By Joe Espiritu
Bohol Sunday Post
A few weeks ago, we have been writing about the sky rocketing prices of fish in Jagna. During that time, the condition was not confined to Jagna alone but also in other towns and in Tagbilaran City. While we were grumbling about the P120 per kilo of the Pacific mackerel or mangko or tulingan, reliable sources say that it reached up to P150 per in Tagbilaran. We say, Jagna, di ka nag-iisa.
There was a time when the mangko prices hit P2 in the Tagbilaran causeway and there were few takers. That was years ago. Purse seine fishing boats sweeping seas around and beyond Bohol dumped their catch in the causeway and was forced to sell them at giveaway prices just to dispose of them. However, constant operations depleted the fish population that caused the fish prices to orbit.
Malthusian theory put the law of supply and demand into action. Jagna, like the rest of coastal towns in Bohol, is dependent on fish and other marine products for their protein requirements on their diet. Backyard livestock provided a break of the dietary monotony but that was on special occasions like when a chicken or a pig meets a traffic accident or dies in a fiesta celebration.
When Jagna population was a third of what it is now, near shore and shallow water fishes filled up that need. Blue water fishes provided a bonus. Even in bad weather, which lasted for a few weeks, the near shore fishes could be available.
Or even if monsoon winds extend their allocated stay, supplies of buwad and ginamus can take up the slack. Bamboo fish traps called bungsod and baling or sahid, dragnets of you like, provide the volume of the catch.
When the population reached its present size, the near shore resources can no longer cope up with the demand. While the double nets massacred the shallow water species, mechanized fishing swept the blue waters clean of pelagic species.
Even the trash fishes like the pangan - no relation to Chekito - the ibis, pata and moong find their way to the frying pan, cooking pot or kinilaw dishes. The lowly Tagalog galonggong, or Visayan tabudlos or round-bodied scad, which glamorized name is GG enjoyed premium prices.
The milkfish or bangos, which true blue fishing families look upon with disdain found acceptance, thanks to expats, who acquired the taste for it in their stay in highly urbanized areas. The tilapia, which no Jagnaanon would dare to touch, had been found in the fish stalls of the Jagna Public Market. Somebody must have bought them since it disappeared before closing time. Someone must have been hungry enough to eat a horse, so the saying goes, except horses are not available.
Since there are not enough crustaceans, mollusks or marine snails to fill up the protein slack, a change of diet may be in order. Poultry and swine are omnivorous; they would compete with humans for greens grains and animal or fish protein.
Backyard livestock will have to be reserved for special occasions and traffic accidents. Never invite a guest, whose dietary preference is in established. He might complain being served a garden for dinner.
The only livestock, which will not eat its way into the human food supply, are the ruminants and other grass eating stock. Raising large cattle is out of the question.
One cannot carve out a steak without buying the whole cow. Goats and rabbits would fit the bill. Hungry goats would eat everything even your pants if you are not careful but they need an extensive pasture. Prepare to make enemies out of your neighbors. If one is not averse having Bugs Bunny for dinner, then raise rabbits. Or even Mickey Mouse just to escape high fish prices.
Linkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=10550.0
Topic: Expensive Fish (Read 1329 times)