Being a coastal village with rich fishing grounds, the town of Oton in Iloilo is being eyed as a fishing destination in the country, thus its local government is undertaking steps to make this happen.

Yesterday, Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr and Oton Mayor Vicente Flores led the ceremonial installation of artificial reefs near the fishing port in Brgy. Poblacion South.

An artificial reef is a man-made underwater structure built to promote marine life. It comes in wooden-jackstone type, bamboo pyramid, and coconut trunk.

Defensor said that apart from the fund allocated by the Provincial Government, the Bureau of Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources 6 (BFAR-6) and Mayor Flores allocated P200,000 and P80,000 respectively for the construction of additional artificial reefs.

He said, with serious commitment, determination and the support of everybody especially the fishermen, this project will succeed.

He said several artificial reefs were installed in the coastal barangays of Tanza in Estanca, Barusbos in Carles and Nasigman in Ajuy last year.

ILLEGAL FISHING ACTIVITIES

Flores is thankful for this project, saying that illegal fishing activities have destroyed the area, leading to the depletion of its marine resources.

He recalled that Oton used to be abundant with lampirong or fan shell, hipon (krill), maya-maya, tabal, tangegue, tabagak, and bukan, among others.

To restore Oton’s glory as a rich fishing ground, Flores said the LGU arrested fishermen who engage in dynamite and hulbot-hulbot fishing.

Hulbot-hulbot involves throwing a large rock tied to a net into the sea and dragging it underwater. The dragging ruins the coral reefs, which are spawning grounds of marine life.

The Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 bans the use of hulbot-hulbot within municipal waters or 15 kilometers from the shoreline.

Napoleon Villar, member of the BFAR’s Fisheries Law Enforcement Team (FLET) said, 25 years ago, he used to catch 15 kilos of varied fishes. Now, it’s down to five kilos.*