Among the regions in Mindanao, the Davao Region is the first to receive their share of patrol boats given by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic (BFAR) to municipal governments.
BFAR Regional Director Fatma Idris gladly notes that Region XI is one of the five regions nationwide, and the only one in Mindanao given such facility to strengthen community-based coastal resources management.
Region XI gets six of such patrol boats which cost 1.2 million PHP each. These are given to the municipalities of Tarragona and Lupon in Davao Oriental, Maco and Pantukan in Compostela Valley, Tagum City in Davao del Norte, and in Digos City, Davao del Sur.
Each patrol boat has -not only - a boat cradle through which it can be tugged inland and be kept in a safehouse. It is also equipped with global positioning system, telescope, compass, life jackets, enabling Bantay-Dagat volunteers to go after illegal marine resource poachers.
