BFAR has yet to determine cause of fish kill

By Maricar M. Calubiran
Correspondent

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has yet to determine the cause of the recent fish kill in the waters of Sibunag, a town in the province of Guimaras.

BFAR Regional Director Sonia Seville said they are still waiting for the results of the second round of test made on the waters taken from Sitio Nauway Island, Barangay San Isidro, Sibunag. They are expecting to get the result Friday.

The first test made on the fish specimen and water sample last week did not yield a conclusive result since the fish was taken after 24 hours since it was seen floating on the waters. A five-kilo fish locally known as lally was used as the specimen for traced metal analysis. Lally or double spotted queenfish belongs to the family of mackerel. While, the water sample subjected for test was not taken from the site of the fish kill.

The laboratory results on the lally showed no traces of dynamite. It has normal internal manifestation. Aside from lally, there were also groupers and manta rays. These fish are considered demersal. They are considered as high-valued fish in the market.

Demersal fish are those fish specie which tend to stay on or near the bottom of the sea. They can be caught by the used of trawls and seine. They can also be caught by the use of hook and line or gill nets depending on the depth of the water. Other demersal finfish groups are bisugo, sapsap, talakitok, lapulapu, samaral or danggit, saralmulyete, dalagang bukid, maya-maya, salay-salay and banak.

Seville said they could not just immediately made a conclusion on whether the cause of the fish kill was a result of cyanide fishing, domestic pollution, agricultural pollution, industrial pollution or mine tailings. As early as June 23, 2005, residents living near the island-barangay have already noticed the fish kill but they only reported the occurrence on July 1 st .

She added that they could not also discount the possibility that the ongoing oil exploration in Negros Oriental triggered the fish kill. The bottom of the sea might be disturbed because of the exploration. All the affected fish lives 10-15 fathoms of the sea.

The regional director added that they have also issued guidelines to the municipal agriculture office in Sibunag to observe the proper procedures in taking out samples for them to get accurate results.

Meanwhile, Seville said it safe to eat the fish taken from the affected site. Some of the members of the department have eaten portions of the lally and nothing happened to them.