Tags: Aquaculture, Cottage Industries
By KC Santos
CARAMOAN, CAMARINES SUR – For a father of three, Anthony Ferdon knows that by simply relying on fishing as his source of income would not suffice to give his children the education he never had.
Anthony also understands that his role is more than just feeding his family three times a day. This is why he juggles three jobs: catching fish in the morning, operating outrigger boats in the afternoon, and, when the weather allows it, farming seaweed.
Anthony started his venture in seaweeds just recently but it has already been part of the thriving aquaculture industry in Bicol for the past 15 years.
The past decade and a half was solidified by joint efforts of fishermen like Anthony and the municipal government of Caramoan to promote seaweed farming as an alternative source of livelihood for coastal communities like Barangay Bical.
Anthony is one of the more fortunate fishermen in his town who can afford the relatively high costs of investing and maintaining a seaweed farm. The materials needed to start a seaweed farm are sourced from Barangay Canlong and transporting the materials can be expensive.
Anthony shares that tending seaweeds is very tedious from the individual knotting of the seaweed, submerging, and drying.
Depending on weather conditions, he says it takes two weeks before he could start cutting and harvesting from his farm. Normally, Anthony would expect his seaweed talay to double after the period. He earns at least P5,000 come harvest time.
An epidemic affected the quality of Anthony’s farm last year and his produce became hairy and developed a repulsive smell and can no longer be sold to suppliers. The two months when he didn’t earn from his farm devastated Anthony and that he hopes that this epidemic won’t happen again.
However, another challenge for seaweed farmers is decreasing demand for seaweed which lowered the price of each kilo from P90 last year down to P48 this year.
To cope with this, Anthony supplies seaweed to bulk distributors who in turn transport the seaweed to wet markets in Cubao and Malabon.
Anthony says fishermen and seaweed farmers like him are constantly facing these challenges but he believes that through perseverance and hard work, these challenges can be overcome.
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