ROXAS City – Science and technology must be used to reinforce the fishery and aquaculture sector in Western Visayas, according to Department of Science and Technology (DOST) regional director Rowen Gelonga.
Gelonga said the technological interventions will directly and indirectly benefit people in the region.
“We are asking the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) and SEAFDEC (Southeast Asia Fisheries Development Center) to share the technologies that they have developed,” he said.
Gelonga was referring to the technologies the school and SEAFDEC made early this year.
The Capiz State University (CAPSU) has also been helping the DOST to strengthen the research, development and consultancy program for aquaculture.
Some CAPSU professors were tapped and deployed to fishponds to transfer and demonstrate aquaculture technologies for free.
The DOST has also launched the Fisheries and Food R&D Center at CAPSU-Dayao campus.
The center will serve as a hub for developing technologies on fisheries and processing of aquaculture-based products.
A forum on aquaculture and emerging seafood products was also conducted in Capiz, which claims to be the “Seafood Capital of the Philippines.”
The Mollusk Research and Development Center – wherein studies on mollusk resources like oyster, green mussel, squid and angel wings, among others, will be conducted – was recently launched at UPV. (With PIA/PN)
