A fish farm caretaker's tale:
Bouncing back from what was lost

Bouncing back from Typhoon 'Vinta'. The fish farm caretaker throws his crab catch net trap into the water.

Fishpond caretaker Abdulkali Baladji from the Municipality of Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay Province, earns his main income from a small-scale fish farming. However, after typhoon Tropical Storm Vinta swept his town last December 22, 2017, which severely affected local fisheries, there was not enough fish to catch anymore.

Baladji lives in an area where it has a good source of brackish water being embraced along the east and southeast portions by Talinan creek and Baga river respectively; that provide its freshwater supply throughout the year. His place is particularly rich in mangroves and nipa palm (Nypa fruticans).

His wife is working abroad as a domestic helper, so he looks after his six children alone. "I'm not relying on my wife's earning. I work hard rain or shine, day and night even when the weather is very hot and cold, so I can earn money to feed my children and send them to school."

On the day before severe flooding hit Kabasalan town, it was cloudy and raining lightly. Baladji was fixing a leaking dike inside the pond, then all of a sudden a strong wind gusted. The rain also intensified, prompting him to rush home.
At that time, his six children, all minors,  were inside their unfinished semi-half concrete half wooden house. "I quickly went home amid strong winds and heavy rains to make sure everything was okay.

Straight away he recited 'Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. La ilaha illa Allah (God is Great. God is Great. There's no deity but Allah). Then he alerted his children telling them to stay with him inside the house because flood is occurring very soon.

Without any panic, Baladji went outside his house leaving his children to check if the weather was getting worse. He was shocked to see floodwaters that roared like a river through the fishpond. Once the flood had reached his house,  he rushed to a mini port and embarked on his multi-purpose motorized outrigger canoe to save his children from rampaging flood waters.

"I thank Allah (God) Almighty for saving me and my children. I thank Allah that my home and neighbors survived the river floods," he said.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) reported that six bodies were found in Barangay Banker (Good Year) while an 8-year-old was missing after the devastating flood that wiped out houses and displaced more than 2,000 of residents across 13 villages.

Accordingly, the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur were
hardest hit by flash floods, where 42 people died and over a dozen went missing.
Baladji's thousands of bangus (milkfish) fingerlings, juvenile mud crabs (king crabs), and prawns stocked in the pond few weeks before the Vinta had been washed away by flood. His pond material storehouse, nets and other farming tools were all gone.

"If the dam in Good Year had not been damaged, the flood would not have been much more severe," he hinted and saying "It's a poorly-built mitigating dam." There was a sudden rise of flood waters coming from the river. I could have saved some stocks in the farm."

A fisherman his whole life since his youthful days, Baladji had observed that there were more floods now than there used to be. "I often hear in the radio about floods more now than it used to be. Floods today are more severe because I think of manmade climate change. Even relatively small amounts of rain could immediately trigger floods. I don’t really understand it."

The 43-year-old farmer is concerned that with more frequent flooding it could badly impacted his livelihood and many poor families of Kabasalan for whom fishing serves as the main source of income. "We have no other sources of income other than from farming and additional works for the sustenance and education of our children."
One of his big headaches is the theft of crabs and bangus perpetrated by outsiders or intruders. "They steal most of the mud crabs and bangus even not the market-sized stocks when no one is manning the pond. This is really a problem because this can lead to significant losses and reduced profits."

Being a pond overseer, Baladji said he is responsible for the success of farm business. "I don't want to lose the trust of my boss given in me, so I do regular inspection of all dikes and remotest part of the pond with my dog to make sure that no one can steal the stocks."

When asked if he's struggling to make both ends meet, Baladji replied: "Honestly right now I'm struggling. It's hard for me with six children to keep my expenses within my meager income. So I work to the bone."

"But as long as there are mangrove swamps and clean, unpolluted brackish water free from floods in my hometown where we can catch 'sari-sari' fish, mud crabs, prawns and shrimps, we'll live naturally," he quipped with a smile.

Baladji furthered their fortune is tied to the brackish water, which hosts the fish pond entrusted to him. Aside from overseeing the farm, he also works as shellfish picker to feed the crabs.

The Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO) in its socio-economic profile of Zamboanga Sibugay data showed Kabasalan town is among the 13 fish landing centers of the province. The major species harvested in brackish water areas are bangus (milkfish), prawn, tilapia, mud crabs and others (W. shrimps).

In recent years, the province which has an area of approximately 8,721 hectares of brackish water fishponds yielded about 268.109 metric tons of fish. There were also several fish pen and fish cage operations with an average cage size of 0.50 hectare that are found in the municipality and its neighboring coastal towns.

Since growing mud crabs is a profitable venture, Baladji said he encourages the fish farm owner to focus on crab fattening because it's turnover is fast, hence, the period between investment and returns is short, thereby increasing their income.
"Considering the increasing demand of mud crab in the markets, I believe crab farming is quite profitable," he said.

For instance, Baladji said: "You purchased P30,000 worth of 1,000 pieces of juvenile crabs for farming at the rate of Ph25 each, and after four months or more, let say six hundred crabs (worst case scenario) survived and grew big (good size) with a weight of at least 2 pieces a kilo. The market rate for 1 kilogram of mud crab is P500 to P800, so with your surviving crabs, you can earn hundreds of thousands, more than double return on your capital."

Baladji, meanwhile, admitted to using organic tobacco dust in the preparation or sterilization of fishpond before the stocking of juvenile mudcrabs and milk fish/prawn fingerlings, but depending on the availability of product. His practice is applying 'apog' to condition the soil and to control the predators in the ponds.

"Unlike some chemical pesticides, which will cause harm to the fingerlings, this (application of apog) is one practical means of caring the ponds from the pests and also serves as organic fertilizer to promote the growth of natural fish food," he added.
As far as Baladji is concerned, mud crab farming can be a rewarding experience to him, being a farmer and fish pond caretaker, as it is providing a profitable and steady source of income.

Even though he was heavily affected by the recent flooding, he is now able to get back slowly what was lost during the calamity. "Insha'Allah (God willing). Through hard work, determination, perseverance and personal sacrifice, we will succeed and bounce back." MGPI News