BFAR Assistant Regional Director Lois June Fermi in a recent interview over PIA Hour radio said that the national fisherfolk registry programme or FishR (Fisherfolk Registration) was launched by BFAR second semester of 2013 and targets to provide a national registry of all people in the fishery sector - either engage to capture (fishermen) or engage to fisheries, aquaculture, fish processing and other post-harvest sectors, including fish vendors.
Generally, it aims to advocate the protection of the rights of every fisherfolk and to have a baseline data in crafting appropriate national policies and programs that will effectively respond to the need of every Filipino that are in the fishery sector.
Fermin said that under the FishR programme, they have already registered almost 4,000 fisherfolks in the region. Based on the National Statistics Office (NSO) led Census on Agriculture and Fisheries and on BFAR’s recent data, the estimate fisherfolks in Cordillera is around 20,000.
To register, Fermin said fisherfolks can go to the BFAR egional office in Guisad Road, Baguio City or they register through the assistance of the provincial/municipal agriculture officer in their respective localities.
Fermin bared that despite Cordillera being a land locked region, there is an increasing trend in people engaging in fish farming as livelihood, which currently involves around 4,000 hectares in the different parts of the region, mostly into growing tilapia, cauurp and catfish.
As for BFAR programs for the fishery sector, he informed that they have been into distribution of fingerlins through their fish farms in La Trinidad, Benguet, Aguinaldo, Ifugao and Rizal , Kalinga as well as into provision of fish farming demo projects and into integrated project for rice and fish farming.
BFAR is also always ready to provide training and technical assistance to those who want to engage in fish farming.
Meantime, in ensuring the steady supply of fish and other marine products in the region, she also reports that they have set- up 10 ffishhmarts and 19 Bagsakan sa Barangay all over the region.
