Three times weekly, Panabo City comes alive as early as 2 a.m. when container loads of fresh bangus are whisked into the loading area, promptly sorted out according to size, iced, and then loaded onto vans for delivery to the market.
By 8 a.m. the total haul would have reached five to six tons, and 30,000 fingerlings would have also been unloaded and seeded into fish cages offshore to be grown to market size again in four months for the next harvest time.
This bustling activity is now a regular scene on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at the shoreline of the 1,075-hectare Panabo Mariculture Park in Panabo City, Davao del Norte.