ANDA – It’s another curse of nature for people’s blatant abuse of the environment.

This was the prevailing view of officials here to explain the massive fish kill that had already wiped out over P100 million worth of milkfish (bangus) at the Caquiputan Channel here.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources has yet to take a step to stop the fish kill so that the fishes that remained in the water could be saved.

Anda Mayor Nestor Pulido said the massive fish kill was expected because fish cage and pen operators are hard-headed and were overstocking fingerlings.

Pulido said that the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute recommended 400 fish cages and pens to be built in the Anda side of the Caquiputan Channel.

He said this was observed by the municipal government and actually issued permits to half this number.

But those who built their cages and pens maximized their production by overstocking these with fingerlings, so dissolved oxygen in the water was depleted.

]This was not the first time a massive fish kill was experienced in Anda and its neighbor, Bolinao.

The same phenomenon occurred in June 2003 where an estimated P500 million worth of milkfish died in Bolinao alone.

Pulido believes that Bolinao incurred bigger losses from this fishkill because it is there where the bigger number of fish cages and pens are located.

The mayor said that months before, he had asked the cage and pen owners to reduce their production because he felt that if they maintain their current stocking density, a fish kill might ensue.

The owners of fish cages and pens are rich capitalists from Manila, Bulacan and Dagupan City.

The calamity on the bangus industry in Pangasinan triggered a downward price spiral for milkfish which is now selling for as low as P35 per kilo in the Dagupan fish market.