DA, BFAR try to save vanishing

DAGUPAN CITY -- The country's most expensive, very rare, and very elusive fish, known as Ludong (Cestraus plicatilis), may still be saved from imminent extinction with the launching last Tuesday of "Oplan: Sagip Ludong" program at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) office in Bonuan, Binloc here.

Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara led officials in signing a memorandum of agreement with the governors of Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Apayao, Quirino, Kalinga, Abra, Pangasinan and Ilocos Sur for the conservation of ludong.

Westly Rosario, officer in charge of the National Integrated Fisheries Task Force Technologies Research (NIFTRDC) based here, and also head of the Task Force Sagip Ludong formed by Angara, said that they are studying the fish's characteristics and habitats including the possibility that the same can be grown in commercial scale.

Ludong, also called President's fish because it is sometimes given as a gift to heads of states because it's rare and expensive, is widely recognized to be a threatened species close to being endangered.

Ludong, also known as Lurong, weighs an average of 2.4 kilos. It is a species of mullet endemic in the rivers of Caraballo, Cordillera and Sierra Madre Mountains.

In Cagayan, reports said that very few Ludong can be bought because politicians buy them right at the source at P1,800 a kilo. The price is higher in Manila.

Because of its high price, being able to buy Ludong in Cagayan is already considered a status symbol that the buyer displays it while walking for everybody to see it.

Angara said that the insatiable demand, its steep price notwithstanding, is pushing this catadromous delicacy into the brink of distinction.

Angara ordered the development of a master plan to ensure the survival of its species. BFAR director Malcolm Sarmiento Jr. then came up with a five-year program on Oplan: Sagip Ludong that puts emphasis on protecting, conserving and increasing the wild population of the fish.

Ludong is caught 20-30 kilometers upstream from the mouth of the Cagayan River from October to December. The fish travels about 500 kilometers from the uplands of Quirino province to Cagayan lower river in Aparri.