BUTUAN CITY—A fish stocking program, led by the Bureau of Fish and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), is now underway in Mindanao’s second largest lake to enhance the catch of the fisherfolk living around the water body.
Dubbed as “Balik Sigla Sa Ilog At Lawa” (BASIL), BFAR-Caraga Director Juan Albaladejo said the fish-stocking program in Mainit Lake is a five-year project aimed at reviving the country’s major bodies of water to optimize their economic benefits.
The program seeks to enhance fisheries towards sustainability and repopulate indigenous species in support of biodiversity conservation and food sufficiency, Albaladejo added.
For Mainit Lake, Albaladejo said Project “BASIL” has already released 316,920 pieces of “Bangus” and 87,500 pieces of “Carp” fingerlings late last year.
The simultaneous stocking was done in the lakeside municipalities of Mainit in Surigao del Norte, and Kitcharao and Jabonga, in Agusan del Norte.
Albaladejo said the program is anchored on the five major components, including social preparations and capacity building, resource profiling, habitat restoration, rationalized fisheries enhancement and monitoring and evaluation.
It currently covers seven identified major lakes and six major river basins across the.
The lakes included the 90,000-hectares Laguna de Bay; the 34,700-hectares Lake Lanao; the 23,400-hectares Taal Lake, and the 17,300-hectares Lake Mainit in Surigao del Norte.
Also included are the 11,000-hectares Naujan Lake in Oriental Mindoro; the 6,500-hectares Buluan Lake of Maguindanao and the 354-hectares Lake Sebu of South Cotabato. (Noel B. Najarro/PNA)
