The cuttings of the brownish seaweeds were piling up. But 31 years old Marifel Gabison is undaunted as she picks them one at a time to tie them to a fiber rope of about two-meter long while she chats with five other women. Know more:
DAWAHON ISLAND, Bato, Leyte—The cuttings of the brownish seaweeds were piling up. But 31 years old Marifel Gabison is undaunted as she picks them one at a time to tie them to a fiber rope of about two-meter long while she chats with five other women, who are doing the same task.
Gabison said there is big demand for new seedlings to replenish those that were destroyed by Typhoon Paeng from October 28 to 31, just three days before the interview. “We haven’t even fully recovered from Typhoon Odette, then we have Paeng,” lamented Benjamin Tańo, the president of the 342-strong Dawahon Seaweeds Farmers Association.
For its response to Odette, BFAR-8 distributed 93 fiberglass boats with engines and complete accessories worth P4.6 million and P500,000 worth of propagules. “We had strong typhoons before but they were not as destructive and more often as they are now,” Inoc said. “We also didn’t have these seaweed diseases in the past.”