Governor Vi goes after fish cages in Taal Lake
By Marlon Alexander Luistro
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 02:03:00 05/13/2008
TAAL, BATANGAS – Vowing not to allow the destruction of Taal Lake, Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos-Recto is pushing for the regulation of fish cages in the lake.
“I am very, very serious and firm with my decision to protect Taal Lake but we will not do this drastically. We cannot remove them overnight but we have to start regulating the fish cages,” Recto said in her speech at the awarding ceremonies of the Tour de Lake Taal on Saturday.
The provincial tourism office organized the tour, which covers 110 kilometers spanning the 12 lakeshore towns from Laurel to Taal.
Each of the 130 cycling participants wore red, green and yellow shirts bearing the slogan “Save Lake Taal.”
The event hoped to call the people’s attention to protect the lake and its surrounding environment.
Alarm
In her speech in front of the bikers and representatives from the European Union, Recto said she was alarmed by the recent report of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources that the milkfish, tilapia and tawilis in Taal Lake taste like mud.
She expressed fears that should the lake’s deterioration continue, Taal Lake’s endemic fishes would disappear.
“We won’t allow these things to happen under my administration. I don’t want the maliputo and tawilis to be gone since they are found only here in Batangas,” Recto, an actress-turned-politician, said in an interview.
Taal Lake, which has a surface area of 24,356 hectares, is the country’s third largest lake, next to Laguna and Lanao lakes.
It was declared a protected area in 1996 by virtue of the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act.
In March, the BFAR reported that a mud-like taste was observed in the lake’s fish due to the increasing presence of chemical nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus.
Fishermen in Mataas na Kahoy town complained that the muddy taste of fish had driven away prospective buyers and caused the price of tawilis to go down from P300 per gallon to just P15 in two months.
BFAR aquaculturist II Maurita Rosana of the Inland Fisheries Research Station said the agency could not predict until when the bad taste of the fish would last.
She, however, said regulating the number of fish cages, feeding and stocking practices of cage workers will help reduce the load of nutrients in the lake.
Cage removal
Recto also stressed that the province would start rehabilitating the lake by removing the abandoned cage structures in it, numbering about 1,200.
“If ever there are people who will retaliate, it may only happen now but they will later appreciate [what we’re doing] since it is their children who will benefit,” she said.
She also said the province had already started coordinating with the mayors of the 12 lake towns.
Within two weeks, Recto added, she planned to form a task force that would oversee the regulation of fish cages.
The lake has 9,188 cages, according to the BFAR.
|
