by Cecile Cinco
It has been 9 years ago when we moved to Talisay to take care of 8 cages of the GIFT (genetically improved farm tilapia) variety where the head is smaller than usual and the body bigger, hence, better for food consumption. The move was a result of my youngest brother’s thesis for which he was proclaimed the best in that year. The feasibility study was followed but scaled in half. The capital was supposed to be 1M. There was only 500k.
It was exciting. It was a new thing. We moved to prevent caretakers steal from us. We learned to go rafting in addition to taking care of the fish like feeding and maintaining the cages clean especially from dead fish.
Hubby carrying bags of GIFT fingerlings.
That's me with my parents and youngest.
Getting ready to raft.
On the sides of the cages.
Sad to say, it had to end with a sad note. Funds were not enough to buy feeds to delay the harvest. Storms came and many died. Early harvest was a must, which means we were not able to get the right weight to earn. We tried it another season and the water was poisoning, coming from the sulphuric emissions of the Taal Volcano and the amonia of the feeds that stay below. The caretaker/feeder was reckless in feeding, just throwing the feeds carelessly.
Last night, I was talking with my brother, who is my direct neighbor, by the way. As we were looking at the pictures, he said he wanted to have his own fish pond. I said why not? I suggested to make one inside his gate. As long as he has the right pond supplies, there’s nothing to worry about.
It looks like a good idea. 
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