REFUTES REPORTS ON FISH PENS

WHERE are the fish pens?

City Agriculture Officer Emma Molina posed the question in reaction to the news item that The PUNCH published last week that reported the growing presence of illegal fish pens in the city’s rivers.

She said assured residents of Dagupan that there is no “fishy” transaction (as averred in the The PUNCH story) going on in the city’s rivers even as she confirmed previous statement of Mayor Belen Fernandez denying that illegal fish pens had come back or making a comeback in the city.

Molina refuted a report from The PUNCH quoting Alfredo Dawana, president of the Fishpond Owners, Operators, Fisherfolk Association of Dagupan, Inc. (FOOFADCI), who expressed fear about the possible pollution of the rivers as result of what he called continuous operations of illegal fish pens.

She said apart from what they too ascertained during their ocular inspection, there were no illegal fish pens remaining since dismantling of the illegal fish pens ended last year.

The mayor, too, she said, was surprised by the report as she maintained that her administration removed more than 1,800 illegal fish pens which were tolerated by the previous city administration for the last one and a half year.

“I assure the city that under my watch, fish pens are not staging any comeback,” Fernandez said, adding that fish pens are not environment-friendly.

Molina said when she and Mayor Fernandez made an ocular inspection of the rivers last March 15, they saw only three illegal fish pens and the owners of these were ordered to remove these up to the end of March this year.

The owners of these fish pens include Marcos Gonzales located in Sitio Tokoc, Barangay Carael; Cesar Paragas, the barangay administrator of Pugaro; and one Mario Calimlim, also of Pugaro.

The rest of the fish pens referred to by Mr. Dawana, she said, “are floating fish cages owned by marginal fishermen who were allowed by the city government to operate these.” These fish cages are stocked with high-value fish like malaga (siganid), alapaap (seabass) and lapu-lapu (grouper) that consume only algae and truss fish, but not feeds

Bangus or milkfish is not included but Mayor Fernandez was advised that for the high-value fish to grow faster, they have to be mixed with a little milkfish and tilapia. The mayor said she will allow this provided that these species are fed with algae too and not commercial feeds.

There are five fish cages each in the five barangays of Salapingao, Bonuan Gueset, Lucao, Lomboy and Calmay, tended by one family each or 25 families.

The materials for these fish cage were bought from the Bottom Up Budget (BUB) fund from the national government with the recipient families assembling the fish cages themselves. The city government provided the fingerlings.

There is no pollution that will be created because the recipient families are not feeding their fish with commercial feeds whose parts that are not consumed by the fish drop in the water where they rot, Molina said.

Mayor Fernandez said she proposed an ordinance to be passed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) allowing the operation of a limited number of fish cages owned by marginal fishermen provided the owners will pay their Aquatic Lease Agreement (ALA).

The ordinance will also cover the operations of “batikwas”, “skylab”, sky blue:, “sure-win” and “tulos” or props for oysters which were put in place by marginal

Mayor Fernandez said that when her administration cleaned the rivers it was not only meant to restore the degraded eco-system but also to provide livelihood to marginal fishermen and their families.

Meanwhile, Molina confirmed that a mild fish kill indeed occurred last Thursday but as a result of the rain the night before, killing 968 pieces of milkfish owned by fishpond operators.

She maintained the fish kill was due to the abrupt change in the temperature of the water from hot to cold and not due to the alleged pollution of the river as claimed by a fishpond owners’ group in Dagupan.

She said if it was due to water pollution, as claimed, more milkfish in captivity would have died.

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