Taal Lake fishkill reaches 956 tons

With the water upwelling, the dead fish in Taal Lake, a protected area could reach up to a thousand tons.

Batangas City – Already hurting from the continuous fishkill that hit the Taal Lake’s aquaculture industry, the dead fish caused by the water upwelling since Thursday has claimed a total of 956 metric tons of harvestable milkfish and tilapia.  And the number is growing while the coastal towns are smelling of rotten fish.  

    According to Batangas Provincial Administrator Vic Reyes, the losses on the lake’s P10 Billion aquaculture industry has already reached a record high of P70 million.

   “That’s really a big loss to the fishcage owners and operators in Taal Lake. But we also have to remember that the lake is a protected area and that the PAMB (Protected Area Management Board) through BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources), allowed only 6,000 fishcages as the carrying carrying capacity for the Taal Lake, Reyes said.”

Protected area

     With a total area of 24,356 hectares,  Taal Lake is the third largest lake in the Philippines and was declared a protected area in 1996 through the National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS) Act.

     This means, that as protected area, by law, putting up structures such as fishcages and fishpens in the lake is illegal.

     Even before the fishkill, data from the Provincial Agriculture office, said that the aquaculture industry in the Taal Lake supplies the 40% of the milkfish and tilapia demand in Metro Manila and Calabarzon area.

     With only one tributary, the water in the Taal lake is estimated to replinish only once in twenty years.

Not too big

     With all the media’s coverage on the big volume of dead milkfish and tilapia in Taal Lake that have floated inside the fishcages and fishpens since Thursday, it is even surprising to know that 956 metric tons of dead fish is only .007 percent of the entire cultured fish population in the lake.

    “The floating dead fish that we see floating on the fishcages in the lake is not even one percent of the entire cultured fish population in Taal Lake,” Reyes added,” So if the lake’s aquaculture industry supplies only 40 percent of the demand in Metro Manila and Calabarzon, less than one percent of that will only be affected.”

    Reyes said that less than one percent loss could be replaced by the demand for the salt water fish.

     The rotting fish from the massive fishkill that hit Taal Lake's aquaculture industry left a smothering trail of pungent odor that the local government units try to minimize using  lime powder and burying them en masse. 

Rotten fish

     At the coastal villages near the fishcages where tons of cultured fish died in the fishkill, the smell of the rotting fish smothers the air, suffocating the residents with the overpowering smell of decomposing fish.

     Reyes said the provincial government has already sent assistance to the towns of Talisay, Laurel, and other towns affected by the fishkill to help them bury the tons of rotting fish.

    It is also prohibited to sell the dead fish from the areas hit by the massive fishkill.

    “We have already sent our experts from the provincial sanitation division to help the affected towns bury the dead fish. They also put lime on the dead fish to control the smell and we’ve also lent them backhoes to help bury the affected fish,” Reyes said.

     Another solution , said Reyes, is to turn the rotting fish into organic fertilizer. As of yesterday, two businessmen from San Juan town and Manila have already inquired on the possibility of turning the disaster stricken tons dead and rotting fish into fertilizer.

Not Volcanic

     With the recent 115 volanic quakes at the Taal Volcano that was recorded by the Phivolcs, fears of an eminent eruption and its possible effect on the aquaculture industry were again raised in the lake’s coastal towns.

     "According to Phivolcs Director Solidum, the volcanic quakes have nothing to do with the fiskill.  BFAR has already released its findings that the cause of the massive fishkill is the water upwelling or overturn where the bottom lake water went up the surface and the surface water went down that caused the sudden change of temperature. That caused the massive fishkill.” Reyes said,” We’re also looking at the possible overstocking of the fishcages and overfeeding of the cultured fish as one of the causes of the fishkill.”

      Reyes said the provincial government is still pushing for the dismantling of the fishcages in the lake, specifically those that do not have the necessary permits and are not within the 6,000 limit in the lake. ( Mei Lubis)