DAGUPAN CITY—No one doubts that this Pangasinan city produces the best tasting bangus (milkfish) in the country. But unknown to many, Dagupan is fast becoming a major producer of the expensive fish, lapu-lapu (grouper). City agriculturist Emma Molina says there have always been lapu-lapu growers in the city but their production was on a limited scale. “The number of growers and the production went up after the city’s rivers were cleared of fish pens that spawned pollution and which obstructed navigational lanes,” she says. When the city government dismantled hundreds of fish pens, its operators and caretakers lost their livelihood, prompting the city government to offer them alternative sources of income. “One of the livelihood activities we thought of was the raising lapu-lapu in cages, a venture that does not create as much pollution as raising bangus in pens. Lapu-lapu is an expensive fish,” Mayor Benjamin Lim says. The rivers, which once teemed with pens, are now wide and clean waterways.

Fish cages have been put up in areas near the banks of Pugaro and other island villages to culture lapu-lapu and other high-value fish like talakitok, malaga and sea bass. Molina says Pantal River is a good area for lapu-lapu culture. Teofilo Quinto, 43, a resident of the island village of Pugaro, used to own fish pens on which he cultured bangus. Last year, his fish pens were demolished as a part of the city government’s program to free the rivers of fishery structures. It was good that he was culturing lapu-lapu on the side for many years. “We asked Mayor Lim if we could continue to produce lapu-lapu and he agreed, even helping us in marketing our fish,” Quinto says. From a single cage on which he started raising some 100 fingerlings, Quinto is now overseeing more than 10 cages that could stock more than 2,000 fish. Fisherman Robert Lamsen, 46, finds lapu-lapu culture as a good source of income, prompting him to leave his job in a mining company in Benguet.

“I only own six cages but these are enough to provide for my family’s needs,” he says. Lamsen says more than 200 fishermen here have shifted to lapu-lapu culture. While they regularly supply a restaurant here with lapu-lapu, their bigger market is still Metro Manila, with traders from the metropolis coming here to buy their stock. Quinto says fish cage owners had to consolidate their produce to meet the demand. Lapu-lapu are cultured from five months to a year, depending on its size, Quinto says. The best marketable size are lapu-lapu weighing 450 to 500 grams each. A kilogram of this size could fetch at least P450. The smaller lapu-lapu costs less, from P280 to P300 a kg. Lapu-lapu eat what growers call “trash fish” or the small fish caught by trawls that could not be sold in the market. In the past years, trawlers gave away the trash fish to lapu-lapu growers. But with many fishermen now into lapu-lapu culture, trawlers sell these at P15 to P20 a kg.

Some 10 kg of trash fish are fed to 200 lapu-lapu every day, growers here say.business for sale zug The lapu-lapu venture has also spawned another livelihood—fingerlings sale.handyman west hollywood ca On the day the SundayBiz visited Pugaro’s production area, fisherman Francis Flores, 40, arrived with several newly caught lapu-lapu finglerlings that he would sell to Lamsen.business for sale 34986 Flores used to sell his harvest in the local market, where the smallest (about three inches) are sold at P5 each.funny names for a handyman business “But we buy it at P15, so fishermen who gather fingerlings earn more,” Lamsen says.handyman services cincinnati

The city has no hatchery for lapu-lapu and growers depend on fingerlings gathered from the wild for their stocks.handyman in salt lake city Fortunately, when the fish pens were demolished, local fishermen were able to harvest more fingerlings in the rivers, Molina says. Looks like a mall but is full of market stalls that sell mostly electronics and cell phones. There is a supermarket in there for cheap food, household goods, and some clothing. A few cafes outside look reasonable. It's not a "MALL" like you and I are probably accustomed to, it's just a few stores catered to the local and a few international cafe/restaurant along a small lane. I look at it as more a quick gateway if you're bored of hotel food, as we do with Shangri-la's food. If you take the area as the mall then it works ok, there's a department store which is aimed at the local community and it's surrounded by a market with clothes and bric a brac.

But outside you have a range of restaurants where you can get most food options including Dim Sum, Thai, European, Asian. I personally stop off... Yes, not a mall but a department store. But still, if you need something like food, to buy, you can come here. Eating may not be good in the store but there are restaurant outside nearby. If you have JPY change it in Cebu not in Lapu Lapu, rates are incredibly bad! I live just 100 meter from the mall, it is very convenient mall for us. Inside they have money changer it gives a good rate on Euros, very easy for me if I'm visiting Cebu. Grocery store which carry everything. Pharmacy, bakery, liquiour, cigaret and so on Marina mall has plenty of small shops inside, you find everything from cell... We visited this place because Zubuchon was in the neighbourhood, and didn't want to cross the bridge to Cebu city. This 'mall' reminds me of the small 'shopping centers' in Hong Kong with the little booths. Think it's more for local people and less for tourists.

The only interesting shop in this mall, would be the Save More supermarket. This is NOT a mall, it's a dept store (with little international foods), and lots of small booths mostly selling cell phones/sim cards and dvd's. Useful if you want to get some munchies, otherwise...forget about it Check out this stall right beside Meximama (which is also a must try) for authentic but affordable Singaporean food! The chef is a Singaporean local who is very friendly. We loved everything we ordered. This is basically just a supermarket with some small stores and restaurants around. So ok if you need to get some items from the supermarket,... Otherwise do not have it too high on your to do list. We visited the Marina Mall, went to the Save Mor grocery store to buy some stuff, then across the street to Golden Cowrie restaurant. The food was very tasty and the ambiance was perfect for a local midrange restaurant right at a shopping district. We ordered the Lapu Lapu Tinola which is a fish soup, Chicken en Anjillo, which is...