New fishkill hits 3 more areas in Taal lake in Batangas

BATANGAS CITY, Philippines—(UPDATE) A new fish kill has hit Taal Lake in two towns and a city in Batangas, just hours after authorities had cleared one side of Taal Lake of rotting fish.

The new fishkill hit on Sunday the lake’s water along the towns of Mataas na Kahoy and Cuenca and the city of Lipa. At least 20 metric tons of “bangus” (milkfish) and tilapia, which were grown in fish cages, and a ton of fish varieties endemic to the lake were lost in the latest fishkill, provincial information officer Ginette Segismundo told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone on Sunday.

Officials said barangay (village) Tagbakin, Lipa, lost 10 MT of tilapia in fish cages while Mataas na Kahoy lost 10 MT of bangus and tilapia. Aton of endemic fish were lost in the waters of the villages of Kalamayin and San Juan in the town of Cuenca, officials said.

The fish varieties that died in Cuenca included biya, pauto, apta, katang, siliw and muang, Segismundo said.

He, however, said that the two fish cages with bangus and tilapia in Cuenca were not affected.

The dead fish from the three towns had been buried, he said.

Cuenca, Lipa and Mataas na Kahoy are in the section of the lake located southeast of Talisay town, the worst hit of the seven towns originally affected by the fishkill, Segismundo said.

The fishkill that hit Mataas na Kahoy town affected seven out of 30 fish cages in the lake, village chairman Sioli Manalo told the Inquirer by phone Sunday.

The newly affected area is located about five kilometers southeast of the Talisay town side of the lake.

She said the caretakers of the affected fish pens immediately hauled the dead fish from the pens.

Manalo said the barangay government rented backhoes to bury the fish in Sitio (settlement) Tagbakin, located 100 meters away from the shoreline.

She said she was told by the caretakers that the lake’s water became very hot shortly before the fish started dying at dawn Sunday.

Manalo said they were still waiting for members of Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to arrive and inspect the area to determine what caused the fishkill.

She said the caretakers of the pens not affected by the fishkill have been harvesting the fish from the remaining fish cages for fear that their stocks might end up dead, too.

All 30 fish pens in the village are owned and operated by Filipino workers and caretakers, according to Manalo.

Meanwhile, Segismundo said that the Talisay part of the lake had been cleared of rotting fish.

The cleanup, which was conducted from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, was spearheaded by the provincial government.

As of Saturday, almost 2,000 metric tons of fish along Taal Lake have been lost to the fishkill, with losses estimated at P142 million.

Originally posted at 2:38 pm | Sunday, June 5th, 2011