Dagupan’s blue mussel seen to save shellfish industry
A DNA test has confirmed that blue mussels along the Brazilian and Columbian coasts of South America, that traversed the Panama Canal to become established in the tropical Eastern Pacific, have reached Dagupan’s coastal waters.
Dr. Michael Rice, a professor of the Department of Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Sciences at the University of Rhode Island in the United States of America said in an e-mail the other day that the specific strain found of blue mussels in Pangasinan is identical to the strain in the Eastern Pacific, giving clues to its origin.
“They are Mytella charruana, the Charru mussel that are identical to a strain found from Mazatlan, Mexico to Ecuador in the Eastern Pacific,” he said.
Rice issued this statement after result of the DNA test was released recently based on samples of blue mussels taken from Dagupan river. Dr. Paul Rawson from the University of Maine, USA did the DNA work.
The good news about its presence is the prospect that it could save the mussels industry from near collapse as a result of the frequent episodes of red tide in the province and in many coastal areas in the country.
The blue mussel becomes the third such specie found in Philippine water. The other two are the green-lipped variety and the brown mussel.
Dr. Catalino de la Cruz, an aquaculture engineer from Nueva Ecija, said the blue mussels can thrive in water of low salinity as low as 22 ppt.
He said while red tide is here to stay in some local shores, the blue mussel can be grown when red tide hits.
Red tide breaks out in areas where the salinity of the water is high. In Dagupan, salinity is low because the water coming from upstream mixes with salty water in Dagupan.
Dr. Westly Rosario, chief of the National Integrated Fisheries Technology and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), however, said the presence and traits of blue mussel here is still under study.
He said the meat of the blue mussel is excellent compared to green-lipped tahong.
“In the meantime that the biology of the species growth performance is being evaluated, the excessive production in some areas can be used as feeds for shrimp and crab production,” he added.
He said the shells can also be used for egg production for ducks and chickens and also be developed as value-added products like bottled tahong.
He said the problem now is in Dagupan, there is now over harvesting of blue mussels.
Meanwhile, Wilfredo Yap, executive director of Santeh Aquaculture Science and Technology Foundation said the red tide organisms that emerged in some parts of Pangasinan are here to stay.
He said while the phenomenon will always recur every year, fish farmers no longer need to dread it because the price of blue mussels can compensate whatever losses are incurred.
Meanwhile, the abstract of the DNA result said the blue mussels first reported in the Calmay River near the village of Tucok in Dagupan City are spreading rapidly in Pangasinan.
Presence of blue mussels are already reported in the towns of Anda and Bolinao and in the coastal areas in Bataan and Cavite.
In July 2015, freshly set mussels were found in Western Tambac Bay and in September, mussels were found in the Limahong Channel near Lingayen, an estuary contiguous with the original Tucok site. (Tita Roces/Leonardo Micua)
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