Tuesday, April 22, 2008 [ manilatimes.net ]
The demolition of fish pens in Laguna Lake is a contribution to the worldwide celebration of Earth Day
By Ira Karen Apanay, Senior Reporter
FISH PENS in the Laguna Lake are set to bid goodbye soon after Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza directed the Laguna Lake Development Authority to begin the dismantling of fish pens Wednesday.
Atienza said there is no choice left but to save Laguna de Bay and dismantle all the fish pens, which occupies 12,000 hectares of the largest lake in the country.
“The fish pens are already choking the lake to death. They obstruct the flow of water and block the passageways of small fishermen. Worse, the chemical content of the feeds being fed to the fish has considerably polluted the waters,” Atienza said.
The fish pen demolition will be carried by a multiagency task force, which will be composed of personnel of LLDA, DENR, Public Works and Highways and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Committee. Elements from the Philippine National Police will provide security, LLDA general manager Edgardo Manda said.
Atienza said the LLDA should take the lead in demolishing the fish pens and should assume the principal role in the clean up.
The DENR chief said clearing Laguna Lake of fish pens is one of the concrete steps in reforming the functions and operations of the LLDA.
Atienza added that the demolition of fish pens in Laguna Lake is one of the country’s contributions to the worldwide celebration of Earth Day whose observance on April 22 is to heighten public awareness and spur action on the protection of the environment.
The LLDA developed the Fishery Zoning and Management Plan (ZOMAP) for Laguna Lake in 1983. It was designed to rationalize the management and regulate the utilization of the lake’s fishery resources, and to resolve equity problems among large-scale fish pen operators and small-scale fishermen dependent upon water reach.
In June 1996, then President Fidel Ramos approved the LLDA’s ZOMAP, which defines the layout and provided the guidelines for the proper allocation of aquaculture structures within the Laguna Lake.
Under the ZOMAP, there are areas allotted for fish pens, fish cages, fish sanctuaries and open fishing. Navigational lanes and barangay access lanes were also identified to facilitate the movement of people, goods and services within the lake.
The ZOMAP also allocated 10,000 hectares for the fish pen belt; and 5,000 for the fish cage belt. Based on LLDA’s report, fish pens currently occupy an estimated 12,000-hectare area in the lake while the fish cages currently occupy almost 2,000 hectares.
The Federation of Fishpen and Fishcage Operators Association of Laguna de Bay (FFOALdB) has previously raised alarm over the rapid deterioration of Laguna Lake.
The FFOALdB said the number of fish pens and fish cages in Laguna Lake have exceeded the maximum carrying capacity of the lake. They also said that the lake is now overcrowded with fish pens that result to the very rapid deterioration of the lake.
Laguna Lake is the largest lake in the Philippines and the second largest inland freshwater lake in Southeast Asia after Lake Toba in Sumatra, Indonesia. It is the most vital inland water body in the country and used to be regarded as among the world’s living lakes.
If no appropriate and immediate mitigation and rescue is implemented, government officials and environmentalists have predicted that Laguna Lake will be biologically dead in five years.
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