CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – A fisherfolks’ group vowed yesterday to campaign for a nationwide boycott of imported scad fish or galunggong, insisting that while the imports are expected to cost less than local harvest, they are a “health hazard.”
Debunking the claim of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) that fish to be imported are “low in formaldehyde,” the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) insisted that “it is impossible for galunggong to surpass months of storage and transportation without chemicals to extend its freshness. Unlike other fish, galunggong is a tuna-like fish that contains red meat and thus releases high histamine levels during storage that would expediate spoilage.”
Pamalakaya also dismissed the statement of Agriculture Sec. Emmanuel Pinol who said only local traders are opposed to the importation of scad fish.
“The statement of Piñol was a tactic to trivialize the opposition of Filipino fisherfolk and to downplay the adverse effects of importation to our livelihood,” said Pamalakaya chair Fernando Hicap.
Pinol had approved Fisheries Administrative Order 195 on plans to import 17,000 metric tons of galunggong from China, Vietnam, and Taiwan starting on September 1, which according to the fisherfolk group will kill the livelihood of local food producers such as small and municipal fisherfolk.
“It will be a competition between our fresh local product and imported ones which are relatively cheaper because of their inferior quality and their being frozen. But given control of traders and consignations on local fish trade and the effect of the new tax reform law on local fishers, imported fish would kill local fisheries. The farm gate price of fish harvest of local fishers remains low and will further downgrade with the flooding of imported products in the market,” Hicap added.
Pamalakaya again appealed to Pinol to scrap the importation of fish and instead “help our local fisherfolk develop our mode of production by providing adequate fishing gears, post-harvest facilities, and also by abolishing the ‘middlemen’ system and directly procure fish products from fishers’ cooperatives and associations to control price in the market.”
The group vowed “massive anti-imported galunggong campaign by mobilizing its members at the major fish ports in the country where the imported round scad will land.”
“We urge local vendors, consumers, and fishers not to patronize the imported products as they are health hazards and are surely of poor quality. Instead, we will promote locally caught marine and aquatic products which are not only good in quality, but will also help boost the local fishing industry,” Pamalakaya also said.
