I’M ALMOST certain the intentions were good, bordering on the noble. But at times intentions, however good they may be, if not done and researched properly ends up doing more bad than good.
And that’s exactly what happened at the Iloilo Esplanade on Jan. 5, 2020 when some 500 members of the Iloilo Girls Scouts Council released on the Iloilo River about 1,000 plus tilapia fingerlings.
This activity was in line with the 70th anniversary of the Girls Scouts of the Philippines which was also on that date.
According to Iloilo Girl Scouts Council Executive Marie Claire Laruan, the purpose of said activity was to add more fishes to the river and raise awareness among the Girls Scouts the importance of our natural resources and to take care of it.
The gesture is lovely and quite touching, now if only they knew that what they did is the exact opposite of their supposedly “noble” intention.
I’ll just park these bits of information from your friendly neighborhood online encyclopedia a.k.a. the internet about tilapiathe fish that’s inadvertently the “flavor of the week”:
The common name “tilapia” refers to a group of tropical freshwater fish in the family Cichlidae (Oreochromis, Tilapia, and Sarotherodon spp.) that are indigenous to Africa and the southwestern Middle East, particularly the Nile River, hence the other name “Nile tilapia”.
When introduced to a region outside its native range, tilapia can disrupt the ecosystem in several ways. Tilapias are fond of digging and can turn clear waters turbid, thus limiting the amount of available light for animals and plants.
Tilapia can also compete with other species for food, space and spawning sites, and since they are flexible omnivores they will eat a long row of different organisms.
As a consequence, the release of Nile tilapia into non-native aquatic ecosystems may result in competition for food and space, thereby damaging native species. The wide environmental tolerance and high reproductive rate of Nile tilapia facilitate its use for aquaculture, but also render the species highly invasive.
And an invasive species is a species that is not native to a specific location (an introduced species), and that has a tendency to spread to a degree believed to cause damage to the environment, human economy or human health.
Simply put, the tilapia is an invasive species and releasing it to the Iloilo River will destroy the river’s fragile ecosystem, bearing in mind that the river is still in the process of rehabilitation.
Take note also that the Iloilo River is not technically a river in the true sense of the word; it is an arm of the sea so its waters are from brackish to salty ,not exactly ideal for fresh water fishes i.e. tilapia.
It is rather pathetic that these Girl Scouts are supposed to be stewards of the environment and as one they are supposed to know a little bit more about the environment than your average female student. But it does not seem to be the case.
Perhaps their adult leaders are as clueless about the environment as Leni Robredo is on just about anything under the sun.
It also makes one wonder if the people at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Pototan, Iloilo where the Girl Scouts obtained the tilapia fingerlings and those from the Iloilo City Agriculture Office are as clueless as the Girl Scouts.
I talked to a fisheries expert from the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources or DENR and he said those tilapia fingerlings the Girls Scouts released by this time are already “fish meal” to the endemic inhabitants of the Iloilo River i.e. mud crabs, mud fish and cat fish.
And that is good because if those fingerlings survive and mature they will wreck havoc on the river’s fragile ecosystem, putting to waste the rehabilitation efforts of the DENR that made the Iloilo River system the “cleanest urban river” in the country.
At best, that stupid but rather well-intentioned gesture provided “fish meal” for the endemic inhabitants of Iloilo River. At worst it was just another meaningless photo-ops.
Finally, I’m wondering if Girl Scouts nowadays still know how to use a compass and find the true north, make fire by rubbing two sticks together and tie the proper knots. Or maybe it’s just K-pop, Black Pink and Instagram. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
