BFAR eyes closed season for galunggong
CEBU, Philippines - The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources is eyeing a closed season for species of round scad or what is commonly known as galunggong.
The closed season for sardines in the Visayan Sea and Zamboanga, which was implemented last year and lifted in March, was successful it is not impossible to implement this for galunggong, said BFAR Director Asis Perez.
"Ang idea lang dito ay we are inspired by what happened in the sardine closure. Madaming isda," Perez said.
At the height of news about depletion in supply of galunggong and increase of its prices in the market, ranging from P60 up to P120 depending on the size, the BFAR chief sees possible fishing closed season for galunggong as a positive way to address such problems.
"Bakit kailangan mag-implement ng closed season sa galunggong? Kasi ito yung pagkain ng masa. Ano ang ating pangarap? Ang pangarap natin ay maibaba ang presyo nito so that consistently, we have galunggong on our table at a very, very affordable cost. And what we want to do after the management of galunggong is mapababa ang presyo nito," said Perez.
The galunggong is considered as the poor man's fish.
Perez said the Capture Fisheries Technology Division (CFTD) of BFAR has already been given the directive to identify the best spot for managing galunggong.
Among the important things to research on are the exact peak of spawning period of galungggong, how long it takes for the species to spawn and how many eggs on the average each fish lays.
Initially, the government is looking at the Northern Palawan as the area of study where closed season for galunggong will be implemented either in the last quarter of this year or first quarter of 2014.
Currently, CFTD is doing a survey on the size of galunggong sold in the wet market as an initial study on the very nature of this kind of fish.
From there, further studies will be conducted to help gather useful information that will serve as scientific basis for the possible seasonal closure for galunggong.