There's goldmine in ulang - expert

DAGUPAN CITY – A fishery expert here said there is an unexplored goldmine in the prawn species locally called ulang that growers must pay attention to as it will bring economic fortune to them when tapped.

Dr. Westly Rosario, interim executive director of the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, told The STAR that in other countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand, prawn growers who are into the culture of freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii or ulang in the Philippines, are profiting by leaps and bounds.

He added that restaurants in these areas have made this M. rosenbergii among their top attractions by selling them live.

“But sadly, in the Philippines where it abounds, the number of those into its culture remains insignificant,” Rosario said.

He added that “very, very few tried, you can even count in your fingers.”

Rosario said he is wondering why this happens when it is considered a high-value species, selling about P250 per kilogram.

He added that aquaculture growers are only focused on bangus and tilapia “but it is high time to diversify.”

In fact, he said, they have collaborated with Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center in Indonesia and Thailand representatives who said the Philippines could have the best strain of M. rosenbergii, thus the country could have the best breeders.

“It’s like a gold mine that is not explored. It’s here in our country but we don’t pay attention to it,” Rosario said.  

Thus, Rosario said they would want to know why such thing happen and they want to harmonize inputs to come up with a road map to develop this sleeping industry.

Through the collaborative efforts of the NFRDI, National Institute for Fisheries Technology Development Center and the Asian Fisheries Academy (AFA), to help fish growers uncover this hidden fishery wealth, the first national summit on hatchery and culture of freshwater prawn will be held on Dec. 10-11 at the AFA inside the sprawling compound of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources center in Barangay Bonuan Binloc here.

While they have made efforts here about five years ago and another fishgrower did the same in Mangaldan town and in Aguilar town, no one else in Pangasinan engaged in it. There is also someone from Muñoz, Nueva Ecija who tried it, he said.

Through the summit, Rosario said they would like to see the state of the ulang industry as there is no benchmark yet in the country.