Lingayen- – -The provincial government through the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAg) will disperse a total of 135,000 pieces of tilapia fingerlings to various communal waters in Alcala town, San Carlos City and  municipality of Rosales on June 10, 21 and July 1, respectively.
Dalisay Moya, OPAg officer-in-charge, said that of the total number of tilapia fingerlings, some 65,000 pieces were dispersed to Alcala while 30,000 pieces will be dispersed to San Carlos City and 40,000  pieces to Rosales.
The activity, Moya said, is part of the continuous project launched by the Espino administration to increase fish production and fish capture of marginalized Pangasinense fishermen.
In addition, tilapia fingerlings dispersal to communal bodies of water has become a regular activity of the provincial government to intensify fish production in Pangasinan primarily intended to increase the income of Pangasinenses engage in small scale fish farming.
Aside from the fingerlings dispersal, Moya earlier disclosed that OPAG also conducts skills training seminars on tilapia farming to provide aquaculture technology know-how among marginalized fisherfolks.
It can be recalled that Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. initiated the massive river clean-up to clear the province’s river systems of all the illegal structures that have caused environmental destructions to our waters.
As such, Gov. Espino previously noted that the beauty and richness of the rivers in Pangasinan have been brought back disclosing that “the fishermen can now fish again without using permanent fishing structures which pollute the rivers.”
The tilapia fingerlings were harvested from the three agricultural stations which are operated by the provincial government namely: Lingayen Provincial Freshwater Freshwater Fish Hatchery, San Quintin Provincial Freshwater Fish Hatchery and Sta. Barbara Provincial Freshwater Fish Hatchery.
According to the OPAg fishery division, about 16 million tilapia fingerlings have been dispersed in 714 communal bodies of water throughout Pangasinan from 2007 to present. (Ruby R. Bernardino)