DAGUPAN CITY—MANGROVES growing on riverbanks and fishpond dikes here are fast vanishing, literally, as residents have been cutting these trees for firewood and charcoal, according to a local environment group.
“At the rate [the cutting] is going, it is very alarming,” said Teddy Villamil, executive director of the Dagupan Estuarine Aquaculture Fisheries Growth and Technology Linkages Inc. (Dagat).
He said residents in Barangay Pantal had felled an entire strip of mangroves on a fishpond dike. “Nobody was arrested. In fact, in the last 10 years I do not know of anyone having been arrested or fined for cutting mangroves,” he said.
Under the Dagupan City fishery ordinance, people caught converting mangroves into fishponds and for other purposes will be asked to reforest the area converted and pay a fine of not less than P5,000.
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