THE Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)-Davao Region advised the residents near the coastal area in Barangay 76-A, Bucana, Davao City not to consume the dead squid which were washed ashore on Wednesday night, January 30, since laboratory process is still ongoing to determine the cause of their death.
In an interview Thursday, January 31 with Madeleine Lourdes Navarce, Regional Fish Health officer of BFAR-Davao Region, she said that they already dissected the recovered squid and they do not have findings yet as to the cause of their death.
The incident happened on Wednesday night wherein residents were surprised with the huge influx of dead squid washed up ashore.
They could not conclude yet whether agricultural or industrial contamination was behind the incident since no other marine species were dead, only the squid.
“Amo pang i-research nganong naing-ana na siya kay ug muingon man gud ta nga naay contamination might be agricultural or industrial influence, dili man ta conclusive ana kay wala man tay results analysis (We still have to conduct research because we don’t’ have results analysis),” she said.
She added this was the first time that they recorded such incident in the city.
“Kung pananglitan kung naa siyay mga chemical run off, dapat ang uban nga isda mamatay pod, wala man, siya man lang. Istudyohan pa na namo kung nganong naing-ana siya (If ever there was a chemical run off, other species must also be dead. We will still study the reason of the incident],” she added.
She could only surmise that there must be something with the water quality which is no longer conducive for the squid or the abrupt change of temperature that might have stressed out the specie causing its death.
When they went to the area around 11 p.m. on that night, they only recovered few as some of the dead squid were already taken and eaten by the residents. But so far, they have not heard any untoward incidents to those who consumed it.
“Bisan og walay run off pero pag naay mga patay na ing-ana, advise gyud na dili kaonon kay wala man ta kabalo unsay cause [Although there was no run off, but when there are such incident, we advise that they should not consume it because we don’t know the cause],” she added.