ANOTHER POTENTIAL USE?

BOLINAO—After tapping chicken and pig manure for renewable energy, an Italian company is eyeing bangus (milkfish) wastes to be converted into biogas.

Alaminos City Mayor Arthur Celeste said in a forum here Tuesday about proper management of fish pens and fish cages for sustainable bangus industry in western part of Pangasinan that the company’s representatives went to the coastal area in Barangay Tara where fish cages are found to get two sacks of bangus waste for laboratory examination.

“If chicken or pig manure can be converted into biogas or renewable energy, indeed, why not bangus’?” Mr. Celeste said.

The mayor said if the laboratory examination result proves positive, the Italian group will return to determine the volume of bangus waste that it could gather in the coastal areas of first district for this project.

During the forum, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) said bangus waste in the area is already about three meters thick.

Mr. Celeste said if the plan pushes through, the company will extract the wastes and the city’s bangus industry will be assured of sustainability for another 20 years.

BFAR Region 1 Director Nestor Domenden said that Pangasinan is the top most bangus producing province in the country and its production comprises 15 percent of the country’s supply.

Based on BFAR’s survey in 2013 to 2014, there are 283 units of fish cages, 325 fish pens along Caquiputan Channel here while Sual town alone has 750 fish cages.

Sual Mayor Roberto Arcinue said the town’s fish cages are not concentrated in one area and water quality is good which explains there are no incidents of fish kill or red tide.

Meanwhile, Dasol Mayor Noel Nacar and Bani Mayor Gwen Yamamoto said they have banned fish pens in their towns.

During the forum, Mr. Celeste, who is one of the pioneer operators of bangus fish cages in Bolinao, acknowledged that the bangus industry is now a “high-risk business” since it is constantly threatened by man-made and natural calamities like fish kill.

“It’s high time we put our acts together if we want this industry to be sustainable. If we want this business to continue, there must be strict regulation and discipline among the operators,” he added.

He urged operators to strictly comply with BFAR’s recommendation on the maximum number of fish cages that could be operated in a particular area.

Mr. Celeste’s call was strongly supported by all the mayors in the first district who attended the forum.

BFAR led by Director Asis Perez warned that if fish kill happens, the industry is creating dead zones. “If fish cages are managed properly, fish kills can be avoided,” Perez said

Last month, fish kill hit Bolinao where more than P200-million worth of bangus were lost. (Tita Roces)

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