Just as the concern on high prices of fish in Bohol shoots to boiling point, the second district just poised in time with the P2.85-million Community Fish Landing Center (CFLC) inaugurated in Ubay.
Now with 11 CFLCs in Bohol, the province will then be able to hold a buffer stock of fish to address the shortage of supply during bad weather that prevents fishermen from venturing to the sea.
Second District Rep. Erico Aristotle Aumentado, who graced the event on January 9, told The Chronicle the new CFLC in Ubay will help address the issue on high prices of fish in Bohol since the facility can be utilized as satellite market in the town.
He said it has a storage facility where the fishermen can refrigerate their daily catch for it to be available the following day.
Aumentado also said that aside from serving as a fish hub, it will also be a bagsakan center for farm produce, thus helping both the fishermen and the farmers.
“Ang fish landing mo-establisar og usa ka lugar diin mahimo nga usa ka bagsakan area diin ang mga fish buyers modugok. Mas maka-demand ang mananagat ug arang-arang nga presyo sa ilang abot ikumpara kon sila nagkabwagsa,” according to Aumentado.
The fish landing facility will also protect the fishing boats from being carried away by the sea current since there are bollards where mooring lines will be placed.
“Kining fish landing para ni pag-protect sa mga sakayan sa mga fishermen nga bisag asa lang ibutang ug dali madala ug dagkong nga bawod kon dunay bagyo, kay sa fish landing butangan og kahigtan sa mga sakayan aron dili maanod,” Aumentado added.
The CFLC is a project of the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), National Fisheries Development Corporation with funds allocated in the General Appropriations Act approved by Congress and facilitated by the national government through the National Anti-Poverty Commission.
It is the 11th CFLC in Bohol and the seventh in the second district.
Tagbilaran City is also one of the recipients of the CFLC project of BFAR.
Late last year, the city government signed a memorandum of agreement with BFAR for the multi-million-peso livelihood project intended to uplift the living conditions of the fisherfolk.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod had approved on August 11 last year, a resolution authorizing City Mayor John Geesnell Yap II to enter into a MOA 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 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”.