EB MAGALONA – Residents of Barangay Tomontong here, known for its famous blue crabs (alimasag), are singing the blues.

The lucrative earnings they once had are hurting with the decline in their catch attributed to over-harvesting and the rising price of fuel, Barangay Captain Rolly Bronda said yesterday.

Eighty percent of the 1,717 residents of Tomongtong rely on blue crabs as the major source of their livelihood, Bronda said.

Kagawad Felipe Deguira Jr. said that, in the past, his average catch was 10 kilos a day but it has dropped to just about 3 kilos. That leaves him with earnings of about P250 a day after gasoline and other expenses are deducted, he said.

But there are still some good days when his catch reaches 20 to 30 kilos, he said.  

Kagawad Dalia Gaco, 48, who has been in the blue crab business in Tomongtong for 18 years, said their catch is bought by picking plants at P165 a kilo where crab meat is extracted and sold to buyers for export.

Government has helped us through the years by providing seminars to teach us to be discriminating in our catch to prevent the depletion of the blue crabs, she said.

Fishermen here have been taught about the need to avoid fishing practices that do not allow the return to sea of juvenile crabs that have not yet reached sexual maturity or gravid crabs that have not yet spawned, Arsenio Palma, EB Magalona fishery officer, said.

THEY’RE TASTIER

“Blue crabs that are abundant in Tomongtong are much tastier than other crabs because the habitat here is soft and muddy with a lot of algae,” he said.

To fully improve the habitat of the crabs and the burger shells and brown mussels they feed on, villagers have also stepped up mangrove reforestation, former barangay captain Andrito Malunes said.

The mangroves also help prevent further erosion in Tomongtong that could also gradually be eaten up by the sea if no proactive measures are taken.

EB Magalona Mayor David Lacson said that, to further save Tomongtong from being lost to the sea P2 million from the funds of the town, provincial government and Rep. Jose Carlos Lacson (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) have been allocated for the repair of the village dikes.

The name Barangay Tomongtong is synonymous with blue crabs but actually EB Magalona’s shoreline from barangays Latasan to Pasil have blue crabs, too, Lacson said.

CRAB SANCTUARY

Lacson said he is also proposing  the establishment of a 19-kilometer crab sanctuary for gravid crabs or “Bukakahan” from barangays Latasan to Pasil that will be off limits to fishermen for five to 10 years. This will allow undisturbed spawning and ensure the propagation of blue crabs for the future, he said.

“We will explain the benefits of a crab sanctuary to marginal fishermen, provide alternative livelihoods and hold hearings on the matter,” Lacson said.

Meanwhile, he said the town government is enforcing two ordinances prohibiting and penalizing the catching of gravid crabs and juvenile crabs or crablets.

PICKING PLANTS

Today there are also six known blue crab processing plants in EB Magalona, Lacson said.

From the catchers, the crabs are brought to these plants where their meat is picked out and packed for shipment mostly to Cebu for canning and export, he said.

Two such picking plants in EB Magalona are the Hibionada Aqua Venture ran by Ronaldo Hibionada and Kyle Seafoods Ventures owned by Ronald Villanueva.

Hinionada said his plant provides about 150 EB Magalona residents jobs at peak production and has an output of 600 to 700 kilos of crabmeat a day, which he sells to exporters at P90 to P100 a kilo.

The canned crabmeat for Hibionada Aqua Venture is shipped out from Cebu to the US market, he said.

Villanueva said his plant has about 50 to 60 employees and produces about 200 kilos of crab meat a day.

The crab meat picking plants have provided added employment to many in EB Magalona, Lacson said.

But the employment and income for EB Magalona residents, from their blue crab industry could be lost if stakeholders don’t protect their blue crab resource, the mayor said.

At the provincial level a Provincial Blue Crab Fishery Ordinance is also in place  regulating the catching, selling, buying and mere processing of gravid blue crabs and crablets in Negros Occidental.*CPG

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