Nothing fishy at Dagupan ‘bangus’ market

DAGUPAN CITY—It is 6 a.m. and the sun’s rays are gentle and soothing in Dagupan City. A motorized boat loaded with “bangus” (milkfish) docks at the Pantal River bank, right beside the Magsaysay “consignacion” (consignment) market.

Around 20 men aboard the boat promptly go to work. Some stock the bangus in tubs (“banyera”), others pull the tubs over a plank from the boat to the embankment where still others count the fish. Then the tubs are pulled to the market building where another group is waiting to classify the fish according to size.

“There are three more boats arriving,” says Conrado de Vera, 67, who leads the counting. “We have to count the bangus to know if the number of fish stocked in the pond corresponds to the number of fish harvested.” Some 30,000 fingerlings had been stocked in the one-hectare farm, he says.

There is nothing fishy in the Magsaysay market where the popular bangus of Dagupan City and those harvested from coastal Pangasinan towns are traded. Prices are almost the same across the consignacion owners, give or take a peso or two per kilogram.

Trading scheme

Under the consignacion scheme, fishery operators bring their produce to consignees who earn 5 percent from the sale of bangus to traders from all over Pangasinan and other provinces in northern Luzon.

Gerry Ballesteros, an operator of a consignacion, says newly delivered bangus may weigh a total of eight tons. The price depends on the size of bangus—with big bangus selling for P120 a kg and the smaller ones selling for P80 to P85 a kg.

City agriculture officer Emma Molina says 75 consignaciones are operating at the market, 45 of them dealing only with bangus while the others are trading tilapia and other seafood.

At least 33 fish dealers from as far as Isabela, Cagayan, Kalinga and Ilocos Nortey regularly come to Dagupan to buy a minimum of 800 kg per transaction. Sometimes, they buy from 1.6 to 1.8 tons per shipment, three times a week, Molina says.

The market functions 24 hours daily but not all consignees operate at the same time. “This is to stabilize the prices of fish. If all of them sell bangus at the same time, the prices will drop,” Molina says.

Bangus produced in western Pangasinan towns are also traded at Magsaysay, but these are priced lower than the Dagupan bangus by an average of P10 a kg.

Those coming from fishponds in Dagupan or nearby Binmaley town are shipped to the consignacion by boat, while those coming from the towns of Bolinao, Bani and Sual, and Alaminos City are ferried by trucks.

Just minutes after the first batch of bangus is classified, Robert Moulic, a dealer from nearby Mangaldan town, comes to buy 90 kg. As other boats dock, more traders come to get their supply.

No cash changes hands during these transactions. The pond operators entrust the harvest to the consignacion of his choice, then the consignees hand over the fish to the traders on credit.

“But I give the payment to the fishery operators within a week, even if traders have still to pay me. This is because the fishery operators have to buy their stocks and feed for their next stocking season,” Ballesteros says.

“It is all about trust. But there are bad debts, too. When they are not able to pay on time, or they have not paid the other consignaciones, I do not transact with them or give them limited amount of fish,” he says.

The market has spawned other ventures, such as crushed ice trade. The sound of ice being crushed in several stalls adds to the chaos.

Then there are the “kariton” (cart) business. Some make carts out of bamboo and wood and rent these out to porters. Gonzalvo Luis, 55, a porter, says he pays a daily fee of P60 to the owner.

For each banyera, a porter is paid P5, Luis says. He earns just enough for his meals, as he sleeps in the market where the carts are kept.