COTABATO CITY — The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BFAR-ARMM) turned over Tuesday some PHP2 million worth of fishing needs in Marawi City under the agency’s Municipal Fishing Vessel and Gear Registration package, or the BoatR program.
BFAR-ARMM Director Janice Desamito-Musali said this developed after the agency identified the city as one of the best performing local government units (LGUs) in the country in terms of fisheries and management of its aquatic resources.
Marawi fishermen get their daily bounty through Lake Lanao, the largest lake in Mindanao and the second largest in the country, which they share with fisher folk from other parts of Lanao del Sur province.
With Marawi Mayor Majul Usman Gandamra witnessing the event at the city hall, BFAR-ARMM personnel led by Desamito-Musali handed over 50 units of non-motorized fiberglass boat with a complete set of accessories, gears (spear guns, fish pots with a bamboo pole each, gillnets and snorkels) and fish stalls to identified beneficiaries.
“It is important that we help our fisher folk by empowering them, not by spoon-feeding them because I don’t believe that real fisher folk will starve,” Musali said in her speech.
Gandamra, for his part, acknowledged BFAR-ARMM’s assistance, emphasizing that the fishing inputs can support much local fisher folk in their livelihood as the city reels off from a terrorist-instigated siege last year.
The mayor assured that the fishing equipment would be well taken care of amid the city’s continued rehabilitation.
The BoatR program intends to assist and support LGUs on the registration and management of community fishing boats and gears nationwide.
More so, the program aims to prescribe a centralized database system to guide LGUs in the conduct of the registration of fishing boats with three gross tonnage and below nationwide. (PNA)
