ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines (PNA) — The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) here has given assurances that marine products being sold in markets in Western Visayas are safe for human consumption.

The agency issued the assurance amid fishkill incidents in Luzon area.

BFAR 6 Asst. Regional Director Juliet Dimoos said there is no threat that this region will have fishkill similar to what has happened in Batangas and Pangasinan.

“There is no worry,” she stressed. “We have regulated fish cages here and their operators have secured permits from the local level.”

Dimoos said that fishkill happens only when there is no change in water flow, when fish pens are congested and waters are polluted.

She said the last fishkill that happened in the region was in 2006 during the oil spill incident in Guimaras province.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ildefonso Toledo of the Iloilo provincial agriculture office said that marine products and such freshwater fish like tilapia, milkfish, mudfish and “hito” or catfish in the province are strongly quarantined.

He said several agriculture personnel are guarding fish ports in Iloilo for possible delivery of dead fish products from outside provinces.

“We are doing our best to see to it that dead fish from fishkill areas are unable to reach our place and I know our people are wise enough to scrutinize these fish products in the market,” he said.

Toledo also said they have trained several fish cage operators in local levels on how to raise varieties of fish in good water conditions to preempt fishkill.

He added that they have also asked fish farmers not to take this opportunity to increase prices of fish products.