DAGUPAN CITY – There’s hope for marginal fishermen here whose income has been going down along with their catch.
That’s because they can still make a living out of the sea, using sea water, discarded plastic sheets and pieces of bamboo, lots of sunshine, and a patch of land by the sea.
Teaching fishermen to do just that is the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, which has set up a solar salt-making area. It will introduce the low-technology backyard salt production method to fishermen in Binloc village, which hosts the center.
“This will be our new year’s gift to the residents,” said Westley Rosario, BFAR research center chief.
Rosario said he got the idea to produce salt from a fishery student of the University of the Philippines-Visayas who earned some money by making salt at the beach, using ordinary plastic sheets.
“But we did not know how to do it. We just experimented on using the black sheets of plastic left from lining ponds used to culture vannamei or white shrimps,” he said.
It was an unemployed church choir member Renato Manlapus, 46, a high school graduate who had no experience at all in salt-making, who was Rosario’s partner in designing the salt beds.
They built seven salt beds measuring 15 x 2 meters by leveling the sand and lining it with plastic sheets. Plastic sheets supported by bamboo poles and slats were also used to fence the beds.
“The advantage of using plastic sheets as lining and fence is we are able to filter seawater and prevent sand and other debris from contaminating the salt,” Rosario said.
He said discarded tarpaulin billboards and ordinary plastics can also be used as salt beds. Hose or pails can be used to get water from the sea, filling the salt beds with three inches of water.
Rosario said after every seven days, they harvested half a sack of fine, white salt from each bed.
If a sack of salt is sold even at only P200, the seven salt beds can earn P1,400 a week or P5,600 a month.
“There are large areas of beaches which can be used to make salt, so the fishermen can earn more if they put up more salt beds,” Rosario said.
Another advantage of the backyard salt production is one does not need special skills or knowledge.
“And since we don’t cook the salt like they do in most salt-producing areas using plenty of wood, our production is environment-friendly,” Rosario said.
He said the BFAR’s salt venture is the first in Dagupan and proves that the coastal areas of the city are viable for salt production.
“This is why we are introducing the technology to marginal fishermen in the village. We will train them and will ask local officials to fund the residents’ project,” he said.
“Instead of giving them relief good like rice and canned goods, I think it will be better if the local government gives them sheets of plastics and bamboo for them to make salt beds,” Rosario added.
It is ironic that in Pangasinan, which comes from the word Panag-asinan (where salt is made), there are only a few towns that produce salt, namely Anda, Bani, Bolinao, and Dasol.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer learned that even salt makers in Dasol import salt from other countries like India to cope with the local demand.
At the BFAR research center, salt is used to clean tilapia and other freshwater fish. Rosario said fish are soaked in freshwater mixed with a little salt to remove bacteria and other disease-causing organisms.
Salt is also used to test the tolerance of fish to increasing salinity levels. It is also used to maintain salinity of experimental ponds during rainy season. Slurry (watery salt) is also used in the culture of vannamei in freshwater ponds.
“We have plenty of uses for salt in the center and now we can save money from buying salt because we are already producing what we need,” Rosario said.
He said the BFAR hoped to partner with the barangay (village) officials in establishing a salt-making industry in Binloc to make the village known for its white, solar-dried, healthy salt.
http://business.inquirer.net