SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union — The Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has established 44 Community Fish Landing Centers (CFLC) in Region 1, which were designed to ensure high quality products for consumers thus providing good income for fisherfolk.
Launched in 2015, the CLFC project addresses problems with seafood safety and improves handling of these products.
Mea Baldonado, officer-in-charge of Fisheries Post-Harvest and Marketing Division- BFAR regional office 1, in an interview Wednesday said fishermen in some parts of the region do not have a common place where they could store their catch hence, they would just leave them
lying on the ground or in some random containers, reducing the quality and price of their products.
On the contrary, Baldonado said CFLCs have stainless tables or fish stalls where they could display their catch, and a freezer where they could store them.
She noted there is also uniformity of product prices among vendors within the CFLC.
“There are considerations followed by BFAR before approving the construction of CFLC. These are number of municipal fisherfolks; registered boats; fish production in that area; existing landing site or fishport,” she added.
Baldonado further said CFLCs are managed by local government units (LGUs), as they also help organize fisherfolk in their localities before the management of the center is finally handed to them.
Ilocos Norte has a total of 10 CFLCs, Ilocos Sur with 16, while La Union and Pangasinan have nine each. (Hilda Austria/PNA)
