Storms, monsoon rains cause extensive damage in Philippine fishery

MANILA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine fishery sector incurred losses amounting to 387 million pesos (9.26 million U.S. dollars) due to typhoons Vicente and Saola (local names Ferdie and Gener) and monsoon rains, a senior government official confirmed on Friday.

Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources director Asis G. Perez revealed that since July 20, close to 3,000 aquafarm operators and several hundreds of Filipino fishermen in three regions in northern Philippines were badly affected by torrential rains and the resulting floods.

The province of Pampanga in northern Philippines was hardest hit, with losses placed at 262 million pesos (6.27 million U.S. dollars).

Damage to infrastructure and other fishing equipment, including bancas and fishing devices reached 10.1 million pesos (241,869 U.S. dollars).

Perez said the government is already at looking at how it can assist the affected fishermen.

Aside from fisheries, the government said 165.62 million pesos (3.96 million U.S. dollars) worth of crops were also damaged by the storms and monsoon rains.

On Friday, the Agriculture department said it has alloted 100 million pesos (2.4 million U.S. dollars) in crop insurance payments for farmers whose insured crops were damaged by flood waters. Enditem

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