Amazing Earth: Could invasive fish harm the Philippines’ aquatic life? (Online Exclusives)

GMA Network

Gregory Paul Yan discusses the impact of invasive fish on our ecosystem and explores strategies for prevention.  Panoorin ang mga exciting na episodes ng 'Amazing Earth' tuwing Friday, 9:35 p.m. sa GMA Network.

Transcript

00:00This is a unique story about the fish here in Amazing Earth.

00:06Janitor fish is an armored suckermouth catfish from South and Central America.

00:13They are popular in the aquarium trade.

00:15The problem is that janitor fish is a very adaptable fish.

00:20Before the pandemic, one of the stress relievers that Filipinos love is fish farming.

00:34Aside from goldfish, small janitor fish are also popular among aquarists.

00:40Because they eat garbage, they are the cleaners of the fish tank.

00:45Maybe that's why they are called janitor.

00:48However, when the janitor fish grow up, they are no longer cute to look at inside the aquarium.

00:57So what some of the aquarists do,

01:00they put them in the waterways, directly to the rivers and lakes.

01:05And that's where the big problem starts.

01:09Janitor fish is an armored suckermouth catfish from South and Central America.

01:15They are popular in the aquarium trade.

01:18The problem is that janitor fish is a very adaptable fish.

01:23This ability has allowed them to proliferate and spread from just a few river systems

01:29to many, many places throughout the Philippines.

01:33Greg is the founder and executive director of Best Alternatives,

01:37an NGO that promotes sustainable methods for biodiversity conservation.

01:43There are three ways in which invasive fish can enter the Philippines

01:50when they are multiplied as food fish.

01:53The second is in the aquarium trade.

01:56Finally, we also introduce invasive fish as biological control measures.

02:04Just recently, in Marikina River,

02:06there were many reports of catching Pangasius or Cream Dory.

02:12Wow, each one is not less than 10 kilos in weight.

02:17This is from Indochina.

02:20Cream Dory is brought here to be multiplied as a food fish.

02:25In Lake Lanao in Mindanao, we have another example.

02:29We lost a very scary tilapia there.

02:34And because tilapia can be predatory,

02:38they ate the endemic fish of Lake Lanao.

02:43Tilapia has a large market in the Philippines.

02:46This is just the second in terms of production.

02:51What we need is to manage tilapia better

02:57so that they are not lost in our water

03:01or sometimes lost because of a storm or flood.

03:05Biodiversity can crash when we introduce something that is not really natural in the area.

03:14People are the ones who bring invasive species to rivers and lakes.

03:19We should also find a way

03:22to control and stop their predation.

03:52For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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