Suspected fish kill hurting fishermen

MASANTOL – The fish kill in the coastal town of Masantol in Pampanga is hurting dozens of small scale fishermen.

Former vice mayor and Coastal Emergency Officer Marcelo “Bajun” Lacap, Jr. lamented that most of residents here whose livelihood depend

on fishing at the Pampanga River are the most affected in the suspected fish kill caused by alleged pollution.

“Apektadu ing kabyayan mi kening danuman. Mengamate la reng asan pauli ning pollution a menibat kareng factory ken babo, at ngeni ikami ing magkasakit (Our livelihood is affected. The fishes were killed due to pollution caused by factories from the upstream and now we are the ones suffering),” he said.

Lacap said that until now, there are still dead fishes, crabs, shrimps and other water creatures that are floating along the stretch of the Pampanga River.

He stressed that residents became more worried as the Pampanga River is now very stinky due to uncollected dead water creatures and might affect more fishes, as well as human health.

“Pepalinis at pepakutkut da nala deng aliwang mekwa ken sakop ning Masantol pero atin pamu rin mitatagan at ngeni mebantut ne ing ilog (The portion of Pampanga River in Masantol was already cleared and collected dead fishes were buried but there were a few left. The river is now very stinky due to this),” he added.

Lacap is now lamenting the lost livelihood of his fellow fishermen who are dependent on the Pampanga River to sustain their daily needs.

He stressed that it might take months before the Pampanga River can recover from such an unfortunate incident.

“Malwat a panaun para makapangabyayan kaming manasan king kailugan ulit. Hanggang ela pa mareplenish ding mengamate asan, ala kaming asahan a kabyayan (It will take a long time before we can come back to fishing. Until Pampanga River will not be replenished, we cannot go back to our livelihood),” he said.