PRIMEX News

PRIMEX joins international
confab on fisheries, poverty

Posted on 12 April 2007

PRIMEX President and CEO Elvira C. Ablaza joined world experts on fisheries in discussing the sector’s current trends, emerging challenges, and other related issues at an international conference held in Makati City, Philippines (Renaissance Hotel)  last April 10-11.

The two-day International Conference on Fisheries and Poverty which bannered the theme ‘Poverty Reduction through Sustainable Fisheries: Emerging Policy and Governance Issues in Southeast Asia’ gathered academic experts, government executives (research and development, fisheries and trade sectors), nongovernment organizations (NGOs) as well as executives of various international institutions involved in the fisheries sector development mostly from the Asia-Pacific region, including PRIMEX.

It was jointly organized by the Philippine-based Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA),  Malaysia-based WorldFish Center and the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Ablaza moderated the second of the four theme forums in the Conference, the Session on Markets and Trade, which included  three review paper presentations and major discussions on the a) Seafood Supply Chain and Poverty Reduction as presented by Dr Run Yu of the University of Hawaii in Manoa, Hawaii and discussed by Dr Flordeliza Lantican, PRIMEX consultant and professor of the University of the Philippines at Los Baňos; b) Changing Structure of Demand and Supply in Fisheries by Dr Madan Mohan Dey, Regional Director for East and Southeast Asia of the WorldFish Center with Dr Jose Padilla of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as the discussant; and c) Regional Economic Integration of the Fisheries Sector in the ASEAN Countries by Dr Yolanda T. Garcia of the WorldFish Center with Phillip Ong, President of the Santeh Feeds Corporation-Philippines as the discussant.

Panel discussants provided feedback and inputs on the content and usefulness of the papers and presentations for policymakers while participants processed the workshop papers and identified a priority policy and research agenda for sustainable and pro-poor fisheries. The papers will be transformed into book chapters, incorporating inputs from the workshop as well as designated referees. The book is expected to be a standard reference source of sustainable fishery management in Southeast Asia.

The three other theme sessions were Fishing Households and Small-Scale Operators, chaired by Dr Edilberto C. De Jesus, Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO Secretariat); Technology and Policy chaired by Dr Arnulfo G. Garcia, SEARCA Manager for Research and Development; and Aquatic Resource Status, Governance, and Regional Collaboration chaired by Dr Roger O. Juliano, Philippine Coastal Management Center Executive Director.

Ablaza hailed the Conference as a significant milestone in homogenizing strategic directions for fisheries development in the region.

PRIMEX’s participation in the Conference has been premised on its lead role in providing management consulting services to various fisheries development projects in the Philippines and other Asian countries for two decades now, including the implementation of the recently-completed, seven-year multi-funded Fisheries Resource Management Project (FRMP) in the Philippines. The firm is also currently completing the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded Strategy Study for Sustainable Aquaculture Development for Poverty Reduction in the Philippines (ADTA No. 4708-PHI).

Dr. Jamalludin Sulaiman, President of the Asian Society of Agricultural Economists and Professor of the Universiti Sains Malaysia, keynoted the Conference on its opening day.

Back to Top |Back to News/Events