May fish be with us

Everyone’s sorry to see the country’s fishing industry threatened anew with the recent fish kill scare in Batangas and the lakes in Laguna and Taal. Not again, so soon after the massive one in Pangasinan?

We talked with Senator Kiko Pangilinan, chair of the Senate’s Agriculture and Food Committee who was visibly irked at the developments. Actually, says Sen. Kiko, the fish kill annihilated only an insignificant part of the industry’s entire volume, as low in fact as one percent only, but the whole fishing industry continues to suffer from the scare. Households up to now continue to shy away from buying fish, especially from the wet markets, so that’s a double, no make that a triple whammy for the fishermen, the middlemen and the retailers. His words: “Sakit ng kalingkingan, buong katawan ang nasasaktan.” Up to when will this hold?

Like everyone, he says greed is the root cause of this mishap. Overstocking of fish pens/cages has long been a practice in the industry, the operators hoping to triple their harvests at the expense of the environment due to the overfeeding that naturally follows the overstocking. The problem has been pinpointed, and everyone agrees that the fish kill was not due to natural causes. It would not be difficult to identify the culprits either, so why have we not heard of any sanctions or cases filed against the errant fish pen operators? No names have been floated so far either.

I recall Sen. Pangilinan saying that the Department of Environment & Natural Resources is heading the government agencies tasked with dismantling the illegal fish pens. Has the dismantling begun?

Not too long after, the dailies bannered yet another threat of a fish kill in the Batangas area. The Executive Director of the Bureau of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources (BFAR), Atty. Asis Perez, granted us a short interview right after his inspection trip to Batangas. Apparently, the Bureau monitored a critically low oxygen level in the lake, resulting again in some fish mortality. The low oxygen level was murderous for the overstocked fish cages, although Atty. Perez said the situation does not merit a fish kill situation yet. Emergency pumps were sent to Batangas to address the low oxygen situation by BFAR and teams were sent to make sure that the dead fishes are properly disposed of. I sure hope so because these could find their way into our wet markets and into the hands of unscrupulous vendors or, if left in the lake, would render the waters contaminated. Ensuring the quality of the lake water should be a top concern of the BFAR. The Bureau, though, assures the public that no dead fish will end up in the markets — they will be properly disposed of, and with haste.

He also assures us that the government has been regulating the fish pen industry since 2008. What happened before 2008? Anyway, there were as many as 14,000 fish pens in Taal Lake by that time, clearly overcrowding and literally choking the lake. Because their agency clamped down on the area, half of that number has been dismantled by the government. We now have 7,000 structures in Taal Lake, though the prescription for the lake is only for a maximum of 6,000 fish cages. We still have a thousand to go. Will they be able to enforce their mandate and clear the remaining 1,000 which are presumably illegal, having gone beyond the legal prescribed number of 6,000? Have they in fact been issued permits to legitimize their operations, even after the 6,000 limit has been reached? Where does the finger-pointing end and where does the buck stop?

As Sen. Pangilinan says, we need stronger regulations to protect our lakes and waterways. He also says that our fisher folks can likewise benefit from improved technologies that they can adopt in the fish cages. For instance, latest technology provides for less frequent fish feeding which not only redounds to less operating expenses for the operators, it also provides for improved quality of our lake waters. Maybe the BFAR can disseminate these technologies to our fisher folks. In the meantime, Sen. Kiko says that there are quite a few violations that he can think of so he can throw the book at these erring fish pen operators who unscrupulously overstock their cages/pens like violation of the National Protected Areas Act. I guess many of us do not even know about the existence of such a bill, but it’s time to crack the whips.

Meantime, the DSWD or the Department of Social Welfare and Development has joined in the efforts to help out the folks most affected by the recent fish kill. They have offered a Cash-For-Work scheme for these folks where they will be given job opportunities for ten days. Ten days’ pay may not seem enough to most of us, but I guess the DSWD can only do so much for them. Anyway, as shared by BFAR’s Atty. Perez, on the part of the Department of Agriculture and the Fisheries and Aquatic Bureau, they have received some six million bangus fry donated by the private sector so the affected fishermen can start up again. BFAR itself is donating two million fry. The total of eight million bangus fry should be able to get the bangus industry going again in no time. Kudos to the private sector for this big donation.

Atty. Asis Perez ended the interview with a plea to our kababayans to “please continue to buy fish—it’s safe to do so.” He not only assures that none of the recent fish mortality in the Batangas area will find its way into the wet markets, they at the Bureau are also keenly watching the fish pen industry, removing the excess cages and enforcing the regulations as to the proper sizes of fish cages therein and the proper stocking density as well.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

For comments: (E-Mail) mailto:[email protected]