Samar capital gets new fish landing center

CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar, Jan. 3 (PNA) -- The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the city government here inaugurated on Tuesday the community fish landing center in the bid to enhance marine products trading in eight coastal villages.

The fisheries bureau financed the project through the agency’s PHP2.85 million bottom-up budgeting funds.

The government hopes to raise the income of residents in coastal villages through the new fish landing center in Silanga village.

“I urge you to take care of this project because this is for your family’s future,” Mayor Stephanie Uy-Tan said.

The center houses post-harvest equipment and tools that will enable fisher folks to preserve the good quality of marine products.

Among these are two chest freezers for ice production designed to maintain the freshness of marine product, hence, increasing its market value.

Each unit can produce 100 to 200 ice packs a day, supporting the requirement of 20 to 40 fishermen in the community.

Uy-Tan added that part of the fish landing project is the strict implementation and enforcement of fishery laws to ensure sustainable fish production.

“The strict implementation of fishery laws is meant to bring back the abundant marine resources of our sea waters that provides income to the fishermen,” the mayor told PNA.

“Local consumers will also benefit from the fish landing centers as they will have better access to safe and quality fishery commodities,” BFAR Eastern Visayas Regional Director Juan Albaladejo said.

The facility will also be opened as venues for skills trainings on disaster-resilient fisheries-based livelihoods and resource management such as monitoring fish catch and stock assessment.

The National Anti-Poverty Commission recommendation the recipient areas based on poverty incidence, town density, fish production, number of registered fisherfolk and number of existing fish ports and fish landing areas. (PNA)
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