Fishkill hits 2 Dagupan villages, but losses called ‘slight’

DAGUPAN CITY—Thousands of bangus (milkfish) went belly up here on Thursday after a fishkill hit two areas in this coastal city.

But city agriculturist Emma Molina described the fishkill as “slight” as pond owners immediately harvested the fish upon seeing their bangus gasping for air and swimming near the ponds’ surface.

Molina said at least 15,000 bangus floated in a two-hectare pond owned by Manny Soy in Barangay Tambac while 35,000 bangus surfaced in a three-hectare pond owned by Lucas Ballesteros in Barangay Lomboy.

In Barangay Tambac, Molina said, the dissolved oxygen (which fish need to survive in the water) was only 0.55 parts per thousand (ppt). In Barangay Lomboy, the level was 1.5 ppt, she said.

A pond should have at least 3 ppt of dissolved oxygen for fish to survive, she said.

This was the first fishkill reported here after Mayor Benjamin Lim cleared the city’s rivers of fish pens and other fishing structures in 2010.

In May 2002, bangus growers suffered from the city’s worst fishkill when at least P10 million worth of milkfish went belly up in six villages.

Molina said the pond owner in Barangay Lomboy overstocked, reducing the level of dissolved oxygen in his pond. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon