THE Department of Agriculture– Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) recently conducted a training for fisherfolk to help increase their catch.

Attended by fishing associations and cooperatives from the Mimaropa (Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), Eastern Visayas, and Zamboanga regions, the training will help the fishermen enhance their technical skills and knowledge on using the steel-hulled purse seine fishing vessels.

Lawyer Demosthenes Escoto, DA-BFAR national director, said the program will help attain sufficient food supply and ensure sustainable management of fishery and aquatic resources.

“Through modern machinery and equipment under our Capacitating Municipal Fisherfolk PROGRAM, we are hoping that fish production will increase in our municipal waters,” Escoto said in Filipino.

The bureau will also provide three fishing vessels as part of its capacitating municipal fisherfolk program, which seeks to upgrade the fishing efficiency of local fishermen by giving them training and fishing boats.

These vessels will be operated and managed by the program’s beneficiaries and can be used for fishing tuna, galunggong (mackerel scad) and sardines, among others.

According to the DA-BFAR, other fishing groups and organizations are expected to receive hands-on training and fishing vessels from the bureau.

Last December, a fisherfolk cooperative in La Union also received a newly built 21-meter steel-hulled ringnet fishing boat from the da-bfar through the same program.