No fishkill in Dagupan – Molina

No fishkill in Dagupan  – Molina

DAGUPAN CITY – City Agriculture Officer Emma J. Molina has disputed reports of a fishkill here that came out in a national newspaper recently.

Molina verified that what happened was that there were a number of fish that died in some fishponds but there was no mass death in the river.

Fishkill is the mass death of fish in the river caused by a decrease in the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water.

Molina said that the reported death of a number of bangus in the fishpond is an isolated case.

“It was possible that the sudden change of temperature in the water we call neap tide may have caused the death of the fish aggravated by overstocking,” said Molina.

Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (BFAR-NIFTDC) Director Westly Rosario earlier debunked the same report, saying the report was wholly misleading.

“Since the incident happened in fishponds, the problem could actually be under the responsibility  of the farmers,” Rosario said.    

Mayor Belen T. Fernandez has made it clear in the past that no fishpen will ever get back in the city’s rivers as part of her drive to return the river back to small fishermen.

She was even commended by BFAR for her various projects to protect and preserve the city’s main produce bangus where she has taken part in releasing around 70 sabalos in the sea along with Archbishop Socrates Villegas. (Joseph C. Bacani/CIO)