PACPI headed and conducted three (3) days of Trainers’ Training on the Localization of the Blue Swimming Crab – National Management Plan and Community Development in the Visayan Sea were held on December 7-9, 2023, at Sofia’s Beach Resort, Sta. Fe, Bantayan, Cebu.
The event aimed to share our strategies and milestones for implementing and establishing the Fisheries Improvement Projects (FIP) that our partner can adapt – the NGOs for Fisheries Reform (NFR)- INSPIRE Project under the USAID – Gerry Roxas Foundation . The INSPIRE Project is composed of different Non-Government Organizations that are strategically located in the Visayan Sea, namely, SIKAT, PRRM Negros, ZSL, CERD, and Tambuyog Development Foundation. Representatives of exporting companies who are members of PACPI and the local suppliers in Bantayan also attended the training.
The Municipality of Bantayan, Cebu , is amongst the Blue Swimming Crab Model Villages in the Visayan Sea, where the Fisheries Improvement Project or FIP of PACPI is focused. The FIP in Bantayan empowers the crab fishing community to promote behavioural change towards sustainable fishing and traceable seafood that complies with the global seafood market trends and requirements. With the strengthened governance and the active cooperation of the different actors in the supply chain – fishers, landing site owners, local processors, and exporters, the BSC industry in Bantayan is flourishing.
The program was closed with the MOU signing of the partnership between PACPI and the NFR-INSPIRE Project, witnessed by the Gerry Roxas Foundation- Deputy Chief of Party, Mr. Noel Barut. The goal of this partnership is to promote and increase the compliance of the fishing community in the registration (vessel, fishers, and gears) and food safety licensing of the local picking stations, including mapping the BSC resources in the Visayan Sea.
