DARAM, Samar — They started by drying fish and squid, selling their products during market days in Catbalogan and Tacloban.

Now, two community-based women’s associations are turning to another resource that surrounds them — seawater — transforming it into salt to create an additional source of income.

The initiative grew from a capacity-building program under the Development of the Salt Industry Project (DSIP), implemented by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Eastern Visayas.

Through the program, coastal communities receive livelihood packages, technical training and research-based interventions aimed at improving traditional salt-making methods and promoting solar salt technology.

For the women of Daram, the opportunity fits naturally into their existing livelihoods.

BFAR provided the Daram Association of Fish and Squid Processors and the Barangay Ubo Dried Fish Vendors Association with solar salt production facilities, generators, submersible pumps and HDPE drums. Each association received equipment worth P100,000.

“This is a good livelihood opportunity, especially for women,” said Gilda Dosal Añez, president of the Daram Association of Fish and Squid Processors.

The technology is relatively simple. Clean seawater is filtered and placed in an LLDPE-lined drying area covered with UV film. Sunlight gradually evaporates the water, leaving salt crystals that can be harvested after about four to five days, depending on the weather.

The associations have already produced 180 kilograms of salt, which they initially used for their own fish-drying activities.

At P20 per kilogram, the locally produced salt is also becoming another product for the associations while helping meet the needs of local fish processors.

Daram, an island municipality composed of 57 coastal communities and one upland community, is heavily dependent on fishing. About 98 percent of its residents are registered as municipal fishers, according to the municipal agriculture and fisheries office.