THE illegal operations of fish pens in Dagupan City have deprived the city government of millions of pesos in yearly income.

The city ordinance regulating the operations of fish pens was passed with aim of increasing revenues for the city and to regulate the fish pen operations that began to mushroom in early 2000.

Enacted in 2003 during the administration of Mayor Benjamin Lim, the fishery ordinance targeted P12 million for the first year of   implementation of the edict and was expected to increase in subsequent years.

However, a PUNCH source in the city hall who asked not be identified, confirmed that since the passage of the ordinance, the city has been able to collect only an average of one million annually despite the presence of hundreds of fish pens in the city’s rivers and tributaries.

Evidently, the number of illegal fish pens allowed to operate in the city greatly outnumbered the number of registered fish pens, he said.

When the initial target was not realized, the projection was lowered to P8 million. Failing again to achieve it, the present administration again lowered it to P5 million, and still only managed to collect 20%, the source said.

Under the ordinance, income to be derived by the city for the operations of fish pens must be funneled back to projects that will improve the quality of water in rivers.

With only P1 million being realized yearly from fish pen operations, the source suggested that the city might as well do away with all the fish pens and minimize of the pollution of the city’s rivers.

City Treasurer Romelita Alcantara was invited by the city council last week to shed light on the present and past revenues earned from the operations of fish pens but was unable to make her report owing to the time consumed by the council’s investigation of the October flooding in the city.

City Agriculture Officer Emma Molina earlier informed the city council that half of the 700 plus fish pens operating in Dagupan are illegal.

Meanwhile, former Councilor Alex de Venecia called for a moratorium in the operations of fish pens in the face of the worsening quality of the water in the Dagupan rivers, as government of Binmaley has done.

He said the move must be undertaken immediately in order to resuscitate the already dying rivers, adding that if this is not done soon enough the fish pen owners will find themselves operating at a loss owing to more frequent fishkills.

The volume of unregulated fish pen operations in the city, he said, will inevitably result in a dangerously low level of oxygen that will either kill the fish or stunt their growth.

He asked Mayor Alipio Fernandez to demonstrate the political will to ensure a better quality of water for Dagupeños. LM

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