The city’s zoning chief said that her office intends to reclassify productive fishponds into protected agriculture zones at the same time the idle fishponds will be prohibited from being used to allow mangroves to regenerate and recover.
Engr. Jovenee Sagun, head of the city planning and development department, said on Thursday during the three-day United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Protect Wildlife sponsored training on sectoral and cross-sectoral analysis of Forest Land Use Plan (FLUP) and Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) data for Puerto Princesa City that productive fishponds are important for the supply of fishery and aquatic products in the city and these areas should be safeguarded by way of reclassifying it into protected agriculture zones.
“Ang productive na fishpond ay e-reclassify natin as protected agriculture kasi kailangan din natin ang Fish Farming. Pero ang mga idle fishpond ay hindi na papayagan. Kung idle ang fishpond ay sinasabi naman sa batas na e-revert sa mangrove. E kung sampung taon na ay bumabalik na ang mangroves nyan,” Engr. Sagun said.
She explained that mangroves in abandoned fishponds normally regenerates and these mangroves should be protected because of the ecological importance.
A fishpond operator should have an approved Fishpond Lease Agreement (FLA) from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) or tenurial instrument from appropriate national government agencies before they can secure permit from the City Planning and Development Office (CPDO). New buyers of already abandoned fishponds will also not be allowed to operate anymore.
“Kukuha sya ng kailangan meron syang tenurial instrument at kukuha sila ng permit sa amin. Hindi na rin pinapayagan ang new buyer at hindi rin naming bibigyan ng permit kung wala silang tenure from BFAR,” Engr. Sagun explained.
During the training, the group of participants composed of key personnel and functionaries of the city government representing the different offices, agreed to conduct the inventory of fishponds in the entire city to determine its present conditions. The inventory will be conducted by the CPDO, City Agriculture Office, and City Environment and Natural Resources Office.