Fish kill threat loomed in Anda, Bolinao
OWNERS of fish cages along the Caquipotan Channel between Anda and Bolinao towns, a big milkfish producing area in western Pangasinan, have been advised to harvest earlier than schedule due to a fish kill threat.
The National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (NIFTDC) detected on June 5 almost zero dissolved oxygen (D.O.) both in the surface and under the water, which could readily kill existing fish stock in the area.
Dr. Westly Rosario, NIFTDC chief, said the D.O. level in the surface of the water taken by their instrument was 1 part per million (ppm) and almost zero ppm one meter below.
Fish need a D.O. level of at least 5 ppm.
Low dissolved oxygen in the water forces fish to surface, appear to be gasping for breath and could eventually die.
The NFTIDC survey team that rushed to the Caquipotan Channel also noted that the water was assuming a dark brown color, pointing to an overload of decaying organic matter below.
“This is quite alarming,” said Rosario as he predicts that the area and the whole archipelago is set to experience another neap tide from June 7 to 9.
Neap tide is a natural phenomenon wherein the water in rivers and bays near the sea or ocean become almost completely stagnant.
Rosario said there are measures that can be taken to ease the effects of neap tide and one of them is the reduction of fish stock, which some farmers are now doing.
Fish farmers are also advised to use mechanical aerators such as the rudder of a motor boat that could stir the water to introduce additional dissolved oxygen during the neap tide period.
A number of large and medium-sized circular fish cages stocked with milkfish are lined up at the Caquipotan from the foot of the Anda Bridge up to the channel’s mouth in the north.
As of June 6, the forced harvesting of milkfish in Anda and Bolinao was not evident since prices of bangus at the Dagupan City fish market where all the milkfish harvests from Pangasinan are traded, remain unchanged.–LVM
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