Dagupan fish pens to be dismantled

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines – At least 205 fish pens in this city touted as the country’s “bangus (milkfish) capital” are set to be dismantled, as the new mayor said such structures have no place under her administration.

After a tour of rivers here the other day, acting Mayor Belen Fernandez told city agriculturist Emma Molina to tell owners of illegal fish pens that “they better tear down their structures now, otherwise we will remove all these (even) if they have not harvested their fish.”

Molina informed Fernandez that a big number of fish pens were put up from April to May when everybody was busy with the elections.

Fernandez wondered if the coastal resources management office has turned a blind eye to these structures.  

Based on the list furnished her, Fernandez took note that the fish pens were owned by just a few families, including a barangay head.

“I thought we leaders should set an example for our people to follow. How come a barangay captain was allowed to build her own fish pen when she knows that this is illegal?” she asked.

Fernandez said she would fulfill her campaign promise to give back the rivers to marginal fishermen using “batikwas,” “skylab,” oyster beds and other small contraptions that don’t require them to throw feeds into the water.  

Fernandez, the incumbent vice mayor, took over as acting mayor after outgoing Mayor Benjamin Lim suffered a stroke on the eve of the elections. She trounced Lim in the mayoral race.