Fish caught near ill-fated ship safe -- BFAR
By Amy R. Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 17:32:00 06/26/2008
Filed Under: Sulpicio ferry disaster, Food, Consumer Issues, Agriculture
MANILA, Philippines -- The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Thursday assured the public that eating fish caught in the waters of Romblon, Masbate and Quezon, near where the MV Princess of the Stars capsized, is considered safe.
"The possibility of fish eating dead human flesh is nil," BFAR Director Malcolm I. Sarmiento said in a statement.
Sarmiento explained that since dead bodies of animals, including human cadavers, float in the water after some time, the demersal or bottom feeders could not feed on these.
Fish that are considered demersal or bottom feeders include lapu-lapu, crabs and shrimps.
Meanwhile, the pelagic surface feeders-such as galunggong, tamban, hasa-hasa, alumahan, samaral and danggit -- which may come across dead bodies -- are either planktonic or herbivores. This means that these kinds of fish do not feed on meat, but rather on plants or plankton.
Pelagic species such as the carnivorous shark and barracudas, on the other hand, prefer live prey.
Sarmiento added that even hook-and-line fishermen would attest that carnivorous fish species have food preferences.
In general, shrimp, squid, chopped fish and polychaetes or marine worms are utilized as baits in fishing. While most fish are caught using live baits, flesh from mammals is not used as bait, he added.
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