KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/10 May) – The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) is planning to develop a freshwater fish biodiversity center in the 288,000-hectare Liguasan Marsh, a bailiwick of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Asis G. Perez, BFAR director, said that Liguasan Marsh supports a rich biodiversity that not only includes fresh water fishes but also other wildlife species.
“BFAR is planning to develop a portion of Liguasan Marsh into a center for freshwater fish biodiversity. Tilapia is one of more than a dozen freshwater species found in Liguasan,” he said in a recent statement.
“[The marsh] also supports endemic flora and fauna that include 92 species of birds, six species of reptiles and five species of amphibians, among others,” he added.
Aside from being a stronghold of the MILF, Liguasan Marsh is also reportedly a refuge of criminal elements involved in kidnapping and terrorism.
Perez bared the plan after BFAR, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, released P24.53-million worth of fishery and livelihood projects to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) last month.
Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said the BFAR assistance would benefit thousands of fisherfolk families in the impoverished Muslim region.
He said that ARMM local government units benefiting from the project provided a counterpart, either in the form of labor or materials.
Perez said the amount included the provision of motor engines to 67 patrol boats for the Bantay-Dagat program to protect ARMM municipal waters from illegal fishermen and poachers.
Of the total P24.5 million, more than half or P12.9 million was used to procure 16 units of non-motorized bancas, 15 motor engines, 10 fish driers, 2,500 fish pots and 250 units of gill nets which were distributed to about a thousand fisher-families along the Liguasan Marsh, which is bounded by the provinces of Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat.
Another P8.8 million was allotted for an aquasilviculture program that included the establishment of five multi-species hatcheries (P6M), mangrove rehabilitation (P1.4M), and setting up of 20 aquasilviculture techno-demo farms (P1.36M), BFAR said.
Perez said with the fund infusion from the national government that is matched by beneficiary LGUs, “the potential of further increasing ARMM’s fishery and aquaculture remains high.”
In 2011, the region produced 909,320 metric tons (MT) of fishery and aquaculture products, valued at P14.58 billion at current prices, BFAR said, citing data from the DA’s Bureau of Agricultural Statistics. The volume represents 18.3 percent of the country’s total production, at 4.98 million MT.
The ARMM remains as the country’s top seaweed producer.
Last year, it harvested 686,450 MT valued at P4.3 billion, which represents 37 percent of the country’s total seaweed output, at 1.84 million MT worth P11.39 billion, according to the BAS.
Early this year, Perez said the DA-BFAR conducted a regional consultation in Zamboanga City on a proposed “Fish for Peace” program in Mindanao, attended by dozens of LGU officials who all agreed on the program’s concept.
The “Fish for Peace” program aims to effect sustainable fisheries development in Mindanao through the implementation of environment-friendly livelihood projects, and fishery and marine conservation measures. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)