Bulacan puts its ‘best fish’ on in feast

CITY OF MALOLOS—With the recent fishkill that devastated aquaculture areas in Batangas and Pangasinan still fresh in the minds of consumers, officials and aquaculture players in Bulacan said they are finding it difficult to market bangus (milkfish) and tilapia grown in the province’s ponds.

Joselito Lacap, president of the Integrated Services for the Development of Aquaculture (Isda) in Bulacan, said the province’s aquaculture industry continues to suffer because consumers are still wary of buying pond and cage-grown fish.

“Our sales dropped by 50 percent because people do not want to buy fish, even those harvested in Bulacan, because they think that what vendors offer are those that died from fishkill. Our situation in Bulacan is different. There was no fishkill here,” Lacap said in Filipino.

It has been two months since fishkill ravaged Batangas and Pangasinan but sales from Bulacan’s aquaculture areas remained low, he said.

Lacap said a kilo of tilapia sells for P50 while bangus sells for  P70 to P80 a kilo. He said the losses are pegged at P15 to P20 a kilo.

The provincial government and aquaculture industry players staged the first “Fishtahan” (fish festival) last week as a step in promoting the province’s bangus and tilapia and prove that these are fresh and safe for consumption.

Lacap said Bulacan needs to convince consumers to buy so businessmen can recover their investments and pay their feed suppliers.

During the festival, residents were given freshly harvested bangus stuffed in native bags (bayong). They were also treated to a lunch of grilled bangus and tilapia and balisungsong (steamed rice wrapped in banana leaves).

Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado, a former fishpond operator, said fishkills occur due to greed. Many businessmen, he said, overstock ponds to earn more.

Lacap said Bulacan fishpond owners follow the guidelines set by the Bureau of Fish and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in stocking density and feed management to avoid fishkill and maintain water quality.

He said every hectare of fishpond should be stocked with only 5,000 to 10,000 fingerlings.

Remedios Ongtangco, BFAR Central Luzon director, said Bulacan is among the top producers of tilapia and prawns in the country. Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon