Fish be with you! DAF PLANS SEEDING OF LAKES, RIVERS WITH MILLIONS OF FISH FINGERLINGS By Manny Piñol

As a young boy growing up in the farm, catching fish like the native catfish or “pantat,” young mudfish or “toragsoy,” gourami and “puyo” was the most exciting activity during the day-long work.

We trapped the fish in the small canals beside the rice paddies, take out the water by hand or “sag-a” and voila! we would have the delicious native pantat or dalag for lunch.

There was another option and that was to use a hook and a plastic line which we tied to the end of a long “bolo” or the small native bamboos growing by the riverside, dig for the wiggly worms just about anywhere and just drop the line in the stream or creek.

By noontime, we would come back and check our lines and we usually would have either a tired catfish or a mudfish already hooked and ready to fill our hungry stomachs.

Life seemed so easy during those days and catching fish for food was not that much of a problem as it is today.

Things are no longer the same now as the heavy use of chemicals and pesticides has virtually driven the fish away from the rice paddies and even the water canals which run through the fields.

Destructive fishing methods like “Koryente” where electric current generated by a small automotive battery is used to shock and catch fish have virtually cleansed the rivers and creeks of fish.

Even the streams, creeks, rivers and lakes hardly have fish nowadays.

In Southern California last week, Filipino-American Tilapia farmer Rocky French, who was born and raised in Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat before he took up the citizenship of his grandfather, an American soldier from Kentucky who fought in the Spanish-American War in the Philippines, and I reminisced those days when fish seemed to be so abundant.

French, who helps in training employees of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in the breeding and spawning of Tilapia and in feed formulation and processing, related that when he was still working with the US Games and Wildlife, the US government seeded the lakes and rivers of America with millions of fingerlings of trout and other fish species every year.

The program made available to those who love fishing a lot of fish to be caught during the open season.

The sharing of ideas validated what I had long proposed to the BFAR, the seeding of the country’s streams, creeks, rivers, lakes and marshes with millions of fingerlings of indigenous and acceptable fish species.

Following the exchange of ideas, I directed Undersecretary Eduardo Gongona, concurrent Director of BFAR, to prepare a program which would propose the repopulation of creeks, rivers and lakes with indigenous fish species, including the Black Head Eel which is highly in demand in the market today.

I, however, reminded him that there should be an appropriate environmental impact assessment to ensure that the fish species introduced to the bodies of water would not affect the indigenous fish population.

This precautionary measure was suggested because of the problems resulting from poorly planned programs in the past, including the introduction of the Taiwan Hito and now the African catfish which affected the native Philippine pantat.

Except perhaps for Bangus fingerlings which is not expected to affect the native fish species, the program will involve only Tilapia, Gourami, the native Pantat, Ayungin, Kanduli, the exotic Sardinella Tawilis which is found only in Taal Lake and Black Head Eel elvers.

Also, illegal fishing methods like the use of “Koryente” and “Tuble” must be stopped to ensure the success of the program.

I instructed USec. Gongona to implement the Fingerlings Seeding Program initially in the poorest provinces of the country, especially Lanao del Sur which has the 35,000-hectare Lake Lanao and many other smaller lakes.

Fiberglass fishing boats could be distributed to families living around the lake to enable them to catch fish.

There are several measures which will have to be done first before the program is implemented hopefully towards the end of 2017. This would include strengthening the Fingerlings Production Program in the different BFAR hatcheries all over the country.

The BFAR hatcheries right now are virtual white elephants which could not even produce enough fingerlings to cover the cost of operations and the wages of the workers.

The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) also has to engage local fisheries experts who have spent years in breeding and preserving the indigenous fish species to produce enough fingerlings for the program which the DAF could buy.

Indeed, if government could repopulate the bodies of water in the country with fish, the first step in addressing poverty which is providing available food for the people would be accomplished.

Imagine yourself bringing your children to the nearby streams, rivers and lakes on weekends and being able to share with them the joy of catching fish.

I am sure that the excitement and the joy of being being to catch fish would be part of your children’s beautiful memories.

Fishing actually is not only about being able to catch fish for lunch. It also teaches the young the virtues of patience and perseverance.

#Changeishere! #DuterteDelivers! #PresRodyCares! #FishBeWithYou! #AvailableAffordableFood!

(Photos shown here were downloaded from public websites in the Internet.)