Dagupan to adopt market schedule for sale of ‘genuine’ Dagupan bangus

By Venus May H. Sarmiento

 DAGUPAN CITY - This city is poised to adopt a market schedule for the sale of ‘genuine’ bangus (milkfish) harvested from the shores of Bonuan to distinguish its primary product from bangus coming from other towns.
This was bared by Dr. Westly Rosario, chief of the National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (NIFTDC) of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) stemming from a consultation attended by bangus growers and bangus vendors in the city. “This scheme is meant to protect the home-grown commodity and maintain its high price,”
Rosario said during the KBP Forum held at the Philippine Information Agency Office on Thursday.
 Rosario said a graph presented by the Office of the City Agriculturist bared that for the last three years, price of bangus drops particularly in the months of July, August and September. This may be due to the same schedule of harvesting of milkfish from Laguna or the news on fishkill which may have frightened buyers to buy bangus, he hinted. “It is Dagupan which made Bangus popular and yet the price of our product is the same with the prices of bangus from other areas,” he lamented. Based on the consultation, Rosario said at least three consignacion sell purely Bonuan bangus (also called saysay bangus), at least one or two sell purely Bangus Oeste (bangus grown in other western towns like Sual and Binmaley ) while the rest sell mixed products.
The idea presented is to set four days a week for Bonuan Bangus to be sold at the Dagupan fish market while three days are intended to sell mixed products. However, he said, this still needs thorough consultation because some vendors will not be able to sell anything if the schedule persists. Dagupan City has more than 550 fish ponds and fish cages which are producing at least three to five tons of fish weekly. (PIA1-Pangasinan)