Stricter steps vs waste dumping in Taal Lake eyed

MANILA, Philippines – Government agencies monitoring the water quality of Taal Lake in Batangas are eyeing stricter measures against the dumping of solid wastes and the discharge of sewage and wastewater from real estate developments as well as backyard and commercial piggeries, into the lake.

Laudemir Salac, chief of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office, said during the recent Taal Lake Fishery Stakeholders’ Forum that Task Force Taal Lake has issued guidelines for backyard and commercial piggeries and other industries in communities around the lake to control water pollution, which was blamed for last year’s fish kill.

The task force, chaired by Batangas provincial administrator Victor Reyes, identified solid wastes dumped in rivers as one of the major causes of water pollution in Taal Lake.

Salac said the task force has scheduled dialogues with real estate developers and owners and operators of backyard and commercial piggeries in the province to help address the pollution problem.

Earlier, some sectors had blamed the uncontrolled proliferation of fish cages in Taal Lake as among the causes of the water’s deteriorating quality.

But fish cage owners belonging to the Taal Lake Aquaculture Alliance Inc. (TLAAI) belied this, saying they have worked closely with concerned government agencies and local government units to police their ranks and adopt responsible fish farming methods.

TLAAI members said the dead fish that surfaced last year did not come from their fish cages in Talisay town, but from foreign-owned fish cages that do not observe responsible aquaculture.

TLAAI president Rodrigo Cacao said their members cooperated in the dismantling of illegally operated fish cages and volunteered to strictly observe a sustainable aquaculture program.

Salac told the forum that guidelines drawn up by the Protected Area Management Board and Task Force Taal Lake to protect the lake from environmental destruction and preserve its ecosystem, are now being observed and implemented.

These include downsizing the number of fish cages; creating a quick reaction team from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), Task Force Taal Lake, Philippine National Police and Coast Guard to assess fish kills and actions to be taken; and conducting water quality sampling by BFAR.

To date, Salac said the task force has dismantled 8,116 illegal fish structures. The remaining 5,883 fish cages are legitimate, he said.

Salac said fish cages have been regulated to less than 6,000 as stipulated in the guidelines in compliance with the environmental limit determined by scientific studies.

The BFAR said fish kills occur from April to June before the onset of the rainy season. These naturally occurring phenomena are usually affected by temperature changes, especially in the warm months of April to June and during the rainy months when typhoons occur.