By
Melchor F. Cichon
April 27, 2005
In the next 15 to 20 years, the sea will become the basket of food to Filipinos.
That is if our people will not pollute it.
This
was the prediction of Prof. Pepito Fernandez, the former dean of the
College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of the Philippines
in the Visayas, Miag-ao, Iloilo, when this writer interviewed him on
September 1, 1997 at his office in Miag-ao, Iloilo.
He further
said that since our arable land area is becoming smaller and smaller
because of the conversion of lands into subdivisions and commercial
centers, our people will focus their attention to the sea to seek food
and livelihood.
He laments, however, that our government is not
giving as much attention as it does to agriculture. This is one of the
many reasons why he advocated together with Dr. Flor Lacanilao for the
approval of the Fisheries Code. He believes that this Code will enhance
greater fishery production. Of course, the results of this Code will not
be immediate, but with an umbrella organization, like a Department of
fisheries or a Fisheries Commission, coordination of programs, projects
and activities on fisheries will be better managed.
And funding on fisheries will be optimized.
The
Code was approved on February 25, 1998 as RA No. 8550 known as
Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998. It is an act providing for the
development, management and conservation of the fisheries and aquatic
resources, integrating all laws pertinent thereto, and for other
purposes.
No department nor a commission on fisheries was
established. Instead the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources was
reconstituted, and a position of Undersecretary for Fisheries and
Aquatic Resources was created.
Prof. Fernandez also laments on
the situation of fisheries education in the country. He said that many
of our fisheries schools can not pass the standard for Bachelor of
Science in Fisheries and Diploma in Fisheries Technology Programs. He
said that many of our fisheries schools and colleges lack human and
physical resources. He knew this because he was a member of the
committee who had been tasked by the Department of Education, Culture
and Sports (DECS) to evaluate tertiary fisheries schools in the country.
By lack of human resources, he means the lack of highly trained faculty
and research staff of these schools. According to him, a great majority
of the faculty members of the tertiary schools in the country today do
not have masteral degrees in fisheries or biology from reputable
universities like U.P., Ateneo de Manila, and De La Salle University.
Aside from this, the schools lack scientific equipment, books, journals
and other reading materials on fisheries and related subjects to support
their academic programs. Of course there are some fisheries colleges
that have considerable human and physical resources, like the College of
Fisheries of Central Luzon State University, the Iloilo State College
of Fisheries and the Regional Institutes of Fisheries Technology (RIFT).
But there are only seven RIFTs in the country. So we can see what kind
of fisheries graduates we have.
What he envisions is a college of
fisheries that “institutes degree programs that address the need for
sustainable development of the country’s fisheries resources and can
respond to the call for highly trained manpower in the field. Its
curricular offerings both in the graduate and the undergraduate levels
aim to impart to their students theoretical knowledge and practical
skills, toward innovative approaches and solutions to fisheries and
related problems.” In short, what we need are fisheries graduates who
will lead and initiate changes to sustain fishery development in the
Philippines.
It is good that there are colleges and universities
like the University of the Philippines and the Central Luzon State
University that have been producing graduates who have played
significant roles in the upliftment of fisheries in our country. But
again these are very few.
Prof. Fernandez was born on May 5, 1936 in Camiling, Tarlac. His father was a farmer, while his mother was a housewife.
Because of poverty, Pete, as he is fondly called by his colleages, worked his way to college.
While
studying in high school at the Tarlac Agricultural College, he worked
as a poultry caretaker of that school from 1953-1957. It was there where
he developed his interest in research. As a caretaker of the poultry
farm, he noticed that it was difficult to determine which hens were poor
layers, so he suggested that each layer be caged individually. His
supervisor approved his suggestion. And it proved his point. From then
on, they knew which layer should be culled early or not.
The systematic method used by Pete in poultry husbandry caught the attention of their superintendent, Nemenzo Bacalso.
Because of this, Superintendent Bacalso enouraged Pete to take up agriculture.
In
1960, Pete enrolled at U.P. Los Baños taking up poultry husbandry. But
after a year, through the encouragement of his relative, he transferred
to the College of Fisheries, U.P. , Diliman, Quezon City. He thought
that enormous challenges were awaiting him in fisheries than in
agriculture.
And so far he has no regrets for having taken Fisheries as a career.
Immediately
after finishing taking his Bachelor of Science in Fisheries degree in
1966, the College Dean, Prof. Rogelio O. Juliano employed him as
research assistant in his research project. Upon termination of the
Dean’s project, he applied for a work at the Commission of Fisheries at
Port Area, Manila. But when he met Section Head Herminio R. Rabanal, he
turned him down.
“This is not the place for you, Mr. Fernandez,”
Chief Rabanal told him. “And even if there is a vacancy here,” the Chief
further said, “still I will not take you in.” Rabanal must have thought
that Prof. Fernandez could earn more money and experiences if he would
work in another agency.
And Pete did look for a job in a private
firm. He was employed at Litton Mills and Co. in 1968. It was in this
company where Prof. Fernandez career as a fisheries scientist started.
He worked there as a shrimp biologist together with two Japanese
scientists. The project was successful that a new site was established
in Tawi-Tawi to be headed by him.
To prepare for the position, he
was asked to attend seminars on personnel administration in Manila. In
one of his trips to Manila, he learned that the main plant of Litton
Mills and Co. was burned down. This incident weakened the shrimp
project. Although he was still receiving his salary even without
working, he got bored. He decided to seek other employment. Although it
was difficult to grant his request for the company already had invested
some amount of money on him, he was eventually allowed to leave. But he
pledged to come back if ever his services were needed.
He applied
for a job at the UP College of Fisheries in Diliman, Quezon City. At
that time the dean of the college was Prof. Rogelio O. Juliano. Luckily
Prof. Juliano hired him as a Research Assistant. He was assigned at the
Institute of Fisheries Development and Research (IFDR), 1968-1970.
In
1970, Prof. Juliano hired him as an instructor of the then College of
Fisheries. After four years, Prof. Fernandez became the Secretary of the
College. Ten years later, he was appointed as Chairman of Department of
Inland Fisheries, College of Fisheries, U.P. Because of his good record
as an administrator and other qualifications, Prof. Juliano appointed
him as UP in the Visayas Vice-Chancellor for Administration, when the
former became the second UPV Chancellor. Chancellor Juliano replaced
Chancellor Dionisia Rola when the latter retired on April 30, 1987.
While
employed as a faculty and administrator, Prof. Fernandez served as
Aquaculture Consultant to some private agencies. Three of which are
Trivino Fishpond Project, 1984-1987; DM Consunje Fishpond Project,
1984-1986; and Benguet Management Corporation., 1984-1986. It was here
where he developed his pet project: modular method of raising sugpo
(prawn).
According to him this method of sugpo farming gives a
much higher production than the traditional one, up to 5 folds. Under
natural feeding, it enables the farmer to harvest up to 5 times a year
for an aggregate yield of up to 2 tons per hectare. If required at all,
supplemental feeding maybe resorted to only during the later part of the
culture period, or as the growth rates of the prawns so indicate. Thus,
this method entails relatively low cost of production with very
lucrative returns. The pond operates with three pond series of different
bottom elevations. Four weeks or so after stocking the nursery pond
(NP), growout pond (GP-1) would be prepared to accommodate the juveniles
from the NP. While the stock are at the GP-1, the nursery pond and the
grow-out pond two (GP-2) would be prepared to accommodate a new batch of
postlarvae and the post juveniles from fry source and GP-1
respectively. The process goes on cyclically every 40-45 days. Moreover,
the method maximizes the use of labor and space without altering so
much the technical attitude and temperament of the fish farmers.
Recommended pond ratio is 1:2.5-3:5-6 (NP:GP-1:GP-2).
His other
vital research undertakings include (1) nursery technique for sugpo in
pond. Here provisions of shelters are provided to ensure high survival
rate up to 94% for a 30-day rearing from the postlarvae. This could be
in the form of coconut frond; dried branches or twigs of bamboo or
non-toxic indigenous materials tied into small bundles. (2) Crab (Scylla
serrata) fattening in pens installed in pond and in mangrove areas. The
pens inhibit the crabs from escaping and boring holes on the dikes and
utilizes spaces in mangrove areas without cutting the vital trees.
He
has written and published books, articles and monographs. Some of these
are the following: Fishery Arts for Secondary Schools: Exploratory
(co-author). MBF Mercantile Corp., Quezon City, 1980. 322p.; A Manual in
Fish Culture III. (major author, together with Crispino A. Saclauso and
Arnulfo N. Marasigan), UPV College of Fisheries, Iloilo City, 1987.
159p.; Philippine Recommends for Bangus, 1976 (co-athored with Rogelio
O. Juliano, Flerida M. Arce, Melchor M. Lijauco and Leda G. Handog);
“Prawn farming in the Philippines: problems and prospects,” UPV
Fisheries Journal 1(1):13-22 1985.
For his many achievements in
and out of the academe, Prof. Fernandez has received the following
awards: Most Outstanding Alumnus (Fisheries), Tarlac College of
Agriculture, Camiling, Tarlac, April 9, 1985; Most Outstanding Faculty
Award of 1986, U.P. in the Visayas, April 28, 1987.
Although Dean
Fernandez has already achieved many things which many other individuals
have not, yet he still has some dreams. He hopes that his modular
method of sugpo farming be adopted by sugpo farmers to avoid the many
diseases that have plagued the industry; that fisheries education in our
country be improved so we can train and produce not only technical
fisheries graduates but future leaders and scientists who will help
accelerate fisheries development in our country; that the objectives of
the Fisheries Code be realized soonest so that fisheries as a whole in
our country will be better managed. Finally, he hopes that our fisheries
students will acquire the appropriate information and technologies to
better equip them in fighting whatever challenges that will confront
them.
Finally, when this writer asked Dean Fernandez how he
should be remembered, he said: as a scientist, as an educator and as an
administrator.
Bibliography
His curriculum vitae, 1996. 11p.
Personal Interview, September 1, 1997.
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