Think about it
Fishponds versus fishpens
By Jun Velasco
MARK it. On September 30, Dagupan’s notorious fishpens, the illegal ones particularly, will go. That, Mayor Benjie Lim vows to do for good or ill.
Last Tuesday, the mayor had a good huddle with officers of the Fishpond owners and operators association (FOODAI) who assured him of their full support and promise to turn around the fishing industry in the city.
Why is Apring Dawana, FOODAI founder, charter and first president, overzealous in crushing the fishpens in the city, the illegal ones particularly?
Over at Aksyon Radyo Thursday, Apring reminded Dagupenos that their ineptness or over-hospitality to the abusers of our marine life is no different from suicide. The ceaseless avalanche of fishpens in our midst is partly to blame for the series of fish kill in the city, although the western side of Pangasinan has been suffering from it too, Dawana pointed out.
Why do we want to protect, in fact, develop fully our fishing industry?
First, because Sarangani and other bangus producing rivals in the Pacific – Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia and other Asian countries are beating us to the business.
We posited here last week that our bravado in comparing our bangus production and marketing performance with bangus producers in Sarangani is more like whistling in the dark. We know deep inside that we don’t have a science-based bangus production/marketing program that Sarangani has.
If the industry is learning how to play the flute (are you there, Jig Seen?), its promoters are merely playing by “oido.” They have no science, research or a well thought-out marketing plan. That’s why we cannot even produce our own supply needs in Dagupan. Mayor Lim, a marketing specialist, wants to change the picture. He wants to be on top of the map again, just like the time he made the city land in the Book of Guinness.
Why not? If there’s a will, there’s a way, right, Orly?
Back to our fishponds. Why, asks Navarro, is there really a ‘revive-the-fishponds, kill-the-fishpens’ movement in the city? Take it from Apring. If the association is to have its way, the fishpens phenomenon, if unchecked, would kill the bangus industry in the long run. Why? Because it will always pollute the river, damage the taste of bangus, and poison it, as well as the bangus-eating public due to the chemical-laced bangus feeds.
The reason we have acquired a lot of bangus goodwill worldwide is due to its yummy taste, courtesy of what it feeds on — the lumot or linang. But that is only true in bangus raised in fishponds, not in fishpens.
If we combine Dagupan’s produce from fishponds and fishpens, can we already supply our entire needs of the city? It’s impossible… unless we have a road map and the will to populate the entire length and width of our fishponds and yes, the legit fishpens with fingerlings.
Meantime, let’s reform and fully develop our bangus potential to the fullest. After all, it’s what the political leadership is obsessed with. Benjie, if we can read his mind, desires to make another go on another record, Dagupan as the commercial producer of the tastiest bangus in the world.
As of now, because of pollution, we have some produce that are maablir.
Some ivory tower people may look down on the bangus issue as small time or picayune viewed against the heart-breaking hostage crisis headlines that have knocked us down our wits’ end. We say, it underscores life in our river-ribboned city.
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