My brother JOEY -- Jose K. Cariño III -- was on ABS-CBN channel primetime news last week, Wed. Oct. 18, 2007, and then at Korina Sanchez' program.
Joey was interviewed about the project, “Benefiting from the Dreaded Janitor Fish,” which he headed as project leader and which was funded by the World Bank to the tune of $143,746.51.
The project won the World Bank Development Marketplace (DM) global grant making competition in 2005. It was only one among some 2,700 proposals that were submitted worldwide that year.
Top 30 Winners
Initially, it was adjudged as one among the 71 finalists whose proponents were required to mount a project exhibition at the lobby of the World Bank headquarters in Washington DC and defend their proposals in front of an international panel of jurors.
After the 2-day Development Marketplace event in May 2005,the project was adjudged one among only 30 winners.
Exotic but Invasive Species
This award-winning project came at the height of the clamor against the exotic but invasive species called “Janitor Fish” (scientifically known as Pterygoplichtys pardalis and Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus, a species of freshwater catfish that is native to the Amazon River Basin in South America) which has been seriously threatening the livelihood of the country’s fishing communities.
The janitor fish proliferated so rapidly and so extensively because it is not actively harvested for it has no established aquaculture, conservation, nor game value. The fishing communities, if at all, neither ate nor sold them as food.
The species was first introduced in the Philippines in the early 1990s as an aquarium fish by the ornamental fish industry. It is used by aquarists for cleaning the algae growing on the sides of the aquaria which the fish feeds on, thus its popular moniker.
It was later bred in pond and it somehow managed to escape into Laguna de Bay, then into the many tributary river systems.
Creating an Economic Demand
This winning project was conceptualized to create an economic demand for this seemingly useless species of fish.
By creating an economic demand for the janitor fish, fishers will be given the incentive to actively harvest the fish and sell it for what it is worth. In this way, its invasiveness is checked while additional income for marginalized fishers is realized.
Mainly, the project studied and established the viability of using the janitor fish as the basic raw material and ingredient for fish and animal feed and to promote its utilization as such among the fish, livestock and swine farmers or feed millersin the region and possibly beyond.
In the final report, “World Bank Development Marketplace 2005 Project 3765, Benefiting from the Dreaded Janitor Fish,” issues such as the high metal content of raw janitor fish as well as its other potential uses as fertilizer were scientifically addressed in the laboratories.
Beware
In fact, the final report stated, “Eating tilapia is like eating janitor fish and dalag.”
It further explained, “It is essential to make the public understand that mercury contamination of water bodies and consequently of the aquatic life that exists in such water bodies is as much a result of natural occurrence as human neglect."
In as much as fundamental for people to become aware of the consequences and impacts of their actions on the natural environment, it is also important for concerned agencies and organization to educate and mobilize the population in doing their share to
address and not aggravate the problem, the report added.
For more information on the project and on how to apply for the WB grants competition,
the following online links, among many others, may be of some help:
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DEVMARKETPLACE/Resources/205097-1129583246908/DM2005-3765-02.pdf
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/
http://www.gafta.com/fin/fin.html
