We’re not pollution source in Taal Lake, says fish pen group

Fish pen operators in Taal Lake expressed fears of indiscriminate banning of their operations even as officials of Batangas cited reports that solid wastes from businesses thriving around the lake, including piggeries, were among the major causes of pollution in the lake.

Mario Balazon, a member of the board of trustees and spokesperson of Taal Lake Aquaculture Alliance Inc. (TLAAI), said his group was concerned over statements made by government officials that should another fishkill occur, fish cage operations in the entire lake would be stopped for at least five years under a 2009 set of rules.

Laudemir Salac, the Batangas protected area superintendent, said the moratorium would be enforced if a fishkill occurs this year.

Guidelines under the Taal Volcano protected landscape management plan of 2009 provides that the moratorium would be enforced in a municipality if a fishkill threatened 25 percent of the town’s fish cage population.

Balazon, however, said the guidelines were not clear which could lead to an indiscriminate banning of fish cages in Taal Lake.

TLAAI is a group of 1,200 fish cage operators and caretakers from Talisay, Laurel, Agoncillo, San Nicolas, Cuenca and Mataas na Kahoy towns.

In an open letter early this month, the group said “a moratorium is not the solution, as this only means avoiding the real problem.”

“The right solution is to strengthen a sustainable aquaculture project in Taal Lake,” the group’s open letter said.

The fish cage operators also asked government to investigate other possible sources of lake pollutants that the 37 tributaries carry to the lake.

“When a fishkill occurs, they immediately blame the fish cages because we are the ones they see on the lake,” said Balazon, whose group has no expertise on investigating pollution and its sources.

“How about pollutants and fertilizers carried from golf courses and upland areas like Tagaytay into the lake?” Balazon said.

In May 2011, a massive fishkill hit the lake, leading to losses of more than 2,000 tons of fish and causing damage worth P148.5 million, according to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

Salac, during the recent Taal Lake Fishery Stakeholders’ Forum in Batangas City, said the guidelines set by Task Force Taal in 2009 seek to regulate waste discharges from backyard and commercial piggeries and other industries around the lake.

The task force, chaired by Batangas Provincial Administrator Victor Reyes, identified solid wastes from towns and villages that are discharged into the river as a major cause of pollution in the lake.

A study by the University of the Philippines in Los Baños also found that many backyard and commercial farms deposit their wastes into local creeks and rivers and the lake that they feed.