EDITORIAL - Degraded by reclamation

The government is reportedly moving to develop a unified management strategy for Laguna de Bay. The goal, according to fisheries officials, is to sustain the productivity of the lake for the benefit of fisherfolk, fish pen operators and Metro Manila residents who depend on the lake not only for fish but also for a portion of fresh water requirements.

Leading the effort is the Department of Agriculture and its Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. DA officials have stressed the need for enhanced coordination with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, its attached agency the Laguna Lake Development Authority and even the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

The DA should also coordinate with the local government units with jurisdiction over the lakeside areas as well as the Department of Public Works and Highways.

From Taguig to Taytay, Rizal alone, there has been frenzied reclamation in the lake alongside the circumferential road C-6, with the project described as flood control. That reclamation looks like an invitation for worse flooding and can compromise the fresh water supply for Metro Manila. It also threatens the ecosystem and aquatic life in the lake, which supplies about 40 percent of the bangus or milkfish and tilapia requirements of Metro Manila.

Small-scale fisherfolk have long lamented that weak regulation has allowed too many fish pens in the lake, depriving them of their livelihood and degrading the lake environment.

Fisherfolk groups complain that the fish cages are owned by large businesses and local politicians. Groups such as PAMALAKAYA have long called for the lake to be declared a “no fish pen zone.”

The fish pens, together with water lilies or hyacinths, have been choking aquatic life in the lake. Reclamation is now adding to those problems that are slowly killing Laguna de Bay.

In January 2024, several fisherfolk and climate justice organizations filed a formal complaint and asked the LLDA to stop the reclamation activities and to investigate why the projects were allowed. They also asked for the reclaimed areas to be restored.

At the time, the groups counted 22 reclamation projects planned or underway around the lake, threatening the livelihoods of an estimated 13,000 small-scale fisherfolk in Metro Manila, Rizal and Laguna. But the reclamation instead seemed to go on overdrive, in an apparent effort to beat any cease-and-desist order.

The DA’s latest initiative is supposed to benefit small-scale fisherfolk. The fisherfolk have made their complaints and positions known for some time now. What the government must do is to listen, and to act on the complaints.