ZAMBOANGA CITY—The Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources has allocated more than P120 million for the rehabilitation of the old Barangay Sangali Fishing Port, some 20 kilometers northeast of the city proper, a fishery official said.
BFAR executive director Asis Perez announced in a recent visit here that the amount would be utilized to renovate the fishing port and all its facilities, including its cold storage and warehouse.
Perez informed Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar that the highly urbanized city, also known as the country’s Sardine Capital with its numerous sardine factories, will also receive a P2-million incentive for hosting the First Sardine Industry Conference which focused on the theme “Sardinas: Cuida Para Sustente la Vida.”
Salazar thanked Perez and the eight local sardine canning factories for the assistance they have been extending to local residents, especially those who were displaced during the September 2013 Zamboanga siege staged by Moro National Liberation Front rebels.
She also cited the move of the Investment Incentives Board which lured new investors to open new companies in the coastal city.
The city executive further shared that in a recent trip to China for the 12th China-Asean Exposition in Nanning City, she observed the massive infrastructure for the fishing and aquatic resources.
“We may be lagging behind China in terms of infrastructure buildup, but I noted that we have equally abundant aqua-culture resources,” Salazar said even as she called on local inhabitants ”to take care of our precious sardines industry which supplies most of the needs of Metro Manila and other urban areas of the country.”
She stressed “The future of sardines industry, with the abundance of tamban fish here, depends on us.”