ILOILO City – The establishment of a hatchery for blue swimming crabs at the Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College (NIPSC) campus in Concepcion, Iloilo is seen to increase the marine species’ production.
Provincial Agriculturist Ildefonso Toledo on Monday said it will be the first hatchery of its kind in Iloilo and is expected to produce one million crablets in a cycle.
During its session on June 8, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan approved the request of Provincial Administrator Raul Banias to authorize the provincial government to sign a memorandum of understanding with NIPSC for the establishment of the facility.
Toledo said they have allotted P5 million for the construction of the hatchery.
Some P3.3 million of the budget will be for the building while the remaining amount will be for the start-up operation equipment.
The blue swimming crab is a crab species previously abundant in Iloilo, especially in northern part of the province.
Toledo said the population of this crab species has declined through the years.
Currently, fishermen could only get less than five kilograms of these crabs per day, lower than the 20-kilogram production during the 1980s and the 1990s, according to Toledo.
“In fact, the picking and processing plants, which exported crab meat, have also decreased in number,” he added.
Toledo recounted that in 2000, there are about 11 picking and processing plants in northern Iloilo. Today, only two remained – one in Concepcion and the other, in Carles.
Toledo said these plants processed 20 tons of crabs a day.
“Now, they even strive to get one ton a day,” he said. “That is a remarkable decrease in the population of blue swimming crab that is why the governor (Arthur Defensor Sr.) feels the urgency to address the problem to bring back the resources from our seas in the province of Iloilo.” (With PNA/PN)
