Hearty dishes from Laguna’s predator fish

Knife fish “kare-kare,” anyone? In Siniloan town, Laguna province, the predator knife fish, whose unwanted presence in Laguna de Bay continues to foment trouble among fishermen and fish cage owners, may be the next hearty dish, thanks to the ingenuity of some residents.

For the first time, Siniloan hosted an unusual cooking contest—with the knife fish as main ingredient—as part of the 12th Guilingan Festival on Aug. 26-30, coinciding with the town’s 431st founding anniversary.

The presence of the knife fish, a highly carnivorous species, was first reported in Laguna de Bay in 2012. It might have found its way into the lake from tropical aquariums destroyed by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” in 2009 or was released deliberately by hobbyists, according to the Laguna Lake Development Authority.

Whatever account holds true, the knife fish continues to harm the aquaculture industry as the species is known to feed on fingerlings of endemic tilapia and “bangus” (milkfish). It could lay 20,000 to 60,000 eggs.

To contain its spread, the government has since devised programs to encourage lakeside communities to turn the fish into either fish meal, organic fertilizer or fishballs, a popular Filipino street food.

Despite official pronouncements that the knife fish is safe for human consumption, people have refused to buy fish they were unfamiliar with, says Siniloan Mayor Eduardo Tibay.

“People still do not want to eat knife fish because it looked like an Arowana (a common aquarium fish), plus they say it’s bony, and its flesh very soft,” he says.

Another reason, he notes, is the very low price of knife fish in the market, ranging from P20 to P50 a kilo compared with the price of bangus and tilapia.

“We hope to change that notion (through the contest),” Tibay says.

Cordon bleu

Seven individuals, mostly restaurant owners, were each given half a kilo of the deboned knife fish during the cooking contest.

“When I was invited to join, my first reaction was: ‘Is this fish really edible?’” says Arvin Realeza, 33, a restaurant owner and caterer.

He says he had never encountered the knife fish in his 12 years in the food business until he was forced to do research online before the competition.

Among the concoctions served were cordon bleu (fish wrapped with cheese and ham fillings), kare-kare (in place of pork or beef hocks for the popular Filipino stew in peanut butter sauce), and fishballs (boiled eggs rolled and covered in fish flakes).

It was Realeza’s fish sticks which won first prize.

“They are like Shanghai rolls, only knife fish flakes were used instead of meat before the rolls were fried and covered with bread crumbs,” he describes his newly discovered dish.

At a budget of P100, he was able to make 20 sticks. “We might offer it on our menu at the restaurant soon,” he says.

“To grow a kilo, each knife fish has to feed itself with seven kilos of tilapia or carp fingerlings. So it is really a pest,” says municipal agriculture officer Carlo Realeza.

Siniloan, a second-class agricultural municipality, has a population of 40,000. Three of its

20 villages, with a combined population of 8,000, are situated along Laguna de Bay.

Carlo says the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in January has given Siniloan P200,000 for its programs against the knife fish.

He says the Department of Social Welfare and Development would also launch a cash-for-work program in September to encourage fishermen to catch the knife fish in the hope of eventually eradicating the predator species.

While the cooking contest, for instance, encourages people to eat the knife fish, such effort is only temporary, the municipal official says.

“But on the other hand, we do not want to encourage people to culture the knife fish in the lake,” he adds.