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| A fishpond operator feeds milkfish with old bread in Hagonoy, Bulacan. |
HAGONOY,
Bulacan—Like other mothers, Lorie Umali got up just before day break to cook
breakfast for her children.
While
waiting for the rice to be fully cooked, she started frying hotdogs—
her
kids’ favorite viand and their premier source of protein.
When
she was younger, Umali recalled, her mother used to cook fish for her, and considered
hotdogs as a treat prepared for special occasions like birthdays and Christmas.
“It’s
easier to cook, and sometimes cheaper than fish,” Umali said in Filipino
referring to her new preference of cooking hotdogs over fish.
But
there is a greater explanation to the changing preference for source of protein
these days, which many households hardly notice over the years.
It’s
the decline in fish production especially in the province of Bulacan which was
blamed to increasing water pollution.
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| Marilao River clean,a mirror of poor implementation of garbage law. |
Ranking
officials of government agencies and some fishermen blame it on poor
implementation of solid waste law, but operators of smaller fishponds in the
province accused bigger pond operators for excessive use of aqua feeds.
Records
obtained by this writer from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) of the
Department of Agriculture (DA) shows that fish production in Bulacan has
dropped from 53,804.3 metric tons in 2004 to 40,790.91 metric tons in 2011.
Except
in 2008 when Bulacan fish production climbed to 51,768.93, BAS records showed
consistent drop in that eight years period.
Even in
brackish water fishpond milkfish production in which Bulacan leads all
provinces in production output from 2004 to 2011, BAS records showed decreased
production from 34,785.00 to 23,019.66 metric
tons.
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| Smaller catch illustrating declining fish production. |
The Provincial
Agriculture Office explained that decrease in fish production in the province
is a confluence of different factors including impacts of climate change,
increasing water pollution and pond operator shift from milkfish to tiger
prawns or shift from fish culture to fingerlings production.
However, Dr.
Remedios Ongtangco, the director of Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources
in Central Luzon openly blamed water pollution as primary factor in decrease
fish production.
She explained
that fish thrive on water and its quality affects aquaculture and other marine resources.
When asked on
causes of water pollution, Ongtangco pointed to poor implementation of solid
waste law.
“Our local
government units are the ones responsible for waste management and unless the
truly implement it, our fish production will always be threaten,” she said.
This was
affirmed by Lawyer Rustico De Belen, the former head of the Bulacan Environment
and Natural Resources Office (PGB).
De Belen also
admitted that improper disposal of garbage along with poor implementation of
the law by local government units from municipalities and cities down to the
barangays as the culprit in water pollution.
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| Men loading bags of agua feeds into a boat in Hagonoy, Bulacan. |
But for medium
pond operators like Pedro Geronimo of this coastal town, bigger fishpond
operators are causing more pollution due to excessive use of aqua feeds.
This was
affirmed by Patrocinio Laderas, a former Provincial Board Member who has moved
his fishpond operator from this town to Bicol in mid-90s.
Laderas said
that in the mid-80s, local fishpond operators have benefited from clean waters,
but increasing use of aqua feeds along with garbage disposal in rivers left
waterways polluted.
Excessive use
of aqua feeds was confirmed by Lito Lacap, the president of the Integrated Services
for the Development of Aquaculture (ISDA), an organization of fishpond
operators in Central Luzon which is composed of large scale fishpond operators
in Bulacan and Pampanga.
“Our members
have realized the impacts of excessive use of aqua feeds in pond operations, that’s
why many are moving towards tradition fish culture as advised by BFAR,” Lacap
said.
Other
suggestion of BFAR, according to Lacap, include reduction of fish stock that
requires less aqua feeds.
He added that
some of their members are practicing traditional fish culture every other
cropping season, or starting their fish culture with traditional methods, and
when fish got bigger, then they will use aqua feeds.
Traditional
methods requires growing of organic planktons that serve a food for milkfish
and tilapia or St. Peter’s Fish production.
“They might be
correct that excessive use of aqua feeds is a factor in water pollution, but
poor waste management remained as primary factor,” De Belen said.
He added that
since 2010, the Provincial Solidwaste Management Board had only convened a
summit once and gave directives to municipal and city solidwaste management
boards to properly implement the law and conduct information dissemination.
The summit also
advised municipal and city governments in the province for proper waste
segregation and collection to prevent
residents in throwing garbage into the river.
However, not
too many local government units have responded positively.
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| Hagonoy MRF located on the bank of Labangan Channel. |
As a matter of
fact, there still LGUs in Bulacan that operates open dumpsites, some of which
are located less than 50 meters away from bodies of water like rivers, creeks
and fishponds.
Earlier, Bishop
Pablo David of the Archdiocese of Pampanga condemned operations of open dumpsites
in Central Luzon.
Speaking in an
environment summit for educators at La Consolacion University-Philippines
(LaCUP) here, David even went to extent of encouraging non-governmental
organizations to file charges against LGUs that are not implementing solidwaste
law.
David’s
exhortation was in reaction to earlier statement in the same summit by Lormelyn
Claudio, the director of Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) that they cannot
just file charges against erring LGUs as those were their partners in
implementation of the law.
Claudio added
that as of May, at least 82 LGUs in the region has expressed commitment to
implement the law after they threatened to file charges.
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| Paombong MRF on the other side of Labangan Channel. |
However,
implementation of solid waste management remain slow for many LGUs and local
citizens remain undisciplined in their household disposal.
Smaller fishpond
operators and fisher folks alike said that unless the government became serious
in their job of implementing the law, fish production in Bulacan will continue
to drop.
That means less
fish on the marker and higher prices of fish that will continue to lead mothers
like Umali to depend on processed meat for protein needs of their children.
(This special report was published in the November 14-20 edition of the Central Luzon Business Week (Vol. 8, No.1). It is part of the series of reports produced by Dino Balabo under the International Women's Media Foundation's (IWMF) Environmental Investigative Reporting Fellowship program.)
Balabo said the campaign to end impunity only addresses
calls on the government to implement laws to protect citizens, journalists or
not, and that there must be a parallel campaign to remind journalists to pursue
ethical and responsible reporting.
Rowena Paraan, NUJP secretary-general, said the parade of
coffins will serve as an expression of outrage against impunity.
