BINMALEY – Rivers, creeks and other bodies of water here will soon be given at least one year of rest to make these recover their lost vitality as a result of years of overuse and operations of illegal fish pens.

Mayor Simplicio Rosario said the one-year moratorium on fish pens starts as soon as the 10 per cent remaining fish pens in the water have all been dismantled in a few more days.
Rosario hailed the compliance of fish pen owners to the May 31, 2006 deadline he issued for all fish pens in the town to be voluntarily demolished by their respective owners.

To date, up to 90 per cent of the fish pens have been removed with the other 10 percent given a little consideration till after their fish stocks mature and become harvestable.

Right after harvest, the owners will be obliged to demolish their fish pens and wait for one year to be given the go-signal to build fish pens again – but only at pinpointed locations and based on prescribed regulations, Rosario said.

“We did not make any demolition. It was the fish pen owners themselves who voluntarily demolished their structures after explaining to them our good intention,” Rosario said.

He paid tribute to the 33 barangay captains of the town who persuaded their respective barangay councils to pass a resolution calling on all fish pen owners in their areas to voluntarily demolish their structures.

At the end of the one-year moratorium, the municipal government will implement the town’s comprehensive municipal ordinance that will return the fish pens but in only a few pre-determined areas of the rivers.

He said under a municipal ordinance, all local fish pen operators must secure a permit from the municipal government and abide by all the regulations set forth in the fishery ordinance.

Rosario said strict enforcement of the fishery ordinance will prevent any more fish kill that happen very often because the fish pens are structures unfriendly to the environment.

“If there is any more fish kill that will happen after we have removed all our fishpens, we will file a class suit against the neighboring municipality or city where the fishkill might have emanated,” he said.