TAAL FISH CAGES. Inquirer file photo
The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a writ of kalikasan stopping the issuance of new clearances for fish cages in Taal Lake, a court official said Tuesday.
Supreme Court spokesperson Midas Marquez said the tribunal ordered the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) to refrain from issuing clearances for fish cage operations in the popular lake in Batangas.
“The court is likewise referring the case to the Court of Appeals which will hear and receive evidence on this particular issue,” he added.
The party-list group Agham last month asked the Supreme Court to issue a writ of kalikasan to force government to support efforts to protect Taal Lake and stop the issuance of licenses to operators of fish pens in the lake.
Law enforcement
In a 19-page petition, Agham Rep. Angelo Palmones said the government failed to implement the Philippine Fisheries Code and the National Integrated Protected Areas System law in the lake.
These laws call for the phaseout of fish cages and fish pens after the year 2000.
Palmones said that in 1927, the fish inventory of Taal Lake listed 76 migratory and endemic species, but 50 years later, the inventory was down to 15. In 2003, the catch of tawilis, the most popular endemic fish species from Taal, dropped by 80 percent.
Last year’s fishkill in Taal that led to a loss of 2,105 metric tons of fish with an estimated value of P148.7 million was a loud wake up call, he said.
Palmones said one of the factors that led to the fishkill was the failure of government to enforce existing environmental laws.
Too late
“Petitioner’s members were disturbed by the fact not only that there has been a proliferation of fish cages in Taal Lake way beyond the established carrying capacity but also that despite efforts to curtail them, water quality is still below standard in areas where the fish cages are,” the petition said.
“This alarming situation places the lake in danger of reaching a point where conservation efforts will no longer work,” it added.
Named respondents in the suit were Environment Secretary Ramon Paje, who is also overall chair of the PAMB; Reynulfo Juan, head of Taal Volcano Protected Landscape-PAMB; and Protected Area Superintendent Laudemir Salac.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has warned last year that another fishkill looms in Taal Lake if operations of fish cages there were not reduced or regulated quickly.
Dissolved oxygen
Esmeralda Paz Manalang, acting director of BFAR in Calabarzon, said the agency was closely monitoring fish farms in the lake because the level of dissolved oxygen there was still low.
She said while the dissolved oxygen level in most parts of the lake was 7 parts per million (ppm) to 8 ppm, excess fish cages cause the water quality to deteriorate.
The ideal dissolved oxygen level for fish cage operations is 6 ppm, the BFAR said. But in the waters of Laurel and Agoncillo towns, the level was below 6 ppm, Manalang said.
At the height of the fishkill in May last year, the dissolved oxygen level in the lake was barely 4 ppm.
Manalang said excess fish cages were among the factors that continue to pollute the lake.
At least 1,300 fish cages operated in the lake prior to the fishkill. Half of these have been dismantled after the fishkill. With a report from Marrah Erika Lesaba, Inquirer Southern Luzon