Pollution threatens aquaculture centers

HAGONOY, Bulacan – Fishpond operators here have called on the government to come up with policies that will improve local aquaculture production that is now being threatened to extinction by water pollution.

The operators said the livelihood of thousands of families are also also atstake.

Brothers Danilo and Vicente Payongayong of Barangay San Sebastian here told The STAR that aquaculture production is on the downtrend.

Both started in fishpond operation in the early ’80s when their rice land became unproductive due to saline water intrusion.

They said that in the mid-‘90s, fishpond operation peaked when intensive fish and prawn farming were introduced using aqua feeds, especially on large fishponds in the province’s coastal area.

But in the years that followed, profitability of fishpond operations have declined due to high cost of pond inputs and the deterioration of water quality on rivers.

This was affirmed by Mila Lacap, the manager of the BBL Sea Foods Consignacion in Barangay Sto. Niño whose family is also into prawn production.

"There’s a significant decline in the production and the sizes of prawns that our fellow fishpond operators harvest," she said in Filipino.

Lacap said this was mainly due to the deteriorating water quality in the town’s waterways.

"It’s really sad," she said, noting that Bulacan is the prime producer of jumbo prawns that usually command a high price in the export market.

Jose Umali, the head porter at the BBL Sea Foods who works in the consignacion for almost 20 years, told The STAR that prawns are grown up to four months to achieve jumbo size.

He said eight to nine pieces of jumbo prawns usually weigh a kilo and have a price tag of P850, while the primera or the 12 to 18 pieces per kilo cost between P650 to P700. The medium-sized prawns, with up to 35 pieces per kilo, are sold at P400 to P480 per kilo.

All three classes of prawns are sold to the export market in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Korea, China, and Canada .

"Buyers have to contend themselves with smaller prawns due to shortage of bigger ones," he said in the vernacular.

He stressed that fishpond operators who used to sell their harvest with BBL Sea Foods Consignacion lamented that water quality in the province waterways have deteriorated in the past years, forcing them to harvest their prawns midway to growing time. This results to smaller prawn sizes.

Others have also complained about the erratic brackish water supply.

They said there were times that water salinity drops, endangering their stocks.

This led many prawn producers to stockpile salt in their warehouses so that when water salinity drops, they can easily infuse sacks of salt into the fishponds.

Because of this, fishpond operators in this coastal town like the Payongayongs and the Lacaps are asking the government to support the local aquaculture industry by coming up with policies that will protect the environment.

They said that unless the government make a move soon, the industry that made this town the trading center of prawns in the country may fold up. – With Ric Sapnu