BANGUS (milkfish) may soon be dislodged by prawns and siganid, both high-value fish, as the number one cash crop in fishponds, pens and cages here.

Binmaley municipal Councilor Leo Urmaza, who comes from a family of noted bangus raisers, raised this possibility following the success of the ‘Bingalo tan Malaga’ (Prawn and Siganid) Festival in his town Thursday night.

The festival showcased the town’s tasty prawns and siganid that fish farmers in Binmaley are now raising extensively in their ponds, pens and cages all-year round.

Urmaza, chair of the ‘Bingalo tan Malaga’ Festival, said this was made to show locals and visitors, especially balikbayan, the value of prawns and siganid which commands higher price than the traditional bangus.

Some 300 tickets, priced at P500 each, were sold during the festival. Urmaza said the festival was an ‘eat-for-a-cause’ project whose proceeds will be used to put up a balikbayan park in front of the town’s justice hall.

He said those who bought tickets queued up at the town’s auditorium to get their fill of food, buffet style, consisting of different preparations made from prawns and siganid.

The first ever to be launched here, the festival seeks to put Binmaley in the map as the center for the poll-culture of the black tiger and siganid in the entire country.

The town’s people finally woke up to the reality that there is a big opportunity staring at them in their own prawns and siganid, Urmaza said.

Being high-value fish, prawns sell at from P200 to P600 per kilo while siganid is sold at P150 per kilo in the fish market in Dagupan City and even in Hagonoy, Bulacan where these products now end up.

In the case of bangus, the price is from P60 to P80 per kilo and even goes down to P55 per kilo. In abnormal situation, as when a big typhoon blows in or during fishkills, it may even cost P40 per kilo.

Bangus is now fast losing its appeal to fish farmers in Pangasinan because, aside from being labor and capital intensive, it does not produce much income anymore, Urmaza said.

“You invest so much in bangus but you can only sell it at P60 to P80 per kilo,” he said (PNA)