Sarangani Island in Davao Occidental, known for its rich marine resources, will soon commercialize various fish products. This comes after 22 women fishers attended a post-harvest training from July 10-12.

BFAR XI OIC-Chief RFTFCD Enrica Patricia Araullo said that the training aimed to equip the participants with the skills to process available fish into products like patty, lumpia, embutido, and meatballs, for business purposes. In addition, this value-adding process prolonged the shelf life of the fish and increases market value.

“Atoang women sa community play a vital role. By enhancing their expertise, they can pursue alternative livelihoods to support their income,” she added.

OIC-Municipal Agriculturist Dyck John Camillo expressed his hopes for the training’s impact on further developing tourism in the area.

“Mao mana ang ginapangita mostly sa tourists, pagkaon, view ug experience (This is what tourists mostly look for: food, scenery, and experiences). The Mayor’s vision is to offer local products to our tourists when they visit the island,” he said.

To support this initiative, BFAR XI Post-harvest and Marketing Section through the Provincial Fisheries Office-Davao Occidental provided the Local Government Unit of Sarangani with essential post-harvest equipment such as a chest freezer, solar dryer, and kitchen materials, among others, to serve as start-up capital.

In her acceptance speech, Monera Alim, one of the training participants, said, “Kabalo naman kita sa procedure and ingredients ug gihatagan pa ta ug gamit, ato nalang paningkamutan nga mapadayon nato unsa atong nasugdan.” (We already know the procedures and ingredients, and we were also given equipment. Now, it’s up to us to strive and carry on with what we have started.)

“Dako kaayo akong pasalamat sa BFAR na naka avail mi ani nga training, salamat kaayo daghan mi natun an,” (I am very grateful to BFAR because we were able to avail of this training. Thank you very much; we have learned a lot.) she added.