Sunday, January 6, 2019

Caraga Region is Rich in Tuna



Commercial fishing of tuna and processing is one of the potential investment opportunities in Caraga Region.
Visa Tan-Dimerin, the new regional director of Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Caraga said that the region is rich in high-value fish such as tuna.

“We have abundance of tuna in Caraga Region but bulk of our catch goes to other places in Mindanao where post-harvest and processing centers are located such as in General Santos City,” the director said.
Director Dimerin said that Surigao del Sur is one of the sources of fresh catch of tuna for the tuna processing industry in General Santos.
“Caraga is blessed of various tuna species such as skipjack or commonly called tulingan, yellowfin, bluefin, albacore and other,” Dimerin narrated.
She said that currently there are small-scale processors of tuna in the region for bottled tuna products and semi-processed.
“We are promoting our region to investors to consider Caraga Region particularly in fish processing industry so our local catch would be processed here, since we have abundance of fish,” she said.
The director revealed that Caraga Region posted an 88% sufficiency level of fish, however she said that part of Caraga’s catch has been accounted in another region.
“Based on statistics parameters, accounting for fish is based on landing or where it is being unloaded. So in the case of fresh catch from Caraga Region being unloaded outside the region, the data will be credited to the said area,” Dimerin explained.
Dimerin disclosed that 90% of tuna catch in Surigao del Sur particularly from Bislig area are bound for General Santos tuna processing.
Yellow fin in particular, has been exported to other countries such as in Japan and China, hence cold storage facility is neccessary to maintain its quality and such big facility are located in other region.
To boost the fishing industry in the region, BFAR has been conducting training for the fisher folks, provision of fishing paraphernalia and facility for fish processing, and stringent implementation of fishery laws. 
BFAR is an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture. (Aurelius P. Arais/DA Caraga)



=-###=-

No comments: