Minutes of the Regular Monthly Meeting of the Inter-Agency Technical Working Group on the Containment of Knifefish in Laguna de Bay held on February 13, 2018 at Conference Room, BFAR-NIFTC, Tanay, Rizal
I.
Attendance
1.
Mr. Adan S. Diamante - BFAR
- NIFTC
2.
Ms. Lyn DS San Jose – BFAR-NIFTC
3.
Ms. Mary Frietzy R. Alvarez - BFAR
IV-A
4.
Ms. Crispina M. Muan – LLDA-RMDD-CDD
5.
Ms. Jessica Christelle Q. Rola – LLDA-RMDD-CDD
6.
Mr. Wilfredo Ibarra – DOST-PCAARRD
7.
Mr. Conrado L. Amoranto, Jr. - DSWD
IV-A
8.
Mr. Erick H. Guevarra - DSWD
IV-A
9.
Mr. Kelvin Anthony L. Balaquit - DENR
– BMB
10.
Ms. Jo Maria R. Salonga - DILG IV-A
II.
Preliminaries
The meeting started with an opening prayer led by Ms. Jessica
Christelle Q. Rola of LLDA. Thereafter, OIC-BFAR-NIFTC Mr. Adan S Diamante in
his welcome address narrated the story behind the success of the recently concluded
activity of BFAR-NIFTC – The Launching of Fishyalan. He, however, apologized
for the Year-End Assembly/ Team Building of the TWG that was supposed to ensue
last December 2017. He told the group that the proposed activity was already
approved by the Regional Director of BFAR-NIFTC, however, they cannot
accommodate one more activity due to the launching of Fishyalan. Moreover, he
expressed his deepest appreciation to the continuous support of each member to
the TWG in their effort to contain the knifefish.
III. Call to Order
The TWG meeting proper was called to order at 9:30AM
by Mr. Adan S. Diamante as the Presiding Officer.
IV. Review of
the Minutes of the Meeting
Mr. Diamante led the review of the Minutes of the
previous meeting held on September 22, 2017 at the DENR-BMB Central Office,
Visayas Avenue, Diliman Quezon City. Various comments and corrections were
raised which were listed on a separate sheet.
V. Approval of
the Agenda
Mr. Diamante proceeded with the review of the agenda
and requested the body to raise their concerns for any additional topic to be
included. As such, the body approved the following agenda:
1.
Review of 2017 Work Plan and Budget
2.
Update Reports of the Committee
a.
Fabrication and Distribution of Electro Fishing Gadget
b.
Operations of the Pila KF Processing Plant
c.
Cash for Work
d.
Knifefish Retrieval Project
e.
R and D Committee
3.
Status of the Inter-Agency Memorandum of Agreement
4.
Other matters
VI. Discussion
1.
Review of the 2017 Work Plan
and Budget (WPB)
Ms. Crispina Muan of LLDA presented the consolidated 2017
Work Plan and Budget (WPB) of the TWG, Ms.
Muan informed the group that she already forwarded an e-mail copy to all the TWG
members since last year for reference. She also said that while the TWG year
end assessment which was supposedly done in December last year was not realized, she suggested that
each TWG member should submit their respective accomplishment report for 2017
to assess the activities that are
completed or that have yet done
or carried on for 2018.
On the other hand, Mr. Balaquit of DENR-BMB reported
that the conservation plan is not yet done, however, the proposal was already
endorsed to the Director of BMB for approval.
2. Update Reports of the Committee
1.1. Fabrication of Electro Fishing Gadget (EFG)
Mr. Diamante informed the group that the 10 gadgets
are already completed wherein the 9 units were previously endorsed
to Mr. Roy San Juan of Pila , the former LDBIFARMC Chair for some improvements. The unit left in BFAR-NIFTC
was already tested by Mr. Renz of TESDA at
BFAR-NIFTC where the following observations were noted; (1) The Knifefish will not die but
will be paralyzed in 30 minutes, (2) The eggs will die. Mr. Ibarra of DOST-PCAARRD
then raised his concern of the possibility that the gadget might affect other
species that is near the Knifefish. Mr. Diamante responded that since the Knifefish eggs are closely guarded
by the breeders, only the Knifefish will be affected .
Additionally, Mr. Diamante reiterated that the
guidelines should be strictly followed and implemented for the safety of the fisherfolks
and to assure that no other species will be affected. Mr. Ibarra suggested that
the Kick-off and Distribution of gadget should be scheduled best before the breeding
season of Knifefish.
Ms. San Jose on
the other hand reported that the step-up
motor of the 9 gadgets were already delivered to JACOBO last January 31, 2018 for labeling and placing of serial numbers.
The target delivery of the 9 gadgets from JACOBO to BFAR-NIFTC will be on the
first to second week of March this year. It was agreed that FARMC should
identify the testing area and the participating LGU for the second testing. Mr.
Protacio of LdBIFARMC suggested to hold it in Muntinlupa City since there are number of fishpens in the area. The body then agreed and
requested BFAR for a request letter to
the City Government of Muntinlupa for their assistance and cooperation in the
said activity. The recommended time for the said activity was from 6 to 9 in
the morning.
1.3. Cash for Work
Mr. Amoranto of DSWD reported that the municipalities
of Los Banos, Pakil and Kalayaan concluded the retrieval operation of the DSWD- CBLA fund. While, the Municipality of Lumban
is still on-going. He also reported that Lumban was able to retrieve around 1,800 kgs of Knifefish in 6 days with 150 fisherfolks participants.. The Knifefish that
were retrieved are still in the DSWD because nobody is willing to buy Knifefish
in the area. It was then agreed by the TWG to give the available Knifefish to
PNOPAC for processing.
Moreover, DSWD has another proposed project on the
clearing of water lilies in Laguna de Bay which can also be tied-up to the
Knifefish retrieval project of the TWG. The target area of this project is at
Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Mr. Amoranto suggested the group to consider this
possibility because DSWD-4A is very much willing to give funds to this project.
With regards to the fund assistance from BFAR, Ms. San
Jose reported that five municipalities are involved wherein Victoria already
started. Kalayaan and Lumban are already on going while Pangil which was given
P897,000 fund assistance and Los Banos have to yet to start. The Municipality
of Taytay returned the unexpended fund assistance amounting to P200,000.00
while Tanay was also planning to return the unexpended fund amounting to
P130,000.00. Relative to this, Mr. Amoranto suggested for a list of LGUs
targeted by BFAR-NIFTC to be beneficiaries of their Cash for Work for this year
to avoid duplication.
1.4. Knifefish Retrieval
Project
Ms. San Jose presented the report
on Knifefish Retrieval from the months of February to December 2017. It was
very noticeable in the report the rapid increase of Gloria (Sarotherodon melanotheron) which is also considered as invasive species. The selling price of Knifefish in
the market as of February 2018 sets at P40.00 per kilo for the large-sized
Knifefish. While for BFAR-NIFTC, selling prices are, P40.00 for the
fingerlings, P30.00 for medium-sized Knifefish and P20.00 for the large-sized
Knifefish.
Reports also on the distributed
Fishing Gears and Livelihood Training on Knifefish Processing of BFAR-NIFTC
were presented. Ms. San Jose also added that the Municipality of Cardona were
requesting for a training on Knifefish Processing.
1.5. R & D Committee
Mr. Wilfredo Ibarra of DOST-PCAARRD requested to allot
funds for an advertisement regarding the
call for proposals on the impact of knifefish on biodiversity and a webpage about the TWG milestone.
Moreover, Mr. Ibarra also requested to consider in the
Cash for Work the results of the UPLB study in the biodiversity of Knifefish
which was presented last August 2017 at DOST-PCAARRD office in Los Banos,
Laguna. This aims to come up with other project which will provide fishing nets
to catch the fingerlings and juvenile
–sized knifefish which can be funded out of the DSWD fund.
2. Status of
the Inter-Agency Memorandum of Agreement
It was reported by Ms. Muan that the copy of the said
MOA was still with BFAR-IV-A since June
last year. According to Ms. Frietzy Alvares, Ms. Beth during that time have
comment on the MOA and requesting to delineate the role of BFAR-IV-A and
BFAR-NIFTC. However, the said comment and a copy of the MOA was not yet formally turned over to the TWG Secretariat.
Ms. Muan also explained that the Secretariat find difficulty in finalizing
the MOA as it is always overtaken by the
changes in administration /signatories
of the member agencies as in the case of
DENR, BFAR and the most recent is the
DSWD
As such, the body agreed that while the concerns on
Knifefish are already in palced within
the respective program of the TWG member agencies, review of the MOA be again
made having the Directors instead of
Secretaries as signatories.
3. Other Matters
3.1. Mid-Year
Assessment
The supposed Year-end assessment
which was originally scheduled last December 2017 was moved to May this
year. Hence, 2017 year end and 2018 mid year
assessment are expected to be tackled in the said activity which is proposed to be
undertaken on on May 8-11, 2018. The Tentative venue is at BFAR Stations in Paoay, Ilocos Norte.t
3.2. Hosting
of TWG Monthly Meetings
The regular monthly TWG meeting was set every 2nd
Tuesday of the month. It was agreed by the TWG that the following will host the
next TWG Meetings;
SCHEDULE
|
SCHEDULE
|
||
Month
|
Host
|
Month
|
Host
|
March
|
DTI
|
August
|
DOST
|
April
|
TESDA
|
September
|
LLDA
|
May
|
BFAR-NIFTC
|
October
|
DSWD
|
June
|
BFAR 4A
|
November
|
BMB
|
July
|
DILG
|
December
|
ALL member
|
VIII. Adjournment
Having
no other matters to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 1:30 PM.
After
the meeting, the Group was toured by the BFAR-NIFTC group led by Mr. Diamante around the Fishyalan.
Prepared
by:
JESSICA CHRISTELLE Q.
ROLA CRISPINA
M. MUAN
CDO-I CDO-III
Noted
by:
REENA L. BUENA
Division
Chief, CDD-LLDA
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