4,600 kilos of bangus seized in Dagupan

DAGUPAN CITY,  Philippines – Police and city officials seized about 4,600 kilos of bangus (milkfish) from Anda and Bolinao towns while being attempted to be sold at the Magsaysay Fish Market here yesterday morning. 

City agriculturist Emma Molina told The STAR that 1,200 kilos of bangus from Barangay Mal-ong, Anda town was unloaded from a truck at the fish market before dawn yesterday but was seized as the fish were already stale or in initial stage of decomposition.

At first glance, Molina said the traders could pass on the fish as of good quality, thus one unsuspecting buyer was able to buy 10 kilos.

But upon close scrutiny, Molina said the fish’s eyes were already blurred and their gills already pale. 

Molina said they also confiscated yesterday six banyeras (tubs) of bangus, or about 1,800 kilos, about to be sold by vendors. 

The city’s Waste Management Division later took charge of burying the confiscated bangus.

On Tuesday morning, a 10-wheeler truck attempted to unload here 1,600 kilos of slimy bangus from Barangay Siapar, Anda town but city officials and the police promptly intercepted it.

Police ordered the bangus trader to bring back the fish to where it came from and be the one to bury them.

Last Tuesday afternoon, five vans transporting bangus from Anda and Bolinao were also intercepted by the police along the De Venecia Highway extension while on their way to the fish market. But the bangus were later found to be in good condition. 

Molina said they were intensifying their monitoring of the bangus being traded here following the fish kills in Anda and Bolinao.

Nestor Domenden, Region 1 director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), said seized bangus found to be in an advanced stage of decomposition might have been discreetly brought out by traders in connivance with fishpen caretakers in the fish kill-affected areas.

“If indeed it was the operator of the fishpen/fish cage who allowed the bangus to be harvested from the production area, it is a standard operating procedure to put ice on the bangus to prevent the fish from being spoiled,” he said.

Citing field reports, he said boatloads of bangus continued to be harvested from the production areas. 

He said tests showed that the dissolved oxygen level in the fish kill-affected areas has improved from 0.9 to 1.9 parts per million (ppm) last Sunday to 2.9 to 3 ppm on Tuesday. – With Cesar Ramirez, Rhodina Villanueva