RDC 7 to LGUs: set up mariculture zones

FIRST IN THE COUNTRY

IN ANOTHER first all over the country, the Central Visayas Regional Development Council (RDC 7) Friday urged local government units (LGUs) with municipal waters to establish mariculture zones within their respective jurisdictions. In their full council meeting Friday at the Bohol Tropics Resort Club in Tagbilaran City , the members passed a resolution urging LGUs to establish such zones based on the guidelines and criteria set by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

Oriental Negros Gov. George Arnaiz who came in all the way from Manila presided over the meeting. He took over from Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado who gave up the post in favor of the presidencies of the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP). While still a member, Aumentado however failed to attend the meeting as he was out of the country as part of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's official delegation to Rome and Spain. Argeo Melisimo of the First Consolidated Bank in Bohol presented the resolution.

It admitted that the yield in fish catch has now declined due to over-fishing and destruction of marine habitat, hence the BFAR's thrust of encouraging fishermen to shift from capture fisheries to a more aggressive but environment-friendly fish farming livelihood options. It also acknowledged the important role of aquaculture in fish food production – now hampered by the limited area for inland expansion and land use regulation, paving the way for the best alternative so far: mariculture that has vast marine potentials.

BFAR defines mariculture zones as areas within or outside of any municipal waters wherein various mariculture projects including support infrastructure in commercial scale can be established in a contiguous manner. But the Fisheries Code of 1998 requires that mariculture areas be designated within municipal waters by the LGUs in consonance with the Department of Natural Resources (DENR) and BFAR rules and regulations. BFAR 7 set such guidelines in consultation with concerned agencies as approved by the RDC Economic Development Committee (EDC).

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