The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) pushes for the establishment of sustainable and export-oriented lobster industry in Caraga.
Moreover, 55 participants from the different provinces in the region attended the 2nd National Lobster Development Program Workshop.
“The workshop also aims to impart to the participants the various opportunities in the lobster and aquaculture industries in the country,” said Salve Mordeno-Dinolan, BFAR-13 information officer.
“Most of the participants are municipal agriculture personnel in the region, local officials, and representatives from the private sector who are engaged in aquaculture and lobster farming,” Dinolan added.
Respectively, the workshop which was spearheaded by BFAR-Region 13 focused on the challenges, new strategies, and inputs on new technologies on lobster farming and aquaculture.
“Dr. Clive Jones, an internationally-recognized expert on research on aquaculture development, and Joseph Martin Borromeo, BFAR’s national lobster focal person facilitated the value chain analysis,” report from Philippine News Agency (PNA) stated.
Further, during the workhop, a success story about lobster farming and aquaculture was imparted by Merry Flor Lepio from Surigao City.
“Lobster is among the priority commodities identified by BFAR and the Department of Agriculture (DA), noting that Caraga Region is considered the source of lobster seeds and products in the eastern seaboard of the country,” Borromeo said.
“Trades that involved seeds and lobster products in the country, including in Mindanao, have not been prioritized in the past years,” Borromeo emphasized.
Borromeo also discussed that most of the transactions are in the black market. With this, it has been a challenge to track the exact records regarding the development of the lobster industry.