Several cold storage facilities would be put up in various fishing ports in the country to address spoilage of catch which leads to the decline in fishery production, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said.

Aside from his directive to build fish ports in 11 coastal provinces in the country, Marcos also ordered putting up cold storage facilities to address  declining fishery production and reduce post-harvest losses.

“So we decided that one of the areas that was identified was the spoilage of the fish doon sa handling from galing sa bangka, galing sa fishing boat, hanggang sa bagsakan, hanggang sa palengke napakalaki ang nagiging spoilage (the boat, from the fishing boat, to the market, there is a large volume of spoilage),” Marcos said in a sectoral meeting on Tuesday, March 14.

“At ang naging solusyon diyan ay maglagay ng cold storage facilities doon sa mga bagsakan ng isda para ma-preserve naman yung isda at hindi natin kailangan itapon ang maraming nasisira, napapanis na isda (And the solution there is to provide cold storage facilities to the fish ports to preserve the fish, and lessen the spoilage ),” Marcos added.

According to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), the current fish spoilage is between 25 to 40 percent due to the shortage in post-harvest equipment like blast freezer and ice making machines as well as facilities like cold storage warehouse and fish landing sites.

The chief executive pointed out that if the country would be able to lower the spoilage of the catch between 8 to 10 percent, the Philippines would no longer depend on importing fish from other nations.

He said the plan is to build 11 more cold storage facilities on top of those already being constructed in various ports in the cities of General Santos and Cagayan de Oro, adding that he expects the cold storage facilities to be operational by the end of this year.