Bangus ‘Boodle Fights’ to the rescue
THE old adage “The proof of the pudding is in the eating” has found new relevance in the recent fishkill in Pangasinan.
Local government units picked up the ‘boodle fight’ tradition at the Philippine Military Academy as an opportunity to prove that the local fish produce harvested from their fish farms are not affected by the fishkill in the western towns of Anda and Bolnao.
Alaminos City, a neighbor to the fishkill-affected towns of Anda and Bolinao, held a ‘boodle fight’ last Monday to prove to households that its aquaculture produce as safe to eat and free from the recent fishkill incident.
Mayor Hernani Braganza said the fishkill in the two neighboring towns severely affected its aquaculture industry as reflected by the drastic plunge of the sales of fish products.
“Umiiyak na sila,” Braganza said of the city’s fish producers and stakeholders.
Consumers refrained from buying bangus and other fish products after news of the fishkill was reported and unscrupulous traders were caught selling botcha, or goods were affected by the fishkill.
Braganza assured the big crowd that participated in the ‘boodle fight’ held at the poblacion that the strictly regulates the operation of fish pens and cages, making it safe from fishkill incidents.
The residents partook of fresh bangus, tilapia and other fish varieties from a grill area.
The mayor said the activity was also intended to bring attention to the importance of avoiding such disasters, which was triggered by the natural occurrence of neap tide and severely largely aggravated by overstocking of fingerlings that consequently required a big volume of feeds.
“Sana matuto po tayo sa pagkakamali ng nakaraan upang huwag ng maulit,” he said.
STRICT REGULATION
Braganza, in a radio interview, called on his fellow local government officials to strictly regulate the aquaculture industries in their respective municipalities to avoid fishkill that already occurred twice in Anda and Bolinao.
He lamented several public officials of the areas affected by the fishkill were themselves involved in the operation of the damaging fishpens and cages. He did not identify the officials.
The Alaminos chief pointed out that the city government’s strict enforcement of the fishery code has made the city free from fishkill for the past seven years.
“Kung mayroong 24 hectares na maaring magamit, 12 hectares lang po ang aming ginagamit. Hindi kami nago-overstock para hindi magkaroon ng fishkill,” he said.
Alaminos is home to the Hundred Islands National Park and its economy is largely marine-resource based.
IN DAGUPAN
Meanwhile, Dagupan City, the main fish trading center in Pangasinan, also held its second boodle fight last week where more than 2,000 pieces of bangus and other seafood like tahong, squid and lapu-lapu were grilled by 36 fish vendor consignacions in front of the city hall.
City hall Executive Assistant Butch Gutierrez said the fish vendors themselves requested for another boodle fight as sales continued to be slow.
City Agriculturist Emma Molina said her office is monitoring the fish trading, which is expected to recover within the coming weeks. (With report from DOS/PIA Pangasinan/CIO)
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