TACLOBAN CITY- The regional office of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) released P76 million that will be used to repair the various fish cages in the region destroyed during the onslaught of supertyphoon Yolanda. Juan Albaladejo, BFAR regional director, said that the P76 million is a chunk from the P1.06 billion fund allocated for the rehabilitation of aquaculture in the region. The amount will be distributed to different areas in Leyte and Samar whose fish cages were destroyed when Yolanda hit the region on November 8, 2013.
Tacloban City was given the biggest amount at P25 million to produce 250 cages; Basey (Samar), P20 million to build 200 cages; Sta. Rita (Samar), Babatngon and Merida, both in Leyte, received P15 million to construct 70 cages. “Right now, we already started making the cages,” Albaladejo said. BFAR seek assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency to make the designs for the submersible fish cages so that in times of typhoons cages will be just submerged to prevent from being damaged. “What is also good about this is that the cages that we are making now are not made of bamboos; they will be made out of high density polyethinine plastic which could last for about 20 years,” Albaladejo added.
The size of the fish cages that the BFAR is making is 9X6 meters. (LUEDITA RAPADA, LNU Intern)
