BINMALEY – The Manat river here has been chosen a pilot area for oyster farming by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

Mayor Simplicio Rosario said a model oyster farm will be put up in this river jointly by the BFAR and the municipal government with the support of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

This will become a show window for oyster raising in the whole of Pangasinan.

The Manat river was selected for the project because it is among only a few water bodies in Pangasinan that had been cleared of illegal fishpens.

Aside from Binmaley, also chosen for the JICA-BFAR project are Dagupan City and Lingayen.

He said Japanese technicians who came to Binmaley already conducted water sampling there since we did away with all fishpens two years ago,” Rosario said.

Filipino and Japanese technicians said they will teach local fish farmers how to grow oysters that are free from organisms so that it can also be eaten raw.

Hopefully, the town can produce oysters that can be shipped to Metro Manila, which are still dependent on oysters coming from the Visayas and Mindanao, he said.

“We can reduce the price of oysters in the Metro Manila markets if we can produce much oysters in Pangasinan,” he said. (PNA)