Limlingan: Fishkill

May 13, 2011

FOURTH district Board Member Nestor Tolentino has a lot of things to look into. As the chair of the Provincial Board’s committee on environment protection, he has to dig deeper into the rivers of Masantol town as hundreds of fish were found floating dead in the said tributary.
At the end of last month, by sheer accident Governor Lilia “Nanay” Pineda “discovered” a fish kill in the rivers of the fishing town. The governor was aghast at the sight, for the fluvial convoy of the governor saw that something is wrong on the waters of Masantol.
For BM Tolentino, it was a matter needing his attention as he holds the legislative gavel on how to protect the environment. He too was stunned by the sight of dead. Immediately, he asked the local folks as to what might be the cause of the fish kill and he found out that the same was probably caused by indiscriminate illegal mode of fishing in the open waters of this coastal town.
As per interview with the locals, small trawlers coming from neighboring towns of Bulacan and Bataan are seen poaching in the waters of Pampanga. The sad part is the fact that fishermen doing some illegal fishing are not even Kapampangans destroying our aquatic territories.
Pampanga, while it is basically agricultural, has a lot of coastal areas too which are rich in marine and other aquatic resources.
Masantol is one of the fish-yielding towns of the province, and fishing is one of the most important livelihood sources of its residents. The town is near some municipalities of the said other provinces bounded by freshwater going to the sea.
At first glance, one would think that the fish kill might be caused by massive water pollution. This would make one think and support the claim of Mayor Annette Balgan, of the adjacent town Macabebe. A few months ago, the lady mayor cried against the alleged presence of toxic wastes polluting the waters of her town and some rivers of Macabebe running to Masantol.
In some marine territories, water toxicity brought about by water pollution is often blamed for fish kill. Take the case of an oil spill that kills not only a hundred but thousands of marine life.
Going deeper into the Masantol fish kill, some residents blamed the trawlers of other provinces to be the culprits. According to local fishermen, fishing boats from said other provinces otherwise known as “sudsud” throw their rotting catch to the waters of Masantol. Their catch are either undersized or beyond their ideal standards that they simply throw them back dead to the river. They may have rotted perhaps due to the lack of freezers or ice on their boats, but that is their problem.
Aside from these possibilities, the dead fish might be victims of cyanide or dynamite fishing that due to their poor state, they were simply thrown back to the waters waste. Rotten fish when thrown back to rivers definitely pollute the waters they were thrown at. This fact complicates the problems on marine biodiversity in Masantol waters.
Where are the “bantay-ilog” or “bantay-dagat” brigades that are supposed to guard our local waters?
Some years ago, some Masantol fishermen were caught by local policemen of Bataan for alleged illegal fishing. They were accused of fishing in the waters of Bataan that they were apprehended and detained in some towns of the said province. How come we cannot do the same considering the sad fact that the said “sudsuds” allegedly catch fish in the waters of Masantol? More so, they are even accused of polluting the waters of Masantol that resulted to the fish kill?
Perhaps we can do a lot of things too in guarding our local waters only if we want to. The local government of Masantol should organize bantay-dagat or bantay-ilog teams in order to help local authorities in apprehending water polluters and fishermen doing illegal fishing in our territories.
The Provincial Board’s environmental protection committee is yet to dig deeper into the matter. I wish they will be intensifying measures to protect our marine resources in the province. Let’s wait and see.

Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/opinion/2011/05/12/limlingan-fishkill-155138