Degradation

If you arrive early enough at the Talisay public market in Batangas, you can snap up pla-pla or giant tilapia swimming in wide, shallow sinks filled with water from the lake, at only P75 per kilo. Or you can buy huge, fat milkfish or bangus, with the taste so sweet it can rival the Bonuan bangus for which Dagupan City in Pangasinan is renowned. If you’re lucky, you may find big black dalag, now becoming a rare treat, swimming in a tub of lake water.

Other species of fish, including those for which Taal Lake is famous, are also showing up with less regularity in the markets of the lakeside town of Talisay. Last Saturday morning there was no tawilis, endemic to the lake, and the maliputo – the yummier version of talakitok – was small and unappetizing, as if it had been scooped out of the lake too soon.

Businessman Nelson Terrible (surname pronounced the Tagalog way), who grew up in Talisay, remembers older residents talking about sharks entering the lake from the sea and adapting to the shift from salt water to fresh.

The sharks eventually disappeared. It’s been a long time since  saltwater fish dared venture into the lake through the Pansipit River . These days the lake water cannot even wash out to sea in its normal cycle of cleansing and replenishment without going through an obstacle course of fish pens that have been set up in the towns of Agoncillo and San Nicolas.

Siltation is bringing down the wild fish catch in Taal  Lake, one of the country’s most popular tourist spots. Old-timers in Talisay blame the problem on the growing proliferation of fish pens, where tilapia and bangus are bred using feed that induces faster growth and larger fish size. But only 30 percent of the feed is actually consumed by the fish; the 70 percent settles into the lake, wreaking havoc on the natural ecological balance in the area.

From Tagaytay, which is a 15-minute drive up a scenic winding road from Talisay, the fish pens around the lake are  visible. If authorities don’t move quickly, the lake could soon turn into another Laguna de Bay, which is being choked to death by fish pens.

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Laguna de Bay is being tapped as a source of fresh water for Metro Manila, and the fish pens are endangering this source.

But there is more than drinking water at stake in Taal Lake. Aquatic experts have found the ecosystem in the lake to be so unique it should be classified as a national treasure.

Taal Volcano, which we tout as the smallest in the world, is a volcano within a lake within an island within a lake. It is one of the most active volcanoes in the country, and it’s not visible from Tagaytay. The widely photographed volcano on Volcano Island , as seen from Tagaytay, is actually a dead one.

The inner lake, which you can see by climbing up the crater rim or hiking right down to the lake, is geothermal. Locals say bathing in the scorching sulfuric water can cure psoriasis.

The bigger lake, which you can cross by boat from Talisay, has a mysterious black volcanic floor believed to be shaped  like a funnel where, some believe, there are pockets like quicksand that can swallow up swimmers. The volcanic lake bed makes the water look like a black soup that sucks up even sunlight.

Stories abound in the lakeside communities of people disappearing in the lake, never to be seen again. Locals say few divers have the courage to explore the deep portions of the lake.

From the uniquely low amount of sunlight penetration and cool water temperature in a volcanic environment, special aquatic species have evolved. The combination of those unique factors has been cited as the reason for the unusual succulence of fish that grow wild in the lake.

Now the fish feed, which I saw being loaded in sacks into outriggers last Saturday morning in Talisay, and the fish pens are threatening the lake’s one-of-a-kind ecosystem.

Residents say many fish pen operators violate their licenses by building pens that are larger than what the local government has  approved. But none of those excess pens are being dismantled.

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Taal Lake ’s unique volcanic ecosystem has also bred stories about its healing and rejuvenating properties. Locals are proud to point out that just breathing the air around the lake can be invigorating.

 Enjoying the breeze from the floating swimming pool that Nelson Terrible has installed outside his sprawling lakefront property, I can agree.

Nelson is setting up a medical spa in his Club Balai Isabel in Talisay, which will offer Philippine folk medicine and informative programs on the history and myths surrounding Taal Lake.

The people of Siquijor, which is reputed to be an island of witches, are learning that Pinoy folk treatments including faith healing can be major tourist draws. Among the newest visitors of Siquijor’s faith healers, I’ve been told, are Russians.

If India has its ayurvedic tradition and  China its acupuncture and ancient medical treatments, why can’t we promote our own folk medicine? Nelson is a believer in the efficacy of jathropa, for example, as a treatment for gout. Filipinos are using ampalaya to lower blood sugar, malunggay to induce lactation and increase sperm count, and virgin coconut oil for general well-being.

Even as Nelson promotes indigenous medical practices and makes his resort a showcase of Philippine flora, he also wants to promote the gustatory  delights that only Taal Lake can offer.

But like many of the country’s unique attractions, those delights are disappearing, threatened by the desire for quick profits and government neglect. It is not yet too late for concerned authorities to halt environmental degradation in Taal Lake.