‘Bochang bangus’

“BOCHA” IS a term that has come to be associated with so-called “double-dead” pork, beef or chicken, meaning livestock that have died from diseases or other causes and sold as butchered meat. The term has unsavory connotations, since “double-dead” meat is unsafe and poses health risks to human consumers.

Now a new term has emerged in the wake of the fishkills that have taken place in Lake Taal and in other places as far as Pangasinan. The term is “bochang bangus” or “double-dead milk fish,” referring to the fish that floated up, dead, in the fish pens on Lake Taal and elsewhere in the last few days, some of which unscrupulous traders have attempted to pass off as freshly harvested bangus.

The news, but especially TV news accompanied by off-putting video, has lately taken the stench of rotting fish. There are descriptions of bochang bangus: pale (and not bright red) gills, mushy (and not firm) flesh, cloudy (and not clear) eyes, but most telling of all, the stench that brings tears to one’s eyes and turns even the tummies of long-time fishermen.

Reporters have not been remiss in turning to experts to explain the fishkill. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) explains that the fish died due to the lack of oxygen in the water, which could arise from natural causes (a change in the weather and consequently the temperature of the water) but are exacerbated by human greed, such as the practice of some fish pen and fish cage operators of trying to cram as many bangus fingerlings as they can in their limited spaces, their failure to regularly clean or aerate the water, and their use of feed or fertilizer which hastens the loss of oxygen.

One BFAR officer even said on radio that environments like fresh-water lakes are also very fragile, and even just a small change in the environment—temperature, sunlight, pollution—could lead to such phenomena as fishkills.

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WHEN I first heard of the fishkill in Lake Taal, I remembered the efforts of some environmental groups, local governments and even Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos to clear the lake of as many fish pens or cages as possible.

I hadn’t heard of any follow-up to the initial reports regarding the dismantling of fish pens in Lake Taal, so I wondered if the fish pens in Talisay, which reported the first occurrence of fishkills, were among those targeted by the campaign.

News reports made much of the economic impact of the fishkill, which some caretakers claim has already cost the owners of fish pens “millions” in losses. The impact could very well go beyond the fish pen owners, since sales of bangus in general and not just those harvested in fishkill areas have gone down dramatically since bochang bangus made the headlines.

Perhaps the fishkill is an object lesson on the wages of greed and carelessness. Before Lake Taal, Laguna de Bay was the center of efforts to dismantle the fish pens, many of which dated back to the Marcos regime and were actually owned by generals and other influential officials. The Laguna Lake Development Authority would go on periodic “drives” against the fish pens, but no sooner would one fish pen be dismantled than two or three more would be erected, seemingly overnight.

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TODAY, people’s rapaciousness and heedless exploitation of Laguna Lake have resulted not just in a polluted body of water (looked on as an alternative source of fresh water for Metro Manila), but in an over-silted and congested lake.

Urban planners had once counted on Laguna Lake as a catchment basin for floodwater from Pasig River. But as the experience of “Ondoy” showed, Laguna Lake is today far too shallow to accommodate the overflow from Pasig River. Not only did areas of Metro Manila suffer from record floods, towns on the shores of Laguna Lake endured weeks of floods as the water had nowhere to go. Today, I understand that massive dredging of Laguna Lake is underway, but given the years of neglect, are we ready for rains of the same volume and duration as Ondoy?

As the song by Joey Ayala goes, we are all interconnected, and what affects one affects all. So far, this discussion has already taken us from bochang bangus to Ondoy-like floods. But both fishkills and floods can be traced to a single source: greed and neglect, heedless exploitation with no regard for the impact of one’s actions on other people dependent on a natural resource.

Aside from making sure the bochang bangus are properly disposed of and aren’t sold to innocent consumers, I hope authorities will go after the negligent fish pen owners. If they can’t be charged criminally, then at the very least they should be made to clean up their own mess and pay for the expenses entailed in harvesting the fishkill and burying the rotting fish.

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ASIDE from the short film anthology that was the centerpiece of Nestlé’s 100th Year celebration of its presence in the Philippines, the company also released a cookbook, titled “Celebrating 100 Years of Cooking with Nestlé.”

The cookbook features 100 recipes ranging from everyday dishes to party fare to fiesta mainstays. It also contains recipes from 10 celebrities who are, in one way or another, linked to Nestlé. I was one of those asked to contribute a recipe and my link to Nestlé, aside from being a consumer since childhood, is my friend Sandra Puno, Nestlé vice president for communications and one of the driving forces behind the centennial celebration.

I’d like to thank Star columnist Domini Torrevillas for saying she would like to try the recipe for morcon that I submitted. It is a family heirloom, one which my husband Pie is responsible for, and I hope Dom and other family cooks will get as much satisfaction from it as we have over the years.