In response to Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque’s remark on Manila Bay fish kill
“Fish kill is a common byproduct of a severeley degraded ecosystem such as the Manila Bay. Malacanang’s statement raising the possibility of sabotage that some might have deliberately dumped the dead fish to discredit the government was irresponsible and unscientific.
First of all, some of the dead fishes found in the shorelines of Baseco were actually the hybrid tilapia, locally known as “arroyo”. It belongs to euryhaline species, a type of aquatic organism that can adapt to high levels of salinity. It is not the common tilapia that can be cultured and only suitable in freshwater and low-salinity waters. But most of the dead fishes were Manila Bay’s endemic such as the common whiting or “asohos”, biya, kanduli, among others.
We are calling on Spokesperson Harry Roque to get his facts straight; dig deeper on ecological aspects and address the underlying environmental problems besetting the country’s historic fishing grounds.
We reiterate our call to conduct water sampling and laboratory analysis for a potential water contamination that led to the fish kill. Moreover, the government must be alarmed by the recent fish kill and they have to seriously address the deteriorating ecosystem of Manila Bay, and pursue a genuine rehabilitation that aims to restore its resources.” Jerwin Baure, PAMALAKAYA’s resident fisheries expert said in a statement.
