Neap tide threatens P’sinan bangus
THE Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) revealed that neap tide caused the sudden decrease in the level of dissolved oxygen (DO) of the water in the Caquiputan Channel between the towns of Bolinao and Anda, and is now threatening millions of pesos worth of bangus in captivity.
Westly Rosario, chief of the BFAR’s National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center in Dagupan City, said the neap tide, brought
about by the changing face of the moon and marked by slow or non-tidal flow of the water, was detected since Tuesday prompting him to alert fish cage and pen owners in the area.
The town of Bolinao is the biggest bangus producer in the province.
The slow movement of the water was detected by his technical staff that regularly monitors the environment in the fish production area in Western Pangasinan.
The team uses sophisticated digital instruments from Norway that measure the temperature, depth and dissolved oxygen of the water in an instant.
Given the findings of the BFAR technical team, Rosario went on radio and alerted fish pen owners to reduce the feeding of their bangus in captivity or undertake emergency harvesting.
The standard D.O. level in fish producing areas is five parts per million although a reading of four parts per million is already acceptable. The alert was prompted by the finding that the D.O. level of the water in the Caquiputan Channel was less than one part per million.
While some fish farmers heeded Rosario’s advice, others simply transferred their fish stocks to Alaminos.
“The good news is that while the neap tide is still on in the Caquiputan Channel, it is not as bad aswhen it started on Tuesday as there is already small water outflow as of early Thursday,” he said.
Rosario said it appears that the neap tide is also present in the fish production area of Sual, also a big producer of bangus, near the Sual Coal-Fired Power Plant where the D.O level on Thursday morning was at two parts per million, still below the standard.
Most of the bangus raised in Pangasinan are raised in cages along the Caquiputan Channel, a body of water that Bolinao shares with the island town of Anda.
Rosario said the team has moved to Dagupan to monitor the D.O level of the water in the island barangays.—LM
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