Task force starts ridding Lake Buhi of fish cages

ALIVE AGAIN Lake Buhi of Camarines Sur is coming back to life as the government dismantles 13,000 fish cages occupying as much as 70 percent of the 1,600-hectare lake that is home to the famous “sinarapan.” The demolition of illegal fish cages came after a massive fishkill hit the lake nine months ago. Juan Escandor Jr. / Inquirer Southern Luzon

Ronilo Leal, head of Lake Development Office, said all of the 13,319 registered fish cages owned by 1,037 operators would have to go.

But he said the number could be higher amid reports that some unscrupulous operators had submerged their cages to avoid detection.

Leal said he wanted a clean slate before establishing the 160-hectare area and assigning where to raise tilapia.

The 1,600-hectare Lake Buhi, 500 kilometers south of Manila, is habitat of the “sinarapan” (Mistichtys luzonensis), the world’s smallest commercial fish which vanished in the lake with the proliferation of the fish cages.

In March, Mayor Rey Lacoste ordered the dismantling of the fish pens as a way of enforcing the Fisheries Code of 1998, which states that only 10 percent or 160 hectares of the lake should be devoted to aquaculture or other development.

Records of the municipal government showed as much as 70 percent of the lake is used by fish cage operators.

After the fishkill in October last year, a technical team of the provincial government found the lake choking from “depletion of oxygen, pollutant toxins, natural toxins and diseases” caused “directly and indirectly by aquaculture activities.”

Beethoven Nachor, municipal administrator and head of the dismantling operation, described as a success the first day of the 90-day cleanup on July 1 initiated by Save Lake Buhi Now! Task Force.

First to go were 265 fish cages illegally installed in the 30-hectare fish sanctuary section of the lake in Barangay (village) Sta. Cruz.