Dismantling of illegal fish cages begins

Batangas City –The "Task Force Taal Lake" started the four-day clearing operation against illegal fish cages in the four towns around the Taal lake which were hit by the recent fish kills, with plans to dismantle about 1,300 illegal fish cages, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said.
     Two patrol boats and 16 personnel from the BFAR, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and volunteers from the Batangas local government were deployed to remove the illegal fish cages in Taal Lake as early as 7 a.m. 
     The task force began dismantling fish cages in Talisay, Laurel, Agoncillo and San Nicolas—the four towns most hit by the massive fish kill.      The task force plans to clear the lake of all illegal fish cages by the end of June. 
      Over P148 million worth of fisheries produce were lost in nine Batangas towns after milkfish and tilapia perished in the area due to overstocking according to the provincial agriculture’s reports.
      Both local and national agriculture offices blame the fish kill incidents to the operators’ failure to comply with the standards set for building fish cages and allotting fingerlings per cage, resulting to overstocking and overfeeding of the cultured fishes that floated belly-up during the massive fish kill that hit the lake.
     The task force was able to dismantle 28 illegal fish cages in Talisay, 30 in Agoncillo, seven in San Nicolas and eleven in Laurel.