DAGUPAN CITY –Dagupan Mayor Belen Fernandez on Thursday ordered the City Agriculture Office (CAO) to closely monitor city markets round-the-clock to prevent the entry of milkfish or “bangus” from fishkill coming from other towns.
Her order stemmed from the report of City Agriculture Officer Emma Molina that at 8:00 a.m. Thursday, a jeep-load of milkfish totalling 1,860 kilograms believed to have come from Bolinao and Anda, was intercepted after unloading its cargo at the city’s Magsaysay Fish Market.
After completion of the required documentation process, gasoline was poured into the jeep-load of milkfish from the fishkill and was sent back to where it came from so the owner of the shipment will be unable to sell the fish.
The incident was recorded in the police blotter.
A report said the fish was being sold at PHP12 per kilo or a total of PHP22,320 for the whole shipment.
Incidentally, the shellfish ban in Bolinao and Anda imposed by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) since the first week of April due to red tide still remains.
Last week, CAO also intercepted three containers of milkfish that also died from fishkil. These came from the towns of Lingayen and Binmaley.
Mayor Fernandez said they would not allow fishkill-affected milkfish and even shellfish coming from Bolinao and Anda, whose coastal water is still infected by red tide organisms, to be sold in the markets of Dagupan for the safety of consumers.
She said no fishkill occurred in Dagupan because of the continuous cleaning of the coastal waters and rivers by the city’s Task Force Bantay Ilog.
On the other hand, the coastal water and rivers of Dagupan are not affected by red tide. lvmicua/PNA