THE national security establishment has turned its attention to propping up the fisheries industry with a target of continuing the sector’s current growth track of about one percent a year.
National Security Adviser Hermogenes C. Esperon, Jr. said the initiative is part of efforts to build a “blue economy” around better fisheries management which seeks to reverse years of negative growth.
“Now that we have 24 managed fishery areas, if we can take care of that and if we have good fishing volumes from the locals and as well as the other groups, our fisheries industry will improve,” he told BusinessWorld.
“We are aiming for another, if it was positive last year by 1%, probably another 1% for this year then another year 1% then another year. Malaking bagay yun (That would be a big development).”
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the fisheries industry’s output rose 0.92% in 2018 to 4.35 million metric tons.
Mr. Esperon announced Friday that the government will soon release an updated version of the 25-year-old National Marine Policy (NMP). One of the major focuses under the updated NMP will the development of marine resources, including improving fisheries, canneries, shipbuilding, and tourism, among other industries.
He added that one of the strategies for growing the fisheries industry is developing a chain of cold storage centers. “We will be able to develop cold storage all over. Kasi ang limitation sa fishermen natin ngayon (Because the constraint on our fishermen) is their catch cannot immediately absorbed by the market, so we will need cold storage.”
Last week during a briefing in Malacañang, Mr. Esperon valued the fisheries industry’s potential at least P70 billion. He added that the government is also intent on addressing issues that destroy livelihoods, such as overfishing and cyanide fishing.
The National Marine Summit runs to Oct. 30 and will discuss the administrations goals in defending national patrimony and utilizing marine wealth. In relation to fishing, Mr. Esperon said the government is looking to declare a number of marine protected areas.
Mr. Esperon said shipbuilding also has the potential to contribute more to the economy. He added that the Philippine market can be larger than Singapore, which is currently one of the leading shipbuilding industries worldwide despite not having a large land or water territory. — Gillian M. Cortez
