BACOLOD City – After the fish kill in a river early this week, the Hinoba-an municipal government submitted fish and water samples for analysis to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).
Affected areas covered at least a seven kilometers of the Hinoba-an River, spanning barangays 1 Poblacion, 2 Poblacion, San Rafael, and Bacuyangan.
Agriculturist Jimmy Cambarijan, also the municipal fishery program coordinator, said the incident was confirmed by the town’s Bantay Dagat.
Afterward, they coordinated with concerned offices and agencies, including the local environment and natural resources office, Office of the Provincial Agriculturist, and BFAR-Negros Occidental.
Samples taken from three sites have been submitted to the laboratory of BFAR-Western Visayas in Iloilo City.
“Once the result is out, we can determine the real cause of the fish kill,” Cambarijan added.
Monitoring held by the Municipal Agriculture Office indicated random traces of dead fish, such as the gusaw (mullet), asu-os (whiting), bugaong (terapon), sigwin (garfish), and even pasayan (shrimp).
Most of these dead fish were found in Barangay 1 Poblacion, where the river’s mouth is located.
Several freshwater fish like the bunog were also found in other portions of the river.
Cambarijan raised the possibility that some farmers used chemicals, such as fertilizers, which probably mixed with the water or there has been some “unregulated” small-scale mining in the area. (PNA)