San Fernando—The harassed fisher folk of Masinloc can now continue fishing even outside the 15 kilometers of municipal water along the shore of Zambales or evade the Chinese patrol boats in the Scarborough Shoal with their new 100 powerful 30-foot motorized fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) boats given by the government recently.
The boats worth almost P8 million were turned over by the Department of Agriculture officials to the 200 registered fisher folk of Masinloc, Zambales.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, who led the distribution of the boats witnessed by local officials in the area, said that each unit can be shared by group of fishermen.
The donation aimed to give the fishermen of Masinloc cost effective boats to boost their livelihood and their safety at sea and at the same time replicate the technology for mass production.
The FRP boats are better than the traditional vessels of the fishermen in the area although a little more expensive than their wooden counterpart, the secretary stressed.
According to Piñol, the powerful boats are hardier, more resistant to rot, corrosion and the harsh marine environment.
Piñol said that each fishing boat is also well equipped with fishing gears such as a powerful engine, trigger and bottom gillnets, deep seamless hard line arch, and others.
The powerful boats are also designed to survive in rough seas and deep fishing grounds and can float when disaster strikes at sea. They can also traverse outside the 15 kilometers municipal water even up to the controversial Scarborough Shoal.
The livelihood of the fishermen in Masinloc was seriously affected when Chinese patrol boats barred Filipino fishermen from the shoal.