Rehab of Capiz’s fishponds needs billions of pesos

The prices of seafood this Christmas will surely rise sky-high because of the massive destruction of the fishponds in Capiz brought about by the tidal waves churned out by Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

Capiz earned the distinction of being a “seafood capital” because it used to supply Metro Manila with tons of suahe (cultured shrimp), crabs, prawns, and different kinds of shells like diwal (angel wings), scallops, tahong and talaba. These crustaceans  from Capiz enjoy brisk sales at the old Divisoria wet markets because of their peculiar, succulent taste caused by a favorable combination of brackish water, sandy-clay bottom of fishponds, and pollution-free rivers and shores. The considerable volume of seafood supply from Capiz was sourced from 30,000 hectares of fishponds that were operating in six coastal towns—Panay, Pontevedra, Pilar, President Roxas, Ivisan, Sapian—and Roxas City, thus making it the province with the biggest concentration of fishponds in the country.

The delicious talaba, which Metro Manileños feast on at Via Mare and Marina restaurants, are cultured in Capiz. In the 1970s, the giant tahong found in Manila’s wet markets came from Ivisan. Most of the suahe, sugpo and crabs sold at the seaside market in Baclaran come from Capiz, and brought there daily by plane and, lately, Ro-Ro trucks. The exotic diwal comes only from Capiz.

The fishpond industry in Capiz has just recovered from the destruction of Typhoon “Frank” in 2008 and the almost annual floods  aggravated by the siltation of Tinagong Dagat, the mouth of Panay River which snakes through the province.

Billions of pesos worth of marketable seafoods intended for the Christmas season were lost to the sea during Yolanda’s onslaught.

Yolanda’s destruction of Capiz’s fishponds was very severe because the tidal waves swept away entire stretches of the dikes of fishponds. The recovery of the fishpond industry will entail billions of pesos. It is hoped that the government will soon make available to fishpond operators a substantial credit facility for the rehabilitation of the industry.

—EDWARD B. CONTRERAS,

Pryce Plaza, Cagayan de Oro City