CEBU CITY – The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Central Visayas (BFAR-7) has dispersed 26,000 common carp fingerlings in different fishery sites and fresh water areas in Bohol and 3,500 more fingerlings in the fresh water areas in Camotes Island in Cebu.
The dispersal is in line with the government’s effort to sustain fish production in Central Visayas amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
Allan Poquita, BFAR-7 regional director, said the project seeks to assist fish farmers and people’s organizations in improving their livelihood in tilapia and other fresh fish backyard farming to further boost the inland aquaculture in the region through the agency’s “Balik Sigla sa Ilog at Lawa” (BASIL) program.
Under this, the BFAR-7 Bohol Provincial Fishery Office (PFO) also dispersed from June to August about 3,000 common carp (Cyprinus carpio) fingerlings into Matinao Lake in Barangay Matinao, Sierra Bullones town and 8,000 fingerlings to Bongbong Dam in Barangay Bongbong in Ubay town.
The Bohol PFO, along with the project managers, also released 10,000 fingerlings to Zamora Dam in Barangay Zamora and another 5,000 to San Roque Dam in Barangay San Roque in Talibon town.
Gaymelo Lopez, head of the BFAR-7’s Clarin Freshwater Fish Farm (CFFF) that these fingerlings were sourced out from the various hatcheries in the province and released in various fresh water areas to increase the carp fish population in Central Visayas through BFAR’s Stock Enhancement Program.
“These fishery areas have existing common carp species and with the assistance from BFAR-7, it is hoped that these will flourish in number,” Lopez said.
In similar development, the BFAR-7’s Lake Danao Freshwater Fish Farm (LDFFF) based in Camotes Island in Cebu hopped from one village to the other in the towns of San Francisco and Poro to monitor the tilapia backyard farms that are supported and assisted by the bureau.
There are seven fresh water fishery sites in San Francisco and Poro towns in Camotes Island that are found in Sitio Bagacawa and Sitio Kansuting in Barangay Mercedes, Poro; Sitio Patabog in Barangay Union, Sitio Cogon in Barangay Esperanza; Barangays Montealegre and Barangay Northern Poblacion; and Sitio Kanlayog in Barangay Sta. Cruz, all based in San Francisco.
The monthly monitoring is in collaboration with the local government units of San Francisco and Poro and participated by the Cebu Technological University (CTU)- San Francisco Campus.
The team has also dispersed some 3,500 tilapia fingerlings backyard farms located in those areas, owned either by private clients or marginal fishers tagged as beneficiaries of government’s livelihood program.
They also assessed the progress of the farms and gave some recommendations on how to increase their fish production. (PNA)