Extinction of Vizcaya’s rare fish blamed on power firm

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines   â€“ The operation of the Casecnan multipurpose irrigation and power project along the border of Nueva Vizcaya and Nueva Ecija has been blamed for the diminishing population of ludong, said to be the country’s most expensive fish, in this province.  

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) said the continuous operation of the Casecnan project has caused the gradual drying up of the Casecnan and Taan Rivers in Alfonso Castañeda town here.              

Constructed during the Ramos administration under a build-operate-transfer deal with the California Energy and Water Company, the $580-million Casecnan project has been in operation for the last 13 years.

The project siphons water from the Taan and Casecnan rivers to the Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija for the irrigation needs of more than 200,000 hectares of farmland in Central Luzon and parts of Western Pangasinan.

The project generates at least 100 megawatts of electricity to augment the power requirement of the Luzon grid.    

The two rivers used to be one of the major habitats of ludong in northern Luzon, according to Jovita Ayson, BFAR director for Cagayan Valley.

But due to the gradual drying up of the two rivers, the female ludong could hardly travel to the mouth of the Cagayan River to lay eggs, the BFAR said. 

“Our agency was not consulted during the construction of the project. Interventions should have been put in place to preserve the abundance of ludong in the area,” said Ayson during a hearing of the House committee on aquatic and fish resources.

Ludong, one of the world’s most critically endangered fish species, is sold at P5,000 per kilo.

BFAR said fish ladders, a series of pools built like steps, should have been built during the construction of the Casecnan Dam to enable the fish bypass a dam or a waterfall.

“Without this, ludong cannot migrate from freshwater to seawater to spawn,” BFAR said.