Occidental Mindoro to strengthen tuna industry

with PRDP-funded facility

Date Published: January 20, 2017

Occidental Mindoro’s tuna industry will soon rise with its first PRDP-funded infrastructure development (I-BUILD)
subproject.

The Province’s subproject proposal entitled “Expansion and Development of Fish Landing” worth P19.98 million
recently received the approval of PRDP through its issuance of No Objection Letter (NOL) 1.

The said subproject, which will benefit at least 3,039 fisherfolk, is the first fish landing project in the PRDP South
Luzon Cluster. It will be constructed in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro, which is the biggest producer of tuna in the
province.

Aiming to improve the quality of life of the local fishing community, the facility was designed to enhance the quality
and sanitation of fishery products. With improved product standards, the facility is expected to establish a better
market price, particularly for tuna fish.
Due to proper sorting and grading, the market value of the tuna fish is projected to increase by at least two percent.

The developed facility will also reduce post-harvest losses by up to two percent and it will generate higher income
through service fees and additional business opportunities.

Aside from onion and cassava, tuna fish is also a priority commodity of Occidental Mindoro. There are about 3,500
tuna fishers and 1,500 tuna vessels in the province as of 2014.

“This project is something that our province needs. With this facility, together, we shall make a difference in the
development of our nation,” shared Occidental Mindoro Representative Josephine Ramirez-Sato during one of the
activities of PRDP.

According to Elmer Velacruz of the Provincial Project Management and Implementation Unit (PPMIU), the subproject
will institutionalize proper law enforcement on the entry of fishery products to the province through regulation and
proper taxation.
“This initiative is to extend benefits in the fishing community and resolve issues and constraints affecting the fishery
industry in Sablayan and Occidental Mindoro,” Velacruz said. ### (Leira Vic Colongon, DA-PRDP RPCO 4B InfoACE
Unit)

MANILA, Philippines - Changing behavioral patterns of the tuna have proved to be a boon for two towns
in Occidental Mindoro, which have seen increasing catches of tuna over the last few years.

This was highlighted during last week’s staging of “Tuna-Tonelada Festival,” a side event in Mamburao
town’s founding anniversary celebration, which showcased the abundance of tuna fish in waters around
Mindoro island.

“Today, most of the tuna being exported by the Philippines to Japan, Korea and Australia, to as far as
European countries like Switzerland, Germany and United Kingdom, come mostly from Mindoro island,
specifically Mamburao and Sablayan municipalities of Occidental Mindoro,” noted Joselito Tiongson, site
manager for World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-Philippines’ Mindoro team.

Mamburao and Sablayan became major suppliers of tuna starting 2008 to 2010 due to changing
behavioral patterns of tuna. The fish head to Mindoro Strait, a deep part within the West Philippine Sea,
which is now being dubbed by experts and fishermen as the new “tuna highway.” The fish choose the
central part of the sea channel as their breeding ground.
WWF-Philippines and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) recorded the biggest tuna
catch in Mamburao in the years 2011 to 2012, where an average of 600,000 kilos of tuna delivered
around the Philippines and outside the country came from this area.

An average of 200-300 kilos of tuna is caught daily five days a week within the Mindoro area, noted
Roberto Cueto, vice-president of Tuna Fishers Association of Mamburao.

In 2011, the local government unit of Mamburao partnered with WWF for a project called Partnership
Program Towards Sustainable Tuna (PPTST). The project, involving the municipal agriculture office of
Mamburao, the private sector, other non-government organizations (NGOs) and the fisherfolk, is
designed to propagate the proper handling and catching of tuna to sustain the supply of tuna in the area.

Among the concerns of the program, said Tiongson, is to encourage local fishermen to use hand-line
fishing or kawil system instead of commercial fishing methods, which are destructive for the fish species
and the marine environment. Funding from this project came mostly from the German Investment
Development Fund, an international funding agency.

Importers from European and Asian countries are said to prefer tuna fished through hand-line method
“because it maintains the intactness of the flesh as well as its good taste.”

One of the biggest tuna exporters in the country today, Mamburao-based JAM Seafoods, Inc., disclosed
that since the start of this year, tuna fish being sold in Metro Manila markets and exported to Europe and
Middle East are coming from Occidental Mindoro.