BFAR bares how to determine safe fish

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY— The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources regional office here warned the public Wednesday to be wary in buying fish as it issued tips on how to determine fish that is unsafe for consumption.

The warning was issued even as Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan suffered from serious stomach pains after eating allegedly contaminated bangus belly in a high-class restaurant in this mountain resort city.

In its advisory, the BFAR said “double dead” fishes are safe for consumption if they are still fresh.

However, reports said tons of fishes that died because of the recent fish kill in Batangas and Pangasinan are now being treated and converted to dried fishes or boneless ones.

The BFAR said fresh fish have the following characteristics: Eyes are clear and glossy and not dull and sunken; gills are bright red and not brownish to gray; odor is fresh and not stale and putrid; flesh is firm to touch and not soft; color is not bleached and scales are intact and not easily removed.

The BFAR said spoiled fishes regardless of species are not safe to eat and these must be discarded to prevent individuals from contracting serious illnesses that could sicken or even kill them.

The agency had established quarantine checkpoints in the different entry and exit points of the city to prevent unscrupulous businessmen from bringing to the city contaminated fishes and sell them in the market.

Market vendors in the city’s public market noted a significant decline in the arrival of fresh fishes from the lowlands because of the massive fish kill incidents that destroyed over P2 million worth of bangus in numerous fish cages which were reportedly triggered by the alleged lack of dissolved oxygen in the water.

For closed water systems like lakes, the prescribed stocking density of fishes is 20 fish per cubic meter to allow sufficient spaces for the fish to breath.

For open waters, stocking density could go up to 30 fishes per cubic meter, officials said.

The BFAR said it issued advisories to prevent the occurrence of a sudden shortage of fish. It urged fishpen owners to harvest their fish stocks immediately and bring them to nearby government fish ports.

In order to prevent a possible artificial shortage of fish in the country, the BFAR will be giving out free fish fry or fingerlings to affected fish farmers, especially the marginalized ones.

The city veterinary office has intensified its operation against the sale of double dead meat and fish, resulting in the confiscation of spoiled fishes in different stalls of the city’s public market.

Meanwhile, the Cordillera office of the Department of Health here acknowledged that various factors such as religious beliefs and private doctors advising against submitting children for immunization, hindered the 100 percent accomplishment of the agency’s Measles Rubella Supplemental Immunization Activity (MR SIA) in the region over the past two months.

At present, vaccination teams have already visited 97.2 percent of the estimated 296,681 households in the region and have immunized 248,389 nine to 95 months children, or only 73.85 percent of the target children.

DOH Local Health Support division head, Amelita Pangilinan said there are still some late reports coming in and they hope that the campaign can still reach at least 80 to 85 percent accomplishment considering that they could no longer force other people in the region with religious beliefs to submit their children for vaccination against the dreaded disease.