Some 110,000 tilapia fingerlings have been distributed by the City Agriculture Office (CAO) to 152 fishpond cooperators here since January.

City Agriculturist Shiela Nas, in an interview on Monday, said the fingerlings were provided by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) under the Department of Agriculture-Bicol (DA-5) as part of the Marcos administration’s food security program.

The fingerlings distribution aims to eradicate poverty in the communities by strengthening the livelihood activities of marginalized fisherfolk.

The beneficiaries are from the villages of Matanag, Dita, San Joaquin, Homapon, Banquerohan, Cagbacong and Bariis, which are freshwater areas suitable for tilapia raising.

Nas said all the fishpond cooperators were enrolled in the Registry System for Basic Sector for Agriculture (RSBSA) as required by the Department of Agriculture (DA).

“We already conducted training to all the beneficiary fisher folks regarding the proper way of feeding and taking care of their brackish-born fish using Azolla and rice bran which are considered as high protein and rich in vitamins and I am also planning to give the fisher folks the feeds for the fingerlings to grow faster,” she said.

Nas said the fishpond cooperators should closely monitor the condition of the fingerlings to avoid their mortality until they are harvested after four to six months.

“The fisher folks are advised to release only three to five tilapia fingerlings per square meter at their own fishponds in order to avoid space congestion,” she noted.

Mayor Geraldine Rosal, in a separate interview, said the distribution of fingerlings is part of the city’s Aqua-Culture Development program to ensure a sufficient supply of fish in the market for public consumption.

She said she will ask CAO to continue to support all the programs in the marine and fishery sectors by way of developing resources to sustain the aquaculture productivity and uplift the living standard of fishermen.

“We need to protect the fishing industry in our city in order to sustain the huge volume of harvest that will surely alleviate the poverty problem encountered by the fisher folks in the communities,” Rosal added. (PNA)