Lessening the tension of fishing and opening up alternatives to fish-bank and reduce pressure on the overburdened sea is a direction the Provincial Government picked as moves to highlight in fish conservation ripple across the province.

Overfishing and the recent spate of calamities hitting Bohol’s crucial fishing communities delivered the coup de grace for fisher folks  who have been allegedly burdened by diminishing catch, unsustainable harvest fishing and environmentally destructive methods, according to fishery stakeholders as shared by EcoFISH project through Aniceta Gulayan.

And to this, fishery sector chief of the office of the Provincial Agriculture Remedios Regacho said the earthquake of 2103 and the series of typhoons hitting coastal communities in Bohol triggered the flow of government assistance for communities.

For Bohol fisheries and the goal to lessen fishing pressure, the earthquake rehabilitation assistance project as well as the Yolanda, Queenie, Ruby and Seniang, the government looked at the issue of fish conservation as opening up alternatives.

Regacho shared that the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources funded in Bohol the restoration of ruined seaweeds farms which the three last quarter storms ravished.

She reasoned out that the OPA believes if people have seaweed farms to tend, we urge people to farm than fish.

About 64 people’s organizations received seaweed planting materials as well as technical support for the rehabilitation of ruined farms, she narrated.

Moreover, in areas in Talibon, Loon, Tagbilaran, Candijay, Dauis and Panglao, the government handed in 50 fish cages while it also supported the fish supply of bangus fry for the cages, she said.

Even then, the fishery sector chief revealed that BFAR also handed tilapia and bangus fingerlings even as BFAR Bohol officer-in-Charge Leo Bongalos said they also hands in certificates of awards to cross-matched Department of Social Welfare and Development to Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program beneficiaries.

All we need to have are these fishermen 4Ps beneficiaries registering in the national fisheries registration so we could get the assistance going their way, Bongalos explained at Kapihan s PIA on fish conservation last week.

For generations, our idea of fisheries is still that of a hunter, who may end up after a day with nothing for the table, this idea of fish farming and fish production elevates us from the crude time to a more organized human community, BFAR said. (rac/PIA-7/Bohol)