By Madelaine B. Miraflor Even as the government continuously implements a three-month ban on sardine fishing every year, the sardines industry in Zamboanga still ended up growing P20 billion, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said. The Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has formally lifted the fishing closed season for sardines in the waters off Zamboanga peninsula midnight of March 1, 2018. Commercial fishers may now resume their operations in the waters of East Sulu Sea, Basilan Strait and Sibuguey Bay following a three-month ban on sardine fishing. Piñol said that ultimately, closed fishing season resulted in higher sardine population. "The abundant sardines catch has resulted in the sprouting of 11 Fish Canning facilities in the city which now employs over 50,000 people, including those who man the fishing boats which operate nine months a year," Piñol said. "It has now grown into a P20-billion industry which exports canned and bottled sardines to many countries in the world, including Europe," he added. The reinvigorated fishing industry in the Peninsula has also resulted in the reduction of the poverty incidence among fisherfolk families in Zamboanga City from over 40 percent to 34 percent in just seven years, BFAR claimed. The Sardine Closed Fishing Season was initiated by stakeholders and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in 2011 and after three years, BFAR issued Administrative Circular 255 to institutionalize the conservation of sardines in the waters of Zamboanga Peninsula. Following the successful Zamboanga Experience, closed fishing seasons are also observed in other fishing grounds like the Visayan Sea, Northeastern Palawan, Davao Gulf and other parts of the country. “There was an increase from 2015 in the catch of Sardinella lemuru (tamban). The catch was 137, 142.55 metric tons (MT). It went up to 143, 060 MT in 2016 at in 2017, it went up further to  152, 283 MT,” Piñol said. The management measure did not only result in increased sardine population. Piñol said the ban also increased the sighting of big and high-value fish species that feed on sardines. Since the start of the closed fishing season, the once rare big fish species—Tuna, Tangigue, Salay-Salay Ginto —are likewise finally coming back gradually. That was according to Ed Lim, head of one of the biggest sardines manufacturing companies based in Zamboanga City, who also said that even the people in General Santos City are now getting their tuna supply from Zamboanga Peninsula. The DA chief then assuages concerns over the fisherfolk’s lack of livelihood during closed seasons when they cannot go out to the open sea to fish sardines. He said fish workers may seek assistance through the Production Loan Easy Access (PLEA) program by the Department of Agriculture, a special credit facility which grants non-collateralized loans for agri-fishery production. The department has also promised P50-million worth of livelihood support to the affected fish workers and fisherfolk during closed seasons.