September 25, 2006

 

Philippines to double the number of its mariculture parks

 

 

Philippines' fish production has just received a shot in the arm with PHP86.6 million (US$1.7 million) in funding for 31 new community-based mariculture parks.

 

The funding would be part of the 2007 national budget, Camarines Sur Representative Luis Villafuerte, chairman of the House committee on fisheries and aquaculture, said.

 

Villafuerte said this doubles to 62 the number of mariculture parks in municipal waters countrywide.

 

Mariculture parks are integrated pond systems that allow breeding of high-value marine species in submersible cages.

 

The parks have been indispensable to fishing communities, helping them increase

production and income while protecting the marine environment against excessive exploitation and destructive catching methods, he said.

 

Compared to fishponds, Villafuerte said, mariculture parks are more cost-effective for small fishing communities, who can group themselves as start-up growers and obtain cheap financing from state-run agencies.

 

The initiative ensures that subsistence fishers or even fishpond wage workers get a chance to become cultivators and surplus producers, he said.

 

Philippines' largest mariculture park, launched in Calabarzon, Quezon province  last year, covers 500 hectares and spans 12 coastal barangays (community villages).

 

It has since lured breeders of different specides of fishes, edible seaweed, crab, lobster, abalone, sea urchin and sea cucumber.

 

Calabarzon, Manila's main supplier of fishery and aquacutlure products, has been expanding its aquaculture sector at double-digit rates.