Fish love and sex

I MUST be missing my past life as a fish.

Have actually transitioned to be a government communicator, but sometimes, I just can’t distinguish citizen Bency from his evil twin, I blurt out things and get quoted as someone. My fault.

But no apologies, especially for a good cause.

Last week, I bought a cup – t’was actually a nescafe bottle of maranay. I asked my suking ambulant lab-asera: Asa man ni gikan? Sa Bonbon ser, daghan kaayo sila’g kuha didto karun.

Later in the evening, I read on Rappler the story of the abundant ‘dulong’ catch by Brgy. Bonbon, Cagayan de Oro fisherfolk. I got worried, a little bit guilty, but somehow justified – di naman pod to mabuhi akong gipalit nga maranay — these tiny fishes that go perfectly with eggs as an omelet.

From my experience and training in fisheries, ‘dulong’ is not a kind or species of fish. These refer to a variety of fishes that show up seasonally, usually during the waning crescent moon phase.

Fishes are interesting animals. When they congregate they are called a school. And when they first congregate, some fishes — collectively called dulong — are ignorant of their identity. But unlike men who can have identity crises up to midlife, fishes are fast learners. Fishes, different kinds of fishes spawn around the same time. Just like dogs getting in heat in August.

Fishes, like other animals, except humans and pigs, do not experience sexual pleasure. In fact, some fishes have no-contact reproduction. Poor animals. The male releases milt or fish semen into the water and the female fish releases her eggs. And when these two fluids mix in water, the fish egg gets fertilized, and then after a matter of time they hatch. Then they swim, thousands of them. Post larval fish A swims with post-larval fish B, then fish C a tiny but mature fish joins. They swim with each other for days as a school of fish. Then they realize their identity, the bolinaos (anchovy) groups separately with the tamban (sardine), and so on and so forth.

But if a fisherman with a fine-meshed net, usually a scoop net sees these fishes, then the fishes are finished even before they reach their early stage of self-realization. And people feast on them.

Poor fish fetuses and babies

Approximately, a dulong is five grams. Do the math, a kilo would be 200 pieces. Assuming that sardine or tamban is the dominant fish species, or 100, the other 100 are bolinao, and other species. If we allow this to mature and reproduce before landing on our plates, how many kilos of tamban would that be? A piece of mature tamban is around 100 grams. Therefore 100 posts larval tamban if left to grow is 10,000 kilos, yes 10 tons.

Based on reports last week, the ‘dulong’ catch was at least 4,000 kilos. so 4,000/2 x 100 grams = 200,000 kilograms. Yes, 200 tons.

Macajalar Bay can have that many fish, believe you me. And even more. Some 20 years ago, the number of municipal fisherfolk in Macajalar Bay was 4,000. Their average fish catch was 3-5 kilos per day. That is a production of 12-15 tons a day. Add to it the commercial fishing boats (sensoro/lansa) that often encroach on coastal waters even if their fishing permit is to fish in the Bohol and Visayas Seas. There were around 20 commercial fishings then, with ports in Luyong Bonbon and Kimaya, Jasaan. These big fishing boats harvest at least three tons each. That is 60 tons per day.

Assuming-innuendo that 50% of their fish catch is from Macajalar Bay, that would be 30 tons. Easily, Macajalar Bay can give us 40-50 tons of fish. Considering further that tamban is the dominant fish catch, that would be 20-25 tons of tamban per day. But those were the days.

There are serious gray areas in dulong fisheries. Something that could have been settled had the BFAR been diligent in its mandate. I have talked with personnel from the city agriculture productivity office about this and they said the best initial step in tackling this issue is for scientific identification of the dulong fishes. They claimed to have submitted samples of dulong to BFAR last year but got no report back.

BFAR denies this. What I learned, our local agriculture office is again sending samples to BFAR. Let’s wait one month. Why BFAR? One of the mandates of BFAR in the law that created it, The Fisheries Code of the Philippines or RA 8550 is to provide technical assistance to local government units. Fish identification is a technical field where BFAR has the capability. So, please…

I have worked on projects on coastal resource management and fisheries resource management in Macajalar, Gingoog, and Butuan Bays for a total of 10 years in my past life. My passion has been awakened by the dulong story and my maranay omelet breakfast last week.

Now on the issue of what to do on this matter? Law enforcement?

I would adopt Mayor Klarex Uy’s take on this matter. I would cite in toto his statement on dulong fishing dated August 26, 2022:

“In accordance with the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 or RA 8550, using of fine nets in fishing is prohibited. This is what is being used in ‘dulong’ fishing, also known as hipon, ipon, maranay.

“What I understand is that ‘dulong’ is not fish species, but a variety of post-larval and juvenile fishes which later on grow as bolinao (anchovy), tamban (sardine), and other kinds of fishes which seasonally populate coastal waters, usually during the waning crescent moon phase.

“If catching of dulong, which occurs seasonally, is unchecked, fish stocks in our coastal and marine ecosystems will continue to be depleted. This results in aggravated low fish catch among the poorest of the poor — the municipal fisherfolk.

“But I understand the situation currently faced by our fisherfolk. Most of them resort to all sorts of fishing methods just to earn a living so their families can eat.

“I agree with our fishery experts and those of the Bureau of Fisheries and AquaticResources (BFAR) that catching juvenile fishes is destructive and illegal. But owing to the complexity of the problem, I too agree with the need to study this further. I understand that our local agriculture office had sent samples of these fish to BFAR for scientific identification.

“For now, it is important to address economic problems faced by our municipal fisherfolk — and until such time that we can implement sustainable livelihood options for them, the best approach to this complex problem is to inform and educate the fisherfolk on the damaging effects of catching juvenile fishes. That in the long run, allowing these fishes to mature and reproduce would result in better and more sustainable fish catch.

“Our Agriculture and Productivity Office, which has food security on top of their agenda is planning out a sustainable livelihood program for our fisherfolk, in line with the economic recovery program of my administration.”

PS: When I sought comment from the information officer of BFAR on the matter, I was told he needed clearance from his director to talk on the matter. I respect that bro. I understand perfectly. But may I ask whether the two BFAR enumerators (or that is how they were identified in various stories in Rappler and this paper) who in effect said the tiny fishes harvested in abundance were okay, authorized to talk on the matter? Are these enumerators trained or educated on fish taxonomy?