Calamity declaration eyed in Lake Sebu due to fish kill

FISH KILL. Dead tilapia surfaces in one of the affected fish cages in Barangay Poblacion, Lake Sebu, South Cotabato (Photo By Jose Rudy Muyco)

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Officials are eyeing a declaration of a state of calamity in Lake Sebu town, South Cotabato province due to a fish kill.

Deputy lake warden Jose Rudy Muyco said they have prepared a recommendation to Mayor Floro Gandam for the calamity declaration after seeing the massive impact of the fish kill that destroyed more than P10 million worth of tilapia in the past several days.

As of Saturday, some 1,340 fish cages situated in around 20 hectares of the lake in the villages of Poblacion and Bacdulong were so far affected by the fish kill, forcing fish cage operators to conduct massive emergency harvests.

Data released by the municipal government of Lake Sebu on Friday afternoon said some 143,571 kilos of fish have been killed, with a market value of P10,049,970.

Muyco said the severe fish kill started on Tuesday but there were already minimal occurrences as early as Jan. 1.

In the second week of December, he said minimal fish kills were also reported in some fish cages within the 354-hectare Lake Sebu.

He said the situation, which usually happens during the rainy season, was mainly caused by “kemohung” or “kamahong,” a phenomenon characterized by the depletion of dissolved oxygen in the lakes’ waters. It was the result of eutrophication, a situation that occurs when a body of water receives an excessive nutrient load and results in an overgrowth of algae or algal bloom, Muyco explained.

He said the emergency harvests are ongoing in the unaffected fish cages but are affected by the intermittent rains.

Citing monitoring reports, Muyco said these emergency harvests have not affected the price of live tilapia in the local market; the big ones remained at P120 to P135 per kilo while the smaller ones are sold from P30 to P70 a kilo.

In January 2021, over P20 million worth of tilapia were destroyed in a fish kill also triggered by “kemohung.” In 2017, a series of major fish kills hit portions of the mountain lake, destroying some 1.4 million kilos of tilapia valued at around PHP126 million.

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