La Niña seen as boon to P’sinan’s buro makers

BAYAMBANG, Pangasinan — This town, which hosts the province’s biggest fish sanctuary known as the Mangabul Fishing and Hunting Park, sees the coming wet La Niña phenomenon as a boon to its buro (fermented fish) industry.

While the government is asking residents of flood-prone areas to brace for La Niña, Mayor Leocadio de Vera said the coming rains would help resuscitate the local buro industry.

"Maganda pag maraming ulan basta huwag naman babaha para mabuhay uli ang mga isda sa Mangabul (It’s good to have more rain for as long as it would not cause floods, to revive the fishes in Mangabul)," he said.

De Vera said his town’s buro industry has been thriving since the 1930s, booming in the 1960s and 1970s due to so much fish catch.

He recalled that his family was among the concessionaires of the almost 500-hectare Mangabul Lake, selling as much as P180,000 worth of fish a day.

"Bata pa ako noon at sagana kami sa pera. Ayaw ko nang maghanap pa ng ibang trabaho noon (I was young then and we had plenty of money. I did not want to look for another job anymore)," he said.

Mangabul, which has a land area of 2,059 hectares, is situated between Bayambang and the neighboring Tarlac towns of Camiling and Moncada, crisscrossed by at least 10 creeks.

During rainy days, 454 hectares of Mangabul turn into a lake, while during the summer, the entire area becomes a verdant field of palay, corn, vegetables and onions.

In 1993, the national government declared Mangabul a fish reservation and ceded it to the municipal government under a 50-year usufruct deal.

Later, the municipal government bid it out for short-term leases to private individuals. Thereafter, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources assumed jurisdiction over the area.

But overfishing and heavy silt from lahar flows from Tarlac took their toll on the fishes in Mangabul Lake, aggravated by scarce rain, De Vera said.

Tilapia, hito, gurami, siringan and the tasty aliso used to teem in the fish sanctuary, where tributaries of the Agno River in Tarlac and Pangasinan merge.

When there is abundant rain, the entire Mangabul Lake looks like a sea, De Vera said.

With very little rain, buro makers use tilapia instead of hito (catfish) or gurami. A kilo of buro sells for P150 to P200.