PILI CAMARINES SUR (27 May)-- ABOUT A HUNDRED fish-cage operators in nine barangays surrounding Lake Bato in this province is being planned for a rehab-assistance by the regional office of the Bureau of Fisheries And Aquatic Resources (BFAR) base here, after the said operators sustained big losses reaching P 11.714 million as a result of a "fish-kill" incident that affected more than 4,000 fish-cages and the loss of some 151,500 Tilapia-fish stocks.
BFAR experts have determined last week's incident to be caused by depletion of oxygen in the lake waters due to high concentration of ammonia from decaying organic matters brought by flood waters coming from tributaries of the lake.
BFAR's provincial fishery officer Santiago Noblefranca said, "this is a big loss to the local fresh-water-fish industry."
Noblefranca explained that the toxic flow of decaying materials mostly came from Purog-Agos and Paculong-Sulong rivers, and the ran-off from nearby highlands triggered the fish-kill occurrence.
The fishery officer also said that currently a program dubbed as, "Sustainable Management And Development of Rinconada Lakes" with a counterpart grant from the Australian Government is making a study of the fish-cages' stocking density in both lakes Bato and Buhi; and the ratio of Feeding Method after past occurrences of fish kill incidents are also traced to pollutants caused by excessive supplemental feeding in the Tilapia fish-cages.
Aside from pollutants, Noblefranca also noted the worsening siltation affecting the bottom of Lake Bato, compared to the deep water-level in Lake Buhi, which is now causing a "back-flow" during rains and floods into Libon, Oas, Polangui and nearby areas of Ligao, Albay.
Currently, Lake Bato's 3,500 hectare lake-area is dominated by fish-cage owners in the surrounding villages of Agos, San Miguel, Santiago, San Rafael, Divina Pastora, Tres-Reyes, Sta Cruz, Buluang and San Vicente, while other fish cages are in the lake territory of Libon, Albay. (SONNY SALES)