by Mark Salanga (ABS-CBN News Bacolod)

Most of the towns and cities in the province of Negros Occidental have their own products that they are proud of. Most of these products are their means of living. In Valladolid, seafood is the major source of livelihood especially for those living near the sea.

Unlike most of the residents living near the sea of Valladolid who are into fishing, crabs and shells, 42-year old Ferdinand Divinagracia concentrates on his lobster trade. For him, although lobsters are rare and expensive, it has its own market in the export industry because most of his customers have restaurants in Taiwan and Singapore. These people are the ones who buy his lobsters at Php1,500 per kilo and its quite an income for him. The fruit of his income from lobsters include a multi cab and other appliances he is now enjoying and he acquired this in just a matter of six months in the business.

Ferdinand shares a little secret on how he runs his business and what must be done to achieve ones goal. That is, when you want to be effective and successful in what you do, you must concentrate in everything that you do. In his case, he is just considered simply an expert on catching lobster and the lobster trade.

TRIVIA: Did you know that the boiling method in cooking lobster is illegal in some places such as in Reggio Emilia, Italy? Offenders face fines of up to €495 (in euro or around Php31,100).

The most common way of cooking a lobster is by placing it live in boiling water or by splitting it in half. Lobsters are stab into the brain before boiling in belief to stop its suffering during the cooking process. However, a lobster's brain operates from not one but several ganglia and disabling only the frontal ganglion does not usually result in death or unconsciousness.