Northern Mindanao Eyed as Bangus(Milkfish) Capital of the South
Cagayan De Oro City. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources is eyeing at least a 25 percent increase in bangus(milkfish) production in Region 10 beginning next year following the recent opening of the first government operated milkfish hatchery in Sagay, Camiguin.
In his report to Agriculture Secretary Yap, BFAR national director Malcolm I. Sarmiento, Jr. said that the hatchery is the third of four interlinked facilities programmed to be established in this region that would ensure the holistic development of the bangus industry of Northern Mindanao.
“Next year, we expect to start the groundwork for the construction of a P10M fish processing plant as negotiations are already underway for the acquisition of the lot”, Sarmiento added.
“We now see the full spectrum of bangus production in locations that are strategic to each otherstarting from egg production in the regional milkfish breeding center in Benoni, Mahinog; followed by the hatching of eggs and rearing into fry and fingerling at the Sagay Hatchery; to the grow-out of fingerling to marketable size in fish cages at the Mariculture Park in Balingasag and finally to the processing plant where the fish are processed for value adding”, Sarmiento said.
Sarmiento explained that such spatial arrangement is appropriate for a region that is almost landlocked. “The reduction of travel time spells out economy in terms of transport cost, more importantly, ensuring better quality of the produce”, he added.
According to the Bureau of Agriculture Statistics, bangus production is steadily increasing from 149T metric tons in 1993 to 289T metric tons in 2005. The top three producers of bangus include Region 6 ( Iloilo ) at 67.7T metric tons Region 1 (Pangasinan) at 6iT metric tons and Region 3 (Pampanga) at 60.2T metric tons. The whole of Mindanao managed to come up with only 46.2T metric tons with Region 12 (Cotabato) topping the list at 13.2T metric tons.
Earlier, BFAR Region 10 headed by regional director Arlene Pantanosas, said that the commercial production of bangus eggs in its milkfish breeding facility started early this year. The breeding facility uses fish cages anchored in a 16-hectare man-made lagoon continuously fed by the pristine waters surrounding the island.
BFAR national director Malcolm I. Sarmiento, Jr. said that hatchery is the third of four interlinked facilities programmed to be established in Northern Mindanao that would ensure the holistic development of the region.
Former SEAFDEC scientist, Dr. Arnel Imata who serves as BFAR consultant for bangus brood stock development in the region said that the said facility which maintains loo pieces of bangus broodstocks could easily produce more than 6 million fry annually.
“This is more than enough to supply the needs of loo fish cages.” Imata said. He explained that at three croppings per year, the total fingerling requirements would total to 4.5 million.
“Given a survival rate of 90 percent, the annual production could reach up to 2,200 metric tons - around 25 percent increase in the region’s annual bangus production which is only 8,017 metric tons in 2005″, he added.
Currently, the newly opened mariculture park in Balingasag has already 23 cages, 17 of which are stocked with bangus .
RD Pantanosas said that with these facilities in place, BFAR Region 10 is expecting to generate at least 1,110 jobs in addition to the revenue that will be generated from product sales.
