{"id":584550,"date":"2014-03-12T00:03:36","date_gmt":"2014-03-11T16:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/?p=584550"},"modified":"2014-03-11T21:42:49","modified_gmt":"2014-03-11T13:42:49","slug":"overharvesting-perils-seaweeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/584550\/overharvesting-perils-seaweeds","title":{"rendered":"Overharvesting perils seaweeds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

SEAWEED gathering has become an alternative livelihood for fishermen, like Cristobal Ibasan, in San Fabian town in Pangasinan province. Ibasan dries seaweeds on the concrete shoulder of the highway in San Fabian. RAY ZAMBRANO<\/p><\/div>\n

Passing through the highway traversing Alacan village in San Fabian town in Pangasinan province, one cannot ignore the peculiar smell of seaweeds being dried by fishermen by the roadside.<\/p>\n\n

Seaweeds harvesting has spurred alternative economic activities in this coastal town.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe villagers have been gathering seaweeds even when I was a boy,\u201d Cristobal Ibasan, 61, said as he flipped over the seaweeds he was drying.<\/p>\n\n

What\u2019s on the pavement is sargassum, a brown or dark green seaweed, which local buyers said are used as ingredient for animal feed or fertilizer.<\/p>\n\n

During \u201cdaleg,\u201d or when the waves are big, large quantities of sargassum are carried to the shore where they are easily gathered by residents. On ordinary days, however, fishermen travel about a kilometer and dive into the sea to harvest them.<\/p>\n\n

There are times when it is not possible to gather seaweeds like when the water is murky. There is also the danger of getting hurt by corals or getting stung by jellyfish, fishermen said.<\/p>\n\n

On a good day, Ibasan said he could gather up to 30 kilograms of sargassum. \u201cIt is difficult to gather the seaweeds and to dry them but we don\u2019t really earn much as the price is<\/p>\n

only P4 a kg,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n

But Dr. Gavino Trono, professor emeritus of the University of the Philippines\u2019 Marine Science Institute in Bolinao town and an expert on seaweeds, said local fishermen should earn more as there are many uses for sargassum.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cSargassum is used as raw material for many high-priced products like cosmetics and medicine and in textile manufacturing. The fishermen are losing, and we and the environment are paying the high price because the seaweeds are getting depleted because of overharvesting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in the Ilocos region has tapped Trono to train fishermen on seaweeds farming in Bolinao, where a farm will be established by the agency.<\/p>\n\n

Big demand but\u2026<\/p>\n\n

There is a demand for seaweeds, he said, adding that he had been approached by a Chinese businessman who wanted a supply of 1,000 tons of sargassum every month. \u201cWhere will we get that volume of seaweeds without depleting our resources?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n

Trono said fishermen harvest sargassum by uprooting them and this could lead to the seaweeds\u2019 depletion.<\/p>\n\n

He said it takes a year before the seeds (also called embryo) grow into mature plants, calling the process \u201cfresh annual growth.\u201d If fishermen cut or prune the fronds, these will grow back soon and the seaweeds will not be depleted, he said.<\/p>\n\n

Regulate harvest<\/p>\n\n

Trono said the country should regulate the harvest of seaweeds.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI think there is a need to stop harvesting and study how to conserve at the same time use this precious sea resource. [BFAR Director Asis Perez] is issuing a memo about stopping sargassum harvesting in the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n

Ibasan said Alacan residents had lost a variety of edible seaweeds, locally known as \u201cararosep\u201d (Chlorophyta), due to overharvesting.<\/p>\n\n

Perhaps learning a lesson, residents avoid overharvesting the variety \u201cculot\u201d (Laurenciapapillosa), which, he said, tastes good when cooked with tamarind.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cWe cut the tips. We don\u2019t waste them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n

But he said other varieties, collectively called \u201ctamsaw\u201d by residents and which they gather some 5 km from the shore using gill nets, are extensively harvested.<\/p>\n\n

These varieties are Eucheuma spinosum, Gelidiella acerosa, Kappaphycus alvarezii and Kappaphycus striatum.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThey are made into jelly. They are more expensive at P10 a kg, but we have to use a motorboat to go far into the sea where they thrive,\u201d Ibasan said.<\/p>\n\n

These species are sources of gel or carrageenan, Trono said. It is the Eucheuma spinosum variety which the BFAR is introducing to Bolinao waters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Passing through the highway traversing Alacan village in San Fabian town in Pangasinan province, one cannot ignore the peculiar smell of seaweeds being dried by fishermen by the roadside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":584551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,530,39],"tags":[137,2294,41955,206081],"byline":[1011],"source":[206078],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOverharvesting perils seaweeds | Inquirer 黑料社<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Passing through the highway traversing Alacan village in San Fabian town in Pangasinan province, one cannot ignore the peculiar smell of seaweeds being dried by fishermen by the roadside.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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