The Tagbilaran City government is set to sign a memorandum of agreement with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources for the multi-million-peso livelihood project intended to uplift the living conditions of the fisherfolk.

The Sangguniang Panlungsod already approved during its regular session on August 11, a resolution authorizing City Mayor John Geesnell Yap II to enter into a memorandum of agreement with BFAR-7 to be represented by Regional Director Allan Poquita for the implementation of the Targeted Action to Reduce Poverty and Generate Economic Transformation (TARGET) Program.

The resolution, sponsored by Councilor Dulce Amelia Glovasa, stated that the city “government recognizes the 3rd Social Agenda of our government which is poverty alleviation and inclusive growth for sectors with high poverty incidence to include the fishery sector”.

“This program shall use the fisherfolk database both generated through the national program for municipal Fisherfolk Registration System (Fish R) and the National Household Targetting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTSPR) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and will be provided with livelihood intervention such as inputs and farm implements after a thorough process of validation and assessment by the Fisheries Livelihood Development Technician (FLDT),” according to Glovasa.

BFAR launched the TARGET Program in November 2014 with the intention of constructing “252 Community Fish Landing Centers (CFLCs) in strategic areas nationwide to improve the socio-economic conditions of fisherfolk communities with high poverty incidence”.

The TARGET Program serves as the umbrella program under which the establishment of CFLCs falls.

The construction of fish landing centers is aimed at promoting inclusive growth in the fishery sector by reducing fisheries post-harvest losses from 25 percent to 18 percent or lower.

Each CFLC is estimated to cost P P2.85 million and is designed to “house post-harvest equipment and tools that will enable fisherfolk to preserve the good quality of their fish and fishery products, which they could sell for a higher price”, according to BFAR.

The city government will operate the CFLCs first once they completed and will later turn them over to fisherfolk cooperative.

Also based on Fish R, BFAR will provide the city government with “fisheries livelihood projects amounting to P2 million.

The fish landing centers will also benefit the local consumers since it will provide them “better access to safe and quality fishery commodities”.

“Skills trainings on disaster-resilient fisheries-based livelihoods and resource management such as monitoring fish catch and stock assessment” can also be done at the facilities of the fish land centers.

BFAR will assess project areas “based on poverty incidence, municipal density, fish production, number of registered fisherfolk and number of existing fish ports and fish landing areas”.