A Fishview: Good and Bad Practice in the aftermath of the Fishkill

In my earlier blog,i outlined what is happening in Taal lake and why fish kills occur. The lack of oxygen is one of the many manifestations of a disturb ecosystem where existing practice of fish rearing grossly violates laws of nature.

What should done:
1.There is a need to study the circulation pattern of Taal lake (or any natural lake) before location of cages could be identified. Cages, even if it is floating hinders, alters and redirects flow of current that impedes its natural process of replenishment of nutrients and water.

2. The number and stocking density of each fish cage should be carefully estimated to conform to the natural carrying capacity of the lake. Current policy simply regulates the number of cages but is silent on the amount of water enclosed by the cage, a more important consideration as the density or the number of fish to be stocked should be highly regulated. This is key to maintaining the integrity of the water quality.

3. Establish an independent lake monitoring body that implements and regulates the lake policies. A monitoring team should be created to monitor the quality of lake water.

4. All cage operators should secure from the DENR an Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC)before being issued by the local government of the necessary business permits. Currently this is not being done but such policy exist under the Fisheries Code (RA 8550).

5. Before any ECC will be given by DENR,an environmental bond should be required to be deposited by the fish cage owner as security that when such fish kills or any environment-related disruption occur or a violation of existing ECC, the money could be used to rectify the damage.

6. If the government is keen on providing livelihood to the local fisherfolk, minimize the cages and invest in replenishment of the natural fish stock in the lake. CONVERT THE LAKE INTO A WILD FISHERY. GET RID OF ALL THE CAGES. It would serve more people, no extra government expenses on rebuilding the cages or providing altenate livelihood in case of fishkills. Simply said, a wild caught lake fishery would provide more food, job security and livelihood than all those fish cages combined. The fish don't need to be fed, no worries about overfeeding, pollution arising from bad culture practices and no corruption of local governments by the so callled investors.

7. To be really equitable, right to erect cages should be raffled, given to small scale operations rather than the large ones. A maximum of three years lease period that is not renewable. Note that the ROI is less than a year for a cage of 5x5.

8. For Bureau of Internal Revenue to really look into the income of these cage owners that earn a minimum of half a million per cage per year. I'll bet that none of these operators paid honestly taxes based on their earnings.

9. Remove from the local government unit the regulatory function and transfer this to the bureau of fisheries. Afterall, fish swims and water quality has no bouundaries

What should not be done:
As expected, we hear both local and national government officials offering help and subsidies. Some are good but many are wrong. Below is a wish list of what should not be done

1. It is wrong to provide assistance to the cage operators. They are the ones responsible (both legal and illegal)for overstocking the lake over time, polluting slowly the lake through their greed and through bad fish rearing practices. The legal ones knows the illegal ones and they are to blame for not reporting the illegal ones.

2. To provide subsidies and other support for restocking or rebuilding their cages

3. To simply destroy the illegal ones. the structures and nets should be confiscated and burned so that it could not be reused. Better yet not to allow any fish cages in the lakes.

4. For governments to do the cleaning of the mess the private sector created.

Who are the winners and the losers of this fish kill?

The losers of the fish kill are the people around the lake, the tourists and those dependent on the tourism sector. I would not consider the cage owners as losers as this is simply just a temporary setback, having relished its profits for many years.

The main winners will be the hatchery owners that supply the fingerlings and seeds for thhe cage operators. They are now all smiles and take notice that prices of bangus and tilapia fingerlings have gone up.