DARAM, SAMAR – Samar State University, in partnership with the Local Government Unit of Daram (LGU-Daram), conducted a scio-economic profiling through a focused group discussion (FGD) last February 19 with 64 fishers from 26 coastal barangays of Daram to continue its efforts in rebuilding the fisheries and aquatic resources to increase productivity, improve income and reduce inequality.
Hon. Philip Martin Astorga, Municipal Mayor, represented by Raul Bulan, Head of Fisheries Section, gave a welcome message to the fisherfolks as key informants of the FGD.
In 2019, the partnership began through research and extension program which included activities such as multi-stakeholder engagement, SWOT analysis, project prioritization and participatory project planning to mainly identify the socio-economic profile of fisheries industry of the municipality.
Mr. Jesus T. Racuyal, Executive Director for Extension, that a strategic fisheries monitoring scheme will be designed after the participants (1) determine the catch per unit of effort of each type of gear, (2) identify the top five most abundant species of fish caught by each type of gear, (3) identify the most frequent fishing area of each type of gear, and (4) identify three to five problems and issues encountered by the small scale fishers.
“The gathered information is relevant to technical support in Developing the Sardine Management Plan for FMA 7, with support from Oceana.
The FGD was conducted by the Office of the Executive Director for Extension Services, Faculty of COFMAS, CFARRD, RCCSI, and UPVFI-Oceana Research Assistants.
