive to food, beverage, pharmaceuticals and other purposes. The conversion ratio of wet to dried seaweeds is seven to one, said Noli Briones.
Mang Sebios farm produces mainly seedling materials. He takes pride in saying that Ngolos is now the sole supplier of all the seaweed seedling needs of Region 8. The income he derives from seaweed farming is far greater than what he used to earn from illegal fishing, Mang Sebio points out. As former seafood restaurant worker in Manila, he used to earn only P180/day and as former illegal fisher back home in Guiuan, he used to catch only about five kilos per fishing trip.
This is a far cry from what he is making now. According to Mang Sebio, most of the farmers in Ngolos operate 10 lines and earn at least P10,000/line/harvest every three months. Since he operates a 60-line farm, he earns a total of P60,000 per harvest and because seaweed farming is year-round, his total earnings from the venture is P240,000 per year. Add to this the profit he gains from acting as middleman. He buys all the dried produce of his fellow farmers in the barangay at the prevailing price of P28 to P29/kg and sells them to the bulk buyer at P30/kg. His daily purchase averages to at least three 10-kg sacks or a total of 30 kgs, which he keeps in bulk storage in his nipa hut until the buyer arrives.
Once a week for the past ten years or so, Mang Sebio supplied a truckload equivalent to 5 tons of dried produce to a Cebu trader. A truck contracted by the trader would bring the produce to Tacloban and then transported them to Cebu. Henceforth, Mang Sebio would buy all the groups produce and sell them solely to a new trader from Tacloban who is said to be the buying arm of a Batangas-based seaweed exporter.
To augment his income from seaweeds, he operates two floating cages for sea bass culture near the shore from which he harvests about 100 pieces with weights varying from 0.5 to 0.9 kilos each. At the prevailing price of P1,200/kg of live fish, also earning him a net of about P60,000 per harvest from each cage or a total of P120,000 per year.
These alternative livelihood technologies are also environment-friendly, he adds. In addition to seaweed farming, BFAR Region 1 Director Nestor Domenden is one with Sarmiento in saying that the fishers shift from capture fisheries in municipal waters to mariculture like sea bass culture in floating cages and seaweed farming, allows the sea to rest and for depleted resources to regenerate. Through these alternative livelihood technologies, local fishers could then balance productivity with coastal resource management (CRM), Sarmiento points out.
There are three components of the project: 1) fisheries resources management (FRM); 2) income diversification and enterprise development (ID-SE); and 3) capacity building. FRM includes such activities as resource enhancement projects (REPs), licensing and law enforcement, information, education and communication (IEC).
ID-SE includes community organizing and livelihood training, among them seaweed farming. Capacity building covers institution building, organization development and human resources skills training. Now on its sixth year, FRMP is funded by loans from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) with counterpart funds from the national and local governments.