Depletion of marine resources at Davao Gulf pushes local fishing
boats to stop operation
by Prix D Banzon
Davao City (5 September) -- The depletion of marine resources in the
Davao Gulf and the high cost of fuel are pushing other local fishing
boats to stop operation.
Davao Fish Port Complex (DFPC) manager Mario Malinao during the
Davao Business Forum last Tuesday at the MediSpa at SM City said
that the number of local fishing vessel that unload their catch at
the fish port which number about 30 was reduced to only 10.
He said most of these local vessels transferred their unloading and
trading activity to the General Santos City Fish Port.
"They'd rather do their business at General Santos because it is
nearer from their site than bringing their catch to the DFPC," he
said.
Data provided by DFPC showed that in 2006 there were about 421 local
commercial vessels that unloaded their catch at the Davao Fishport
however this was reduced to 400 in 2007 with only 400 and for the
first seven months of 2008 it only registered a total of 111
vessels.
"Some of these vessels stopped their business because they could no
longer handle the high cost of operation," he said.
Malinao also bared the decline in the volume of fishes unloaded to
the DFPC by domestic vessels.
With 293.6 metric tons unloaded in 2006 it doubled in 2007 with
469.68 MT but a tremendous dropped is noticeable as the first seven
months of 2008 recorded only about 176.94 MT, not meeting half of
the volume unloaded last year.
Fishes unloaded by the local fishing vessels at the DFPC are common
fishes known in the dialect as bilong-bilong, matambaka, moro-moro,
caraballas and bolinao.
