Pesky rice eel now an export commodity

MANILA, Philippines - The rice eel, which once infested palay cultivation areas in Cagayan Valley (Region 2), is now an export commodity.

This foreign specimen, which grows between 25 to 40 centimeters, destroys rice paddies by burrowing into the soil, loosening its composition and disturbing irrigation.

The rice eel, locally known as kiwet, also feeds on frogs, snail eggs, small fish and shrimp, and is therefore a threat to native fish species.

The eel specie has been infesting rice lands in Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino provinces since 2011.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) is still determining how the eel specie was introduced to the country.

The common eel is native to the Philippines but reports to the BFAR indicate that the rice eel may have been brought into the Philippines for home aquariums and eel farms to be raised for food.

To address the infestation, BFAR Region 2 has initiated the processing of rice eels for export.

The bureau has also developed a fishing gear that enables farmers to increase the catch per unit effort (CPUE) by taking advantage of the nocturnal hunting behavior of the rice eel.

“These initial efforts combined with the entrepreneurial skill of several international fish trading companies that are now exporting the eel live to Asian countries, have turned this “pest” into a valuable fish,” BFAR director Asis Perez said.

The BFAR said two years after its massive infestation, the country is now profiting from the said species, bringing P517 million in export revenues from January to June this year.

Region 2 is expected to produce P1 billion worth of eels for export this year.

Perez said that the bureau is conducting an inventory of other areas where rice eels thrive so it could implement the same intervention.