 | BFAR assures ample fish supply in Cebu |
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PNA: March 19, 2020, 6:54 pm
CEBU CITY – The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Region 7 (Central Visayas), has assured enough supply of fish in Cebu province for the duration of the transport restriction as part of measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Florencio Aparri, BFAR-7 Fisheries Production, and Support Services Division head, said the regional office has received a directive from their central office to do daily price monitoring.
Earlier, BFAR-7 did the price monitoring every Friday.
In a statement on Wednesday, Appari said the Department of Agriculture (DA) recently ordered the monitoring of prices of fishery commodities to avoid illegal price manipulation and hoarding.
He said BFAR-7 personnel visited the Pasil Fish Market here, one of the biggest in the region, to monitor not only the price range but also the volume of fish coming in, the species and origin of the fishery products.
Aparri said they noticed that the entry of fishery products remains unhampered, underscoring sufficient supply for the region.
However, fish dealers and vendors at the Pasil Fish Market complained of fewer market-goers who buy fish and other seafood.
Appari said fish traders from other provinces like Bohol who get their products from Pasil are restricted from traveling outside their respective areas.
“The retail sector is now facing a problem. They have been affected as lesser people go to the market. Perhaps they are afraid. Fish vendors complained because of the lesser sale in a day),” he said in the vernacular.
Due to low demand, some fish vendors are forced to sell their catch for a low price, he added.
“We just have to be resilient at these times. Agwanta lang sa gyud ta (Let’s all endure this) and hopefully, dili ra ni magdugay ug mobalik ra ta sa normal nga sitwasyon (this will not go a long way, as sooner this will go back to the normal situation),” Aparri said. (PNA)
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