Casiguran seen to rise as ‘seafood capital’

CASIGURAN, Aurora — This coastal town facing the Pacific Ocean could become the country’s seafood capital in the coming years with the establishment of a P3-billion mariculture park.

Experts said the mariculture park within the 3,000-hectare Casiguran Bay could turn this sleepy town into a fish sanctuary and a showcase of aquaculture tourism in Northern Luzon.

Malcolm Sarmiento, director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), said Casiguran is one of the best sites for a mariculture park because of its vast marine resources and planktons.

He said the facility could breed bangus, tilapia, eel (casili), African catfish (hito), carp, freshwater prawns (ulang), crabs (alimango) and other high-value freshwater species such as abalones, lobsters, pinctada martensii, seahorses, rock lobsters, pinctada maxima, sea cucumbers, sea anemones, sea urchins, scallops, giant clams, aquarium fish and seaweeds.

Sarmiento led the launch of the mariculture park in Casiguran Bay last Monday afternoon with Sen. Edgardo Angara, Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo and other local officials.

With them were BFAR Region 3 director Remedios Ongtangco, BFAR Region 8 director Gil Adora, mariculture consultant Peck Orbita, Southeast Asia Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) chief Dr. Joebert Toledo, National Fisherfolk director Primitivo Clave, and Regional Fisherfolk director Jimmy San Jose.

The Casiguran mariculture park is the 22nd which the BFAR has put up nationwide, 12 of them in Region 8.

In these facilities, bangus and other high-value aquatic products such as lapu-lapu, seabass, siganids, abalones and sea cucumbers are grown in marine fishcages put up by various public and private investors, including small fisherfolk’s cooperatives, associations and big corporations.