DAGUPAN CITY, Jan. 5 (PNA) — The city’s number one product, bangus (milkfish) is now recovering after it absorbed wholesale devastation from the havoc of super typhoon “Cosme” in May last year.
This was disclosed by Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr., who is himself one of the major producers of bangus in the city.
He said many of the bangus producers who have lost millions of pesos when typhoon “Cosme” unleashed powerful winds that destroyed fish pens have recovered a few months later.
Aside from this, many of the fishponds also overflowed their banks and let loose millions of pesos worth of bangus, Fernandez added.
In order to continue their production, local fishpond and pen owners had to source out their fingerlings elsewhere, even as far as Sarangani province.
The typhoon also exacted damages on bangus breeding stations in western Pangasinan from where bangus producers were normally sourcing out their fry and fingerlings.
Those who were able to immediately re-stock their fishponds after the typhoons were lucky because bangus was priced higher during the last holidays, Fernandez said.
After the typhoon, fishpond raisers had to start the cycle of production from fry to fingerlings and then to mature ones, he added.
Dagupan is where all bangus producers in Pangasinan are bringing their products for wholesale in the city’s fish market before these are shipped to various points in Luzon. (PNA)
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