WV fishery sector sets measures to reduce El Niño effects

ILOILO CITY — The fisheries sector in Western Visayas is preparing mitigation measures to curb production and income loss caused by the El Niño climate phenomenon, according to Janice Tronco Ragus, an aquaculturist at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR-6).

BFAR-6’s El Niño mitigation measures cover aquaculture fishponds, seaweed farms, shellfish farms, capture fisheries, and fish habitats in Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental provinces.

For aquaculture fishponds, El Niño mitigation measures include early harvesting; reduction of stock and crop rates; recycle wastewater with the use of settling ponds; planting of trees around ponds to reduce thermal stress; and adjusting crop calendars.

For seaweed farms, BFAR- 6 advises that deep water culture must be implemented as well as maintaining seaweed nursery to ensure replenishment of stocks.

For shellfish farms, there must be raft culture method for easy management and continuous of water quality.

For capture fisheries, there must be a deployment of artificial reefs to increase potential fish stocks.

For fish habitats, there must be stronger monitoring of coral reef sites and curb human-induced stressed to corals. Warmer temperatures have led to coral bleaching and loss of seagrass.

BFAR-6 has currently funded 14.9 mil- lion for various intervention projects against El Niño’s impact in the six provinces.

On the other hand, Ragus said there is no scientific data that links El Niño to the recurrence of red tide poison that results to making shellfishes not healthy for human consumption.

At the onset of El Niño during the last quarter of 2015, red tide alert was raised in three provinces of Panay Island as well as Negros Occidental province. But the red tide alert was lifted in most of those areas by February 2016.

According to Ragus, the red tide incident only resulted to loss of potential market sales of shellfishes and not the entire fishing sector. She added that fisherfolks still earned from harvesting other types of fishes.