Growing fish becoming Lake Sebu bane

People who make a living around Lake Sebu are hoping for the rain to cleanse the water following the sudden surge of cold water that left at least 50 tons of tilapia floating dead.

“Everything that we have to live by everyday is gone,” said an owner of a roadside restaurant.

“The lake is filled with tons of dead fish. Business is down,” said Baby Ganciano, 30, engaged in tilapia growing. Some 20 years ago, she said people could still take a dip in the lake.

“But not anymore with my kids. They can’t do it with that water so murky,” Ganciano said.

The lake has become so polluted and blame is laid on commercial feeds used in fish cages.

“The local government has no control. Everybody is just putting up their own cages and they are not even paying taxes,” she added.

Ruben Raboro, who maintains  15 fish cages he inherited from his parents, shared the view.

“We are responsible for what has happened to the lake but as others said, ‘Where can we get the money to feed our families if we stop our businesses? It’s the source of our income,’” he said.

Health risk

Siegfred Flaviano, chief of the provincial environment management office, told the Inquirer the health of children living along the lakeshore is at risk as they are prone to water-borne diseases.

“The lake is already polluted based on the recent study we had,” Flaviano said.

“We have been asking local officials to limit the number of cages within the lake but nothing is happening. Right now, there’s high content of bacteria in the lake,” he added.

Mayor Antonio Fungan said at least 40 percent of the 354-hectare lake are teeming with fish cages.

Packed lake

“There are more than 300 cages scattered around the lake. We still have enough supply of tilapia because only 15 percent were affected by the fishkill,” Fungan said.

He said owners of fish cages that were near the shore were the ones hurt the most.

But Flaviano said based on the recommendation of environment experts, the capacity to host fish cages is only 10 to 15 percent of the total lake area.

As part of efforts to rehabilitate the 354-hectare natural lake, Flaviano said they have put up communal septic tanks that can accommodate 10 families living around the lake.

“We are also removing water hyacinths and we are planting trees within the lake to prevent soil erosion,” Flaviano said.

This week, nearly 50 tons of tilapia were lost in the fishkill that hit Lake Sebu due to what locals call “kamahong,” an annual occurrence where water temperature rises.

Low oxygen

Rudy Muyco, fish warden of the Lake Sebu agriculture office, said they had been telling fish cage owners to observe strict fish spacing because overproduction had been found to be one of the causes of previous fishkills.

Last year, some 13 tons of tilapia ended up dead during a fishkill.

Muyco said fish experts had found that the fishkills were due to low oxygen level at the lake and changing water temperature due to the erratic climate patterns.