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ENVIRONMENT and Natural Resources Secretary Lito
Atienza on Thursday said he has ordered the dismantling of all
illegal fish pens in Laguna de Bay.
“On April, all fishpens must
go,” Atienza said.
Atienza said they will soon send
notices to all concerned and will start the demolition on April.
He added that local government
units are supporting the dismantling of fish pens in Laguna Lake.
“Gov. [Casimiro III] Ynares, Mayor [Freddie] Tinga, Mayor [Aldrin]
San Pedro of Muntinlupa is with us 100%, and the Laguna Lake
Development Authority is with us. So together we will start
dismantling,” Atienza continued, adding that even if the process
takes the whole year or two years, they have decided to get it done.
The DENR chief further said that
the dismantling would start with the illegal fish pens, which is 90
percent of the total number of the fish pens. There are 12,000
hectares or 60 percent of Laguna Lake presently covered by fish
pens. “Allowable fish pens should not really be more than 10
percent,” the environment secretary explained.
The lake authority developed the
fishery zoning and management plan for Laguna Lake in 1983. It was
designed to rationalize the management and regulate the utilization
of the lake’s fishery resources, and to resolve equity problems
among large-scale fish pen operators and small-scale fishermen.
In June 1996, then President
Fidel Ramos approved the said management plan that defines the
layout and provides the guidelines for the proper allocation of
aquaculture structures within Laguna Lake. There are areas allotted
for fish pens, fish cages, fish sanctuaries and open fishing.
Navigational lanes and barangay access lanes were also identified to
facilitate the movement of people, goods and services within the
lake.
The Federation of Fishpen and
Fishcage Operators Association of Laguna de Bay has previously
raised the alarm over the rapid deterioration of Laguna Lake.
The group claimed that the number
of fish pens and fish cages in the Laguna Lake have exceeded the
maximum carrying capacity of the lake, and has hastened that rapid
deterioration of the lake.
Laguna Lake is the largest lake
in the Philippines and the second largest inland freshwater lake in
Southeast Asia after Lake Toba in Sumatra, Indonesia. It is the most
vital inland water body in the country and used to be regarded as
among the world’s living lakes.
If no appropriate and immediate
mitigation and rescue is implemented, government officials and
environmentalists have predicted that Laguna Lake will be
biologically dead in five years.
--Ira Karen Apanay
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