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TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan — Marine fishes usually are aplenty during the onset of summer months.

But before fishermen rush their catch to the wet markets or before housekeepers gut their fish for the dining table, the Bureau of  Fisheries and Aquatic Resources here has an appeal. “We are calling on our fishermen and the consuming public to surrender to BFAR or the LGUs, any tag found in fishes particularly big eye, skipjack, or yellowfin tuna, and other marine fishes, as these are part of scientific studies,” BFAR Region 2 director Jovita Ayson said.

Said tuna species are locally known as “tangi” or “tambakul”.

Ayson said that three multinational fish tagging projects are currently under way, with the country as member participant.

One is the Tuna Tagging project in the Western and Central Pacific spearheaded by the Oceanic Fisheries Program (OFP) under the secretariat of the Pacific Community based in New Caledonia and funded by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.

This tagging project and two other similar activities are led in the country by the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute.

According to the OFP, the tuna tagging project will “provide better information on fishery exploitation rates and population sizes in the Western and Central Pacific. Data to be gathered will allow the improvement of regional stock assessment for the three species.”

The tuna tagging project carries $10 reward for each yellow tag, $50 for green tag and $250 for orange tag. The latter two have accompanying devices inserted on the body cavity of the fish (near the abdomen). The tag, on the other hand, is attached to the back of the fish near the second dorsal fin.

Recently, one fisherman identified as Rodrigo Dayaca from Camiguin Island in the municipality of Calayan, Cagayan, was awarded by the fisheries bureau P900 as reward for surrendering a tagged yellow fin tuna caught along the dormant Didicas island-volcano.

This tagged tuna, however, came from a similar project being conducted by the National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries, Fisheries Research Agency, Japan.

Source: Manila Bulletin