Bicol fishers urge government for relief scheme

As the sinking of MV Princess of the Stars continue to haunt consumers into buying fish, an organization of small fishermen and fisherfolk in Bicol yesterday appealed for the government’s immediate relief measures to help them make both ends meet amid the ”fish scare.”

The Lambat-Bikol said many fisher folk families living along the Ragay Gulf are severely affected by the incident, and thus, needing assistance from the local and national government.

“At least 80 percent of the families in the area rely on fishing as their main source of income. Before, a kilo of most commercial fishes here would sell at an average price of P80 per kilo. Now, with the fish scare, a kilo of tulingan (mackerel) tuna sells from P20 to P40, which is at least an 80 percent drop. Still, no one buys them,” said Arieto Radores, chairman of Lambat-Bikol.

“We appreciate the efforts of the local officials to assuage the fears of consumers that there is no contamination of the fish in the area but their efforts are not enough. Fish eating photo opportunities at local markets as what they are doing now are useless when people do not have money to buy fish. The most they can do is assuage the fear that the fish coming from the gulf are safe to eat,” he said.

Radores asserted that the local and national government should subsidize or buy all the catch of local fishermen to ensure their income.

The government, in turn, could use the fish for other products like fish paste, and fish balls, among others, he said.

“They can even give them for free to indigent families,” Radores also said. “With this temporary scheme the fisherfolk would be happy as well as those who would be given free fish.”

Lambat-Bikol also urged the government to provide alternative livelihood projects, though it expressed apprehension that such might take months to implement.