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Reformed blast fishers now prefer oysters
Source: Inquirer
Author: Nereo C. Lujan
Date: 1999-11-25
 
FISHERMEN in northern Iloilo, then

notorious for blast fishing, have

abandoned their illegal activities and

turned to gathering oysters to

augment their meager income.



The waters around the Isla Gigantes Island, which can be

reached a little more than an hour by pumpboat from Estancia

town, has become a main source of oysters for pearl farms in the

country.



Middlemen buy white-lip and

gold-lip oysters from the

fishermen at P150 to P200 each,

depending on the size.



Iloilo supplies at least 4,000

oysters a month, according to

Peck Orbita, consultant of La

Reine de Mer Pearl Farm in

Palawan.



''Iloilo is our No. 1 source.

Sometimes, we can get 200 oysters a day from fishermen here,''

said Orbeta, who has been buying oysters from the island for

the past two years.



Orbita also buys oysters from Bantayan Island in Cebu,

Masbate and Sorsogon, but these areas supply only 1,000 to

2,000 oysters a month.



Oysters, which are gathered from the depths of the sea, are

brought to a pearl farm for pearl culturing.



Oyster gathering helps minimize illegal fishing in northern Iloilo,

according to Mayor Rodolfo Dumayas of Carles town, 147 km

north of Iloilo City.



Isla Gigantes, while near Estancia, is part of Carles, Iloilo's

northernmost town. Estancia, 135 km north of the provincial

capital, is the jump-off point to islands in the north.



The fishing ground in northern Iloilo has earned the monicker

''Alaska of the Philippines'' because of its abundant supply of

fish and other marine products.



''Fishermen here were notorious for blast fishing, but because

there is now an alternative and more lucrative source of

livelihood, we seldom hear dynamite explosions anymore,''

Dumayas said.



Fishermen admitted that oyster gathering made them abandon

blast fishing as a means of earning money.



It also made them realize the importance of preserving the

young generation of marine life for the future.



Supply and demand



Locally known as tipay, oysters are gathered by divers 10 to 15

fathoms deep in the sea.



''In oyster gathering, younger oysters are not of great value

compared to mature ones but they can be preserved for future

harvest(s),'' fisherman Rey Tolentino, 34, said in Hiligaynon.



''This is also true (of) fish whose juveniles are killed by blast

fishing, leaving us nothing to catch in the future,'' he added.



Tolentino has been gathering oysters since last year. On the

average, he gathers four to six oysters a day.



''From fishing, I can only earn between P50 and P60 a day while

in gathering tipay, I can get from P800 to P1,200,'' he said.



Pearl is an abnormal growth resulting from the invasion of the

oyster by a foreign body, such as a fine grain of sand. The

foreign body acts as an irritant and becomes coated with layer

upon layer of bright material.



Orbita said that in pearl culture, man introduces the foreign

body into the oyster and waits for at least a year for the pearl to

grow.



While the pearls are growing, the oysters are placed inside

cages where they eat natural plankton.



While most pearl farms are found in Palawan, Orbita said the

waters in northern Iloilo are the most ideal place for pearl culture

because it is the natural habitat of oysters.



Putting up an experimental farm would require a capitalization of

P15 million to P20 million. A commercial farm requires P50 million

to P60 million in capital.



''This is an expensive venture, but there is a vast market of

pearls in other countries and this can become our main export,''

said Orbita.
 

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