An agreement was signed between Governor Sadikul Sahali and MFC president William Liu over the leas eof Tawi Tawi’s multi-species hatchery. It is said that the hatchery, which will produce up to 400,000 fingerlings of grouper and 1.6 to 3.4 million abalone spats annually, will help to ensure a steady and sustainable supply of high-value marine species for grow-out by fish farmers selling to Asian markets.
According to reliable sources about 1000 growers in Tawi Tawi and nearby areas have purchased the hatchery-bred young. Among the buyers were former combatants of the Moro National Liberation Front who have been assisted by USAID’s Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program to become mariculture farmers. It is expected that hatchery will help preventing the depletion of various commercial marine species in the Sulu archipelago, as local growers will no longer have to rely on catching young fish in the wild for grow-out, in order to meet market demand.
MFC is a deep-sea purse seine fishing company which ships its canned fish products to 22 countries. It reported a 50-percent increase in its volume of exports in 2007. It is expected that the company would turned the hatchery into profitable organization under the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
