A BOON, NOT A BANE

THE National Integrated Fisheries Technology and Development Center (NIFTDC) has cautioned fish farmers about eliminating the blue mussels (Mytella charruana) that have proliferated in the rivers of Dagupan not only because this is an edible specie of shellfish that is good for food not only for humans but also for crabs, prawns, shrimps and fowls.

This was the reaction of Dr. Westly Rosario, NIFTDC chief, to reports that fish farmers in Dagupan view the presence of the Charru Mussel or Western Hemisphere Blue Mussel as pests that invaded many rivers and coastal areas of the city.

Dr. Rosario advised fish farmers not to exterminate mussels because of their economic uses and functions including as effective cleaning agents of water system, protecting the river’s ecosystem from pollution.

Fish farmers were reportedly alarmed because the blue mussels rapidly multiplied in just a few months, and someone at the city hall was quick to describe it as a bane rather than a boon to fish farming.

But from the point of view of scientists like Dr. Rosario, these are not pests as most fish farmers were made to believe but a rich a source of food for people, for crabs, prawns, vannamae (white shrimps) and even ducks.

He said fish farmers were grossly misinformed that the blue mussel is an invasive specie of mussel and people have no use for it.

Rosario said fish farmers who don’t want to take advantage of the mussels’ presence need only to wait till the salinity of water in the rivers of Dagupan rises, from the present 2 ppt to 33 ppt which occur during summer at which time, the mussels will fall in the water and die.

He added the blue mussel is a new discovery and in fact was subjected to Identification and Salinity Tolerance study by Ashley Salinas, a researcher of NIFTDC, Michael Rice and Paul Dawson, both American scientists, and himself.

He said the research of Ms. Salinas showed that blue mussels have tolerance salinity level of from 2 ppt to 5 ppt and beyond that they will die, will fall in the water.

“But soon, they will be replaced by the green-lipped mussels which have a higher salinity tolerance of 30 ppt,” Westley added.

Rosario revealed that the only crab farm in Dagupan, owned by former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., uses the blue mussels now abundant in rivers as food for crabs.

He pointed out that the blue mussels are good cleaning agents in the marine water because one mussel is capable of filtering three to five liters of water per hour. (Leonardo Micua)

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