BANGUED, Abra – Coinciding with this year’s celebration of Farmers and Fisherfolks Month, Jerome Baay of the province has been installed as Regional Fisherfolk Director for the whole month of May and will assume the roles and responsibilities of the Department of Agriculture Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-Cordillera (DA BFAR-CAR) Regional Director Lilibeth Signey.
The annual program provides opportunities for fisherfolk leaders to be informed and educated about the operations and activities of the DA BFAR-CAR, aside from allowing Bureau officials to immerse themselves with fisherfolk in the region.
Baay explained that among the programs that he wishes to achieve in his brief stint as Fisherfolk Director is to be able to engage them in the gathering of fisherfolk data that is consistent with the BFAR, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
“We will be calling on our fisherfolk to voluntarily register under the FISH-R so that they will also have a strong representation with the bureau for them to have access to programs on the post-harvest side, marketing linkages, aquaculture, processing, and various intervention programs, aside from providing Fisherfolk knowledge on financial management,” Baay said.
FISH-R is a year-long program of the BFAR designed to enhance, fast-track, and complete the Municipal Fisherfolk Registry of coastal LGUs nationwide under RA. 8550.
BFAR-CAR Regional Director Signey, who presided over the oath-taking and installation of Baay, stated that with his experience as a fisherfolk, Baay would be able to achieve his goal by giving importance to the various fisherfolk organizations in the region.
The Fisherfolk Director, who was promised a financial incentive, has decided to equally distribute his incentives to the fisherfolk organizations in the area.
Aside from the oath-taking and installation, Signey and Baay also awarded educational grants to three young scholars coming from Benguet under the Fisherfolk Children Educational Grant, giving the scholars a four-year educational grant in Fisheries, Fisheries Industry Leaders, and Indigenous Cultural Communities Grant in Fisheries Schools.
The bureau also distributed one unit of Fish Mart to the MANPAT-A Farmers Association of Balili, Mankayan, Benguet, consisting of one chest freezer unit and one 10-kilogram capacity weighing scale, two units 40 kilograms capacity styrofoam box, and 80 kilograms of marketable fish.
