Ubay has been eyed as home base of fish trading in Bohol in the design to lower the prices of fish.
Second District Rep. Erico Aristotle Aumentado designed this to address the concerns on high prices of fish in Bohol.
Aumentado’s chief of staff, Antonieto Pernia, explained that the plan is to put up a big fish port in Talibon while what is in Ubay is a fish landing center.
The fish landing in Ubay will serve to consolidate the fish catch of the fisherfolk.
He further explained that if the fisherfolk would sell their catch outside Bohol at a low price, they would tend to resort to illegal fishing to increase their income.
“Ang fish landing is in Ubay para lang na pag-consolidate sa abot sa atong mga fisherfolk kay kung ang fisherfolk mamaligya og ilang isda sa gawas on their own, mas barato man gud ang palit so mo-resort ni sila og illegal fishing para modako ang ilang income,” according to Pernia.
To address this, Pernia said they will facilitate a bagsakan center wherein traders from Tagbilaran will compete in buying their products, but the plan is to have the big fish port in Talibon, considering that the fishermen from the islands end up in Talibon.
The bagsakan center will be managed by the cooperatives.
He added that the Aumentado will provide a mechanism to consolidate the fish catch and Tagbilaran will be provided with a cold storage facility and the vendors will be grouped.
The group in Tagbilaran will directly negotiate with those in Ubay where they would buy by volume.
What would be delivered to Tagbilaran is the exact volume of order to avoid wastage, and there would be no middlemen.
The traders in Bohol will bid and the supply will be brought to Tagbilaran.
Pernia also explained that the vendors will be grouped into an association and the one from the association who will buy the supply of fish from Ubay bagsakan center will share it with the other members so that they would not compete among themselves that might resort to overpricing just to ensure one gets the supply for himself.
The price would depend on the weather or the fishing season.
The purpose of having a big cold storage is to have a place to store the fish supply.
Pernia explained that during fishing season and during good weather when there is abundant fish catch, the supply of fish will be bought at a good price.
When the bad weather or off-season comes and the fish supply is low, the price in the market will not be affected.
This is so, because the supply fish catch that had been placed at the cold storage during times when the supply is abundant will just be released to the market.
This is a way to control the prices of fish as there would then be an assurance of sufficient supply, according to Pernia.
When the supply of fish in Talibon is abundant, the fishermen will still be able to sell the excess supply as the association of vendors that will be formed will serve as its ready market.
This is to prevent the situation where the fishermen will be forced to sell the excess supply to Cebu at low price which is disadvantageous to the fishermen.
The excess supply that are bought will just have to be stored and will be released at times when there is low supply of fish such like when there is a typhoon or when it is full moon.