Zamboanga Sur town fisherfolk feel pinch of tourism slump

Edwin Suson (in black) and fellow fishermen harvesting green grouper from the floating cages in the waters of Sitio Baroy, Barangay Rebokon, Dumalinao town, Zamboanga del Sur. —PHOTOS BY LEAH AGONOY

Small fisherfolk in Dumalinao town, Zamboanga del Sur are feeling the pinch from the tourism slowdown brought about by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, as the green grouper they’re about to harvest this month may no longer have that much of a market.

Edwin Suson, director of the Regional Federated Fisherfolk’s Association, said what used to be their lucrative market––the hotels and big restaurants in big cities––have been badly hit by the lockdown the government imposed in the previous months to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Suson, who is based in Barangay Bibilik of Dumalinao town, said they were supposed to start harvesting their green grouper this month but they were worried about how to transport their live products to big cities.

If ever their products managed to reach the market, they were also faced with uncertainty, whether their buyers were still there since big restaurants and hotels were only allowed limited operations.

“(Since w)e cannot send the (fish) because of the closure of the market in Cebu and Manila due to COVID-19, this would mean additional (feeding) cost,” Jarelo Larasan, president of Fisherfolk Association in Dumalinao town’s Barangay Metokong.

Suson said it would be hard to sell the high-value fish in the local market unless they’d be willing to bring down its price from the P450 per kilo market price they expected to only P200 a kilo.

“With our group’s depleted resources, we (used to) sell only a small part of the fish to local buyers at a lower price to allow us to feed the fish,” Suson said.

Larasan admitted they had a hard time feeding their grouper fish which were already due for harvest. Although they already wanted to dispose of the fish in the coming months, they were still searching for a market that would buy their products at a good price.

He said the pandemic affected their income so badly that they were now forced to plant cassava, corn, and other vegetables to have something to eat.

Joemar Suganob, coastal resource management officer of Dumalinao town, said the floating fish cages that eventually became the Green Group Enterprise had been one of the government projects that had given fisherfolk extra income in their town since 2008.

In 2017, it won a P500,000 cash award from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources for being among the most well-managed coastal resource areas.

Suganob said part of the contingency plan they were eyeing would be to market their produce at the Community Fish Landing Center, where local businessmen and individuals might buy the fish at a lower price.

LZB