Laguna fishers look forward to resolution of impasse

fter two years of uncertainty, Laguna Lake fish growers now look forward to the resolution of the impasse over the continuing presence of fish pens and cages in Laguna de Bay. They are now ready to fully re-stock their fish pens and resume operations.

All the excess and illegal fish pens have been dismantled and those that remain are bonafide fish farms duly accredited by the authorities which are up-to-date with their fees and compliant with existing regulations. of the estimated total lake potential fish biomass of 290,000 tons per year.

Moreover, of the 9,200 hectares allocated for aquaculture, 60% are reserved for fish pens and cages owned by individual fisher folk and/or by their fish cooperatives. Thus, of the 90,000 total hectares of the lake, 79,800 hectares plus 5,520 hectares, effectively 85,330 hectares or 95% are reserved for small fishermen. This is more than fully compliant with Section 7 Article XIII of the constitution which confers preferential rights to subsistence fishermen for the use of communal marine and fisheries resources.

Just like many other lakes near centers of population. Laguna de Bay is increasingly suffering from eutrophication i.e. the deposit of minerals and nutrients, principally nitrogen and phosphorus in a body of water. These nutrients promote excessive growth of plants and algae which ultimately die and decompose. The decomposition process depletes the oxygen in the water, killing fish and other aquatic animal species.

A major indicator of the severity of eutrophication is the amount of nitrogen deposited each year in the body of water. A comprehensive assessment by an inter-agency scientific panel led by Academician Rodel Lasco of UP Los Baños revealed that the waste load of nitrogen in Laguna de Bay is in the order of 13,800 tons nitrogen per year. Further, that of this amount, domestic sources, irrigation water and industry effluents, accounted for 79%, 14% and 6%, respectively. Fish culture is lumped together with all other sources for the remaining less than 1.0%

Instead of small individual water rights, economic-sized areas of 20 to 30 hectares could be collectively be assigned by LLDA to organized groups (fish cooperatives). The fish coops may now enter into a joint venture with an established fish operator who will provide management expertise and market connections.

The capital counterpart of the fish corporative can be sourced from Land Bank with the understanding that part of dividends due to the fish cooperative from the joint venture will be retained each year to pay off Land Bank until the fisher folk are full owners of their half of the joint venture.

To protect the interest of the fisher folk borrowers as well as the interest of the lender (Land Bank), the comptroller of the joint venture will be nominated by Land Bank.

As incentive to the private fish producer JV managing partner, LLDA will assign the rights to say also 20–30 hectares as their water rights counterpart. This will be apart from their individual fish pen water rights obtained through the regular bidding process.