Lake Buhi still shrinking

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna , Philippines -  – Internationally known Lake Buhi in Camarines Sur continues to shrink. Also, it’s now “heavily polluted” waters are bocoming shallower and “fish kills” are occurring more frequently.

These are among the grim phenomena surfacing out of studies done by researchers and research institutions on this famous lake in Pili town that nurtures the world’s smallest extant commercial fish species – the sinarapan.

Decades back, this body of water situated about 500 kilometers southeast of Manila occupied 1,800 hectares. As of 2006, it was only 1,707 ha, reported the Los Baños-based ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB).

In recent years, too, the depth in some parts of the lake ranged from 3.16 to 8.69 meters during summer and from 3.32 to 9.9 m during the west season. In 1981 the lake was 12.94 m deep and in 1998, 10 m deep.

“Fish kills” have also been occurring more regularly.

Last July 15, a day after typhoon “Basyang” pummeled the Bicol Region, people in Buhi woke up to see floating dead fish mantling the lake’s murky waters. Late last month (October), too, an estimated 100 tons of dead tilapia were fished cut of the turbid waters off seven Pili barangays.

Lake Buhi is now “heavily polluted” and checking as almost 15,600 fish cages now occupy 70-80 percent of the lake, reported researchers Dr. Cely Binoya, Joyce dela Trinidad, Arthur Estrella, Ceferino Llesol, and Glorea Osea of the Central Bicol State University of Agriculture (CBSUA) in Pili.

Ideally, fish pens, cages, and other fish structures should occupy only 10-15 percent of a lake’s area.

The CBSUA study was supported by the Los Baños-based Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEAMEO SEARCA) through its Seed Fund for Research and Training.

Government-hosted SEARCA, headed by Director Gil C. Saguiguit Jr., is one of the 19 regional “centers of excellence” of SEAMEO, an inter government treaty body founded in 1965 to foster cooperation among Southeast Asian nations in the fields of education, science, and culture.

Lake Buhi is home to sinarapan (scientific name: Mistichthys luzonensis), the species that placed the Philippines on the global fisheries map.

In recent years, however, tilapia fish cages sprouted like the proverbial mushrooms after a rainy night.

To maintain the fish stocks, cage operators use about 2,640 tons (2.64 million kilos) of feeds every production cycle. The unused feeds that settle in the lake bed aggravate the sordid pollution problem of Lake Buhi.

Actually, the SEARCA-supported CBSUA study noted that Lake Buhi’s pollution problem is mainly attributed to the dumping of animal and human wastes into the lake.

Many households and swine raisers operating along the shorelines drained their animal, septic, and other domestic wastes into the lake, the researchers said. “Ammoniacal oxygen, nitrate nitrogen, and phosphates were at toxic levels.”

Thus, “fish kills” have been regularly occurring in the degraded lake.

Efforts to save the lake have not been wanting, though.

Local governments and communities around it have been conducting training for environmental appreciation and awareness and passing ordinances.

The Sinarapan Sanctuary Management and Development Council was formed to craft and implement programs to ensure sinarapan’s sustainable populations.

The CBSUA team also conducted training on livelihood and environmental awareness advocacy; and IEC (information, education, communication) activities.

With a start-up fund from SEARCA, the “Samahan ng mga Kababaihan ng Sta. Clara has revived the Buhi radio station “Radio Natin” to provide updates on the state of the Buhi environment.