First 'Ulang Summit' to be held in Dagupan

The country’s first ‘Ulang Summit” will be held at Bonuan Binloc in Dagupan City (Pangasinan) on Dec. 10-11.

About 150 participants are expected to attend the scientific meeting billed “First National Summit on Freshwater Prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii)”.

Venue of the conference is the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute-Asian Fisheries Academy (NFRDI-AFA).

It will be sponsored and conducted by the Los Baños-based Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (DOST-PCAMRD), Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (DA-BFAR-NIFTDC), Blubay Aquaculture Inc., and DA-NFRDI-AFA.

Dagupan City mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. will be the keynote speaker.

BFAR Director Malcolm Sarmiento has also been invited to speak at the summit’s opening program.

The participants are fishfarmers from various parts of the country; and representatives of local government units (LGUs), academe, government agencies, industry, private sector, and research entities, among them the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC-AQD).

PCAMRD, headed by Executive Director Rafael D. Guerrero III, said the summit aims to gather information on available technologies on freshwater prawn, identify gaps in the development of the ulang hatchery and culture industry, identify strategies for the formulation of a five-year road map for the industry and prepare a resolution for the promotion of ulang as an aquaculture commodity.