Food advocacy group, Tugon Kabuhayan said private sector should help the government in aiding the fisheries sector which sustained the biggest damage from Typhoon Odette.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) DRRM Operations Center said total damage to the agriculture sector of Typhoon Odette has reached P11.7 billion, with the fisheries sector suffering P3 billion losses.
Tugon Kabuhayan said while it will take time to fully assess and validate the actual damage in the fisheries sector, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) data shows there are 721,063 registered fisherfolks and 112,832 registered municipal fishing boats in the six affected regions.
“Using these numbers as baselines, along-side with the pictures and videos of the aftermath of the typhoon, it is reasonable to believe that at a big percentage, if not all of the number of the listed fisherfolks are likely affected alongside with thousands of fishing boats. The baseline is so big that even if we assume that only 35 percent of these boats are lost or damage close to 40,000 boats needs to replaced or repaired,” said Asis Perez, the group’s convenor, in an online briefing yesterday.
Perez said the resources required to repair and replace these damaged and lost boats alone can run hundreds of millions not yet including fishing gears and other accessories needed to conduct fishing operation.
“The private sector should step up to complement government’s rehabilitation effort, especially now that most of government resources are being use in COVID response,” Perez added. – Jed Macapagal
