Mindanaotoday.com | BFAR-10 hosts NSAP FMA-9 ecosystem workshop in Oro
By: CL Viajante
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – As one of the Fisheries Management Area 9’s (FMA-9) science providers, the National Stock Assessment Program (NSAP) through the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-10 (BFAR-10), conducted a three-day workshop on the identification of ecosystem for the FMA-9 top species in this city from July 25-27, 2022.
Spearheading all covered FMA-9 areas, BFAR-10 hosted this first face-to-face focus group discussion with representatives from regions 7,8,9, and CARAGA aimed to formulate reference points (RP), harvest control rules (HCR), and harvest control measures (HCM) to ensure the area’s sustainable management of aquatic resources.
“I hope that you (participants) will take every step of this analysis seriously since this greatly affects our productivity. We from BFAR-10, as the lead region, highly needed a scientific explanation so that we will know what steps we should take towards putting enough food on the table for the Filipino families without compromising the source, which are the seas, rivers, and lakes,” emphasized Teodoro A. Bacolod Jr., BFAR-10 regional director.
The NSAP, in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), identified the top 20 commercially important species, top five invertebrates, and top five demersal species present in the Bohol Sea, Cogtong Bay, Guindulman Bay, Sogod Bay, Murcielagos Bay, Camiguin Waters, Iligan Bay, Macajalar Bay, Panguil Bay, Gingoog Bay, and Butuan Bay after a series of scientific analyses.
With the aforementioned workshop, the member regions pointed out, dwindled down, and specified major factors that threaten the said FMA-9 species vital for an environmentally balanced and continuous production in its seas.
Guided, assisted, critiqued, and assessed by Dr. Jose Ingles and Jimely Flores from the EDF and representatives from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Region 10 (DENR), these consultant scientists served as pillars for the workshop participant’s salient decision-making in the FMA-9 hazards enumeration analysis.
“We have our Comprehensive Assessment for Risk Ecosystem (CARE) analysis tool as the next step after this preparatory analysis. At this stage, we assessed the habitats of the 30 identified top species in FMA-9 and pinpointed factors that are affecting their productivity to be presented to the scientific advisory group (SAG),” elaborated Princess Mae Cena, BFAR-10’s FMA-9 SAG Coordinator
Furthermore, Cena revealed that as assessed, they have determined three of the major hazards that threatened the FMA-9 identified species such as; illegal fishing using dynamite and cyanide, water pollution including siltation, domestic and industrial wastes, and unregulated legal fishing. (CLV | BFAR-10)
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