PANGASINENSES TO REVIVE DYING SEA URCHIN INDUSTRY
Posted: 6:03 AM | Mar. 13, 2005
Yolanda Sotelo-Fuertes
Inquirer News Service

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan -- Government agencies and non-government organizations in the province are reviving the dying sea urchin, sea cucumber and top shell industries in the Lingayen Gulf through the support of the Royal Netherlands Embassy. The restocking of the depleted species in the gulf would be made under the Sagip Lingayen Gulf Project, following the planned expansion and upgrading of the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute hatchery in Bolinao.

The project is being undertaken by the provincial governments of Pangasinan and La Union and implemented by the Marine Environment and Resources Foundation (MERF), the UPMSI, Tanggol Kalikasan and Sentro para sa Ikauunlad ng Agham at Teknolohiya. Pangasinan Gov. Victor Agbayani said the project would help small fishermen who are dependent on the Lingayen Gulf. He said the gulf's resources are already depleted because of over fishing, illegal fishing and pollution.

A marker that will be put up at the UPMSI hatchery area was signed by Agbayani, La Union Gov. Victor Ortega, MERF president Ma. Josefa Pante, UPMSI director Gil Jacinto and Jan Willem Cools, forests and environment first secretary of the Royal Netherlands Embassy on Thursday. Helen Grace Bangi of the UPMSI said the coastal areas of Bolinao used to be abundant with sea urchins (Tripneustes gratilla) and residents ignored these until the early 1970s when buyers started to come. The residents then realized that there was a lucrative market for sea urchin roe. Commercial harvesting stated in the 1970s and peaked in the late 1980s. The catch on Silaqui Island in Bolinao peaked at 5.3 tons worth P9.6 million in 1989. The figures were estimated to be half of the total landed catch in Bolinao.

"[But] intense exploitation gradually took its toll, and the [sea urchin] population soon underwent a rapid decline. The situation was aggravated by the practice of collecting even small, immature urchins before they had the opportunity to spawn and reproduce," the UPMSI said. The sea urchin fishery stock collapsed by 1992 due to overharvesting, affecting the livelihood of thousands of fishermen in the town. Soon, the UPMSI started a project aimed at enhancing the recovery of wild sea urchin population in Bolinao through reseeding efforts in marine protected areas and the promotion of community-based cage culture.

Andre Jon Uychiaco, Sagip Lingayen Gulf project manager, said the project had been expanded and upgraded to include sea cucumber (Holothuria scabra), abalone (Haliotis asinina) and top shells (Trochus niloticus) and had produced 500,000 seed stock of the various species.  "We have given seed stock to fishermen groups in Bolinao and Anda and we are looking into potential sites in Alaminos City, San Fernando City [La Union], Burgos and Agno," Uychiaco said. The different species are grown in cages in the sea, but Uychiaco said their culture is environment-friendly because they are given only natural food like seaweeds, sea grasses and algae.

All species are in high demand, both in local and international markets, for their meat and shells, he said.

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