By DANNY O. SAGUN

ANDA – Massive fishkills hit this town and nearby Bolinao causing several millions of pesos in losses for fish farmers.

Mayor Nestor Pulido last Thursday said that the town particularly its coastal areas was stinking from all the rotten fish to the point that residents here had to buy masks just to avoid the stench caused by the dead and floating fish.

“Ang problema naubos lahat ng tinitindang masks sa botika o kaya naaamoy mo pa rin yong masamang amoy kahit nakamask ka,” he noted.

Overstocking of fish pens and cages and change of weather were seen as main causes of the massive fishkill.

Fish farmers from this island town as well as other coastal areas have been raking money out of fish produce from pens and cages which have practically covered almost every space in the bodies of water to include rivers and seas.

Fishkills in the past years prompted concerned cities and municipalities to enact regulatory measures in the operation of fishpens and cages. Overfeeding and overstocking of fish were seen as possible causes for such phenomenon.

Apparently, laxity on the part of the local government units in the enforcement of such regulations and the continued violations by fishpen operators led to the recent fishkills.

In Dagupan City, barangay Lucao was also reported as having been affected by a fishkill but on a much milder scale.

Binmaley, on the other hand, was reported successful in its own campaign against illegal structures in aquatic areas. The town was also hit hard by the yearly phenomenon in the past years.