DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines — Authorities seized three trucks of milkfish from Anda town that were about to be unloaded at the Magsaysay Market in this city on Saturday night.
Anda and Bolinao towns in Pangasinan have been reeling from fish kill brought by intense heat and sudden intermittent rains.
The city government had to use a backhoe to bury the milkfish at the compound of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Barangay Bonuan Binloc yesterday.
The seizure was a result of an intensified monitoring by the city government to protect the local milkfish industry and the consumers from buying cheap milkfish harvested from areas affected by the fish kill, according to Mayor Belen Fernandez.
She assured the public that milkfish from Dagupan are safe for public consumpion.
Some unscrupulous traders have reportedly been trying to pass their milkfish as Dagupan bangus.
City agriculturist Emma Molina said that milkfish from areas affected by fish kill have pale gills.