Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel’s expertise in fishery (from years of studying from the seas) has trained his eyes on sources of catch to bring down fish prices for Metro Manila consumers.
Aquaculture fish like bangus currently sell for P160 to P180 per kilogram in MM markets and tilapia prices are just slightly lower.
His vision is to bring down bangus prices to P50 to P70 per kilogram through bigger production by enhancing water quality, and he tasked the Bureau of Fisheries to conduct quarterly water analysis to ensure healthier stocks of bangus and tilapia.
The DA plans to revive Laguna de Bay as a major source of fish to MM and suburbs residents.
“If we can add more capacity, then let’s do it,” he said at a recent meeting with fisheries officials.
Increasing yield
The Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) said the 940-square kilometer lake used to produce 90,000 metric tons of freshwater fish yearly providing livelihood to around 13,000 fishermen.
The DA said aquaculture associations in Laguna Lake have asked help to address increasing mortality of fingerlings in fish pens, the minimal introduction of salt water to help in milkfish production and the reintroduction of fresh water.
Laurel said he would set up a meeting with LLLDA, chaired by Environment Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga to discuss plans and guidelines to open the floodgates crucial to supplying freshwater and saltwater in the lake.
Laurel has ordered the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) for a quarterly testing of the lake’s water quality as well as to undertake a study on its carrying capacity.
The DA said in 1999, the LLDA implemented a zoning and management plan that allowed 10,000 hectares of Laguna Lake for fishpen operations; 5,000 hectares for fish cages as well as areas for fish sanctuary, navigational lanes and open fishing.
Pollution, microplastics
But pollution continues to threaten the lake as a viable fish source.
Among commercially-important fish found or grown in Laguna Lake are white goby, mudfish, ayungin, bangus, catfish, kanduli, tilapia and common carp.
A study of Filipino scientists from Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology published in the Environmental Science and Pollution Research Journal showed that microplastics were found in highest concentration in areas with “intensive human activities ranging from household discharges, liquid waste from chemical industries and intensified economic activities.”
The LLDA said that it continues to implement programs to conserve the lake’s resources such as the Laguna de Bay watershed greening program where seedlings are planted in crucial watershed areas; river rehabilitation program where community volunteers are mobilized in river clean-up operations; and the shoreland management program where they eliminate incompatible elements designed to control pollution.
To boost fish production, the government must also deal with watershed degradation, pollution, a festering row between fishermen and fish farmers, and other problems that have frustrated previous efforts to rehabilitate Laguna Lake.
The LLDA, which was created in 1969, was red- flagged last year by the Commission on Audit for allowing private aquaculture companies to own 47 percent of the lake's fishing area. Big fish farms are allowed only in 40 percent of the lake; the rest is reserved for local fishers.
Loose zoning rules led to overfishing, which has shrunk the fish harvest. Free-roaming and farmed fish both feed on phytoplankton. Increasing eutrophication — an overabundance of nitrogen and phosphorous — coupled with dropping oxygen levels in the lake has drastically reduced the plankton in the lake.
In the 1970s, it took just three to four months for fish to grow big enough to be harvested; today, it takes more than a year, studies showed.
Other issues threatening the lake's health are agricultural and industrial pollution; domestic waste from lakeshore communities and informal settlers that contaminate the lake's waters.
Untreated sewage from plants and factories along the tributaries adds to the toxic mix.
More recently, microplastics — plastic particles smaller than 5 millimeters — from discarded plastic products are believed to have found their way to Laguna Lake.
Siltation has also been a big challenge for the LLDA.
Lakebed sediment from erosion and deforestation, accumulated over decades, has reduced the lake's average depth to 2.5 meters from 12 meters.
Programs to dredge the lake to improve its carrying capacity were stopped by President Benigno Aquino 3rd, who alleged that it was one of Arroyo's "midnight deals."
The Belgian contractor sued the Aquino administration before the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes. The panel ordered the Philippine government to pay the contractor P800 million in damages.
Aquino replaced the dredging project with one to build an expressway around Laguna Lake using materials dredged from the lake.
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