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The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has given the Subic Bay Integrated Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Management Council (SB-IFARMC) a P4 million fund for its various activities which are meant to balance the industrial thrust of Subic Bay port. SB-IFARMC is a group formed to promote the sustainable development of the bay of Subic.

SBMA head Armand Arreza said, the fund also form as assistance to jumpstart livelihood and marine resources conservation programs by local fishers. The amount will be sourced from the environmental guarantee fund, a fund created as a condition under the environmental compliance certificate issued for two huge maritime projects in Subic, namely, the Subic port-modernization program and the Hanjin shipbuilding venture.

Arreza said, “Fisherfolk who have been dependent on Subic Bay’s bounty even before the creation of the Subic Bay Free Port will be the beneficiaries of this grant. They may have been affected by restrictions imposed on Subic as the maritime sector boomed, but this grant proves that the SBMA also champions the interest of the fishing sector.”

SB-IFARMC chairman Laureano Artagame thanked SBMA for providing the assistance and said that the funds would be used mostly on building artificial reefs, and provide scholarships and livelihood programs for the families of fisherfolks in Subic.

Arreza and Artagame signed the memorandum of agreement governing the terms and conditions of the P4-million grant last week. Artagame said, “With this fund, the SB-IFARMC will immediately implement project proposals from fishing communities. A lot of projects have lain dormant for the most part due to lack of funding.”

The SBMA will be assisting the SB-IFARMC in the implementation of its projects. Other government agencies, like the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of the Interior and Local Government, will be working with the group too.