By Jonathan L. Mayuga & Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
THE government has vowed to assist bangus growers increase their output, even as the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) insisted that President Duterte himself mandated the clearing of fish pens and fish cages in Laguna de Bay.
Officials from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (Bfar) and the LLDA issued their pronouncements after the Bangus Industry Stakeholders and Dealers Alliance (Bisda) asked the government in a statement to help them improve their production.
Bisda is a group of bangus growers, small fishermen, market dealers and brokers in the provinces of Rizal, Laguna, Bulacan, Pangasinan, Pampanga and Metro Manila.
The group said the spike in the retail prices of milkfish in the wet market recently was due to the lack of supply, which was exacerbated by the LLDA resolutions that hampered production in the Laguna lake area. Another key source of bangus, Pangasinan, has been reeling, not from policy change but from nature: It has been heavily impacted the southwest monsoon and recent typhoons.
“There was a substantial decrease in production [at Laguna lake], that is why some of the fish-cage operators were saying the price of bangus and tilapia increased. We are looking into this,” Engr. Emil Hernandez, manager of the LLDA’s Environmental Regulation Department, said in a telephone interview.
Hernandez pointed to the reduction in production areas for milkfish and tilapia as one of the factors that caused output to decline substantially.
He said, however, that the reduction in production areas was agreed upon by all stakeholders, following the dialogue between LLDA General Manager Jaime C. Medina and the stakeholders, and the forging of a compromise deal with fish-cage and fish-pen operators.
In earlier interviews, the LLDA chief also said President Duterte is “well-informed of the actions taken by the LLDA Board and the plans and programs implemented by the agency under his leadership.
The 90-hectare Laguna de Bay, one of the largest freshwater lakes in Southeast Asia, is also the biggest aquaculture hub in the country where tilapia and bangus are raised all-year round.
However, the recent spike in the price of bangus alarmed local producers, particularly those operating in Laguna de Bay, because of the huge decline in their output as a result of what they describe as “poor policy formulation and implementation of the current LLDA.”
“We just want to make sure that the President is aware of what is happening. We are not protesting nor assailing the government, but we are publicly appealing to the President to hear our side,” said lawyer Rodriguez Dizon, spokesman of Bisda.
Aside from bad weather which affected output in Pampanga, Pangasinan and Bulacan, Bisda said LLDA Board Resolution 518 and 525 caused the output of milkfish to go down drastically.
Crimp on production
LLDA Board Resolution 518 ordered the dismantling of fish cages and fish pens in Laguna de Bay, while Board Resolution 525 ordered operators to reduce by half the size of their production areas.
Worse, the group said LLDA Board Resolution 540 now calls for the implementation of a new zoning plan that will surely adversely affect production that could lead to disaster, if not kill entirely, the bangus industry in Laguna de Bay.
According to Dizon, bangus production in Laguna de Bay prior to the implementation of LLDA’s clearing operation was pegged at 250,000 kilos a day. Now, he said output in the lake ranges from a minimum of 70,000 kilograms (kg) a day to a maximum of 100,000 kg a day.
Bisda asked the President to order the LLDA to protect the aquaculture sector and boost its production capacity. It also called on the government to root out the cause of the huge drop in fishery production in Laguna De Bay, which it said is pollution, and go after the real culprits that pollute the lake.
According to Dizon, the industrial wastewater dumped by factories and other industrial establishments, the chemical fertilizer and pesticide being used by the agriculture sector, and household waste, are the top polluters of the lake.
Government aid
“We will conduct a needs assessment among affected bangus stakeholders through a consultation-dialogue for the Bfar to appropriately assess the assistance needed,” the Bfar said in a statement sent to the BusinessMirror.
Nonetheless, the Bfar, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA),
said it has a regular input assistance program that aims to improve the productivity of small fishermen.
“The DA-Bfar is implementing a regular project on Input Assistance for Milkfish, Tilapia, Seaweeds and Shellfishes,” the agency said. “This includes a training component, and technical assistance on water quality and disease monitoring. The input is in the form of fingerlings.”
The Bfar also urged qualified cooperatives of fishermen to avail thmselves of loans from the Agriculture Credit Policy Council of the DA.
Agriculture Undersecretary for Fisheries and Bfar National Director Eduardo B.Gongona is set to meet with concerned stakeholders in Laguna de Bay this week to determine their needs.
The LLDA earlier said the clearing of the fish pens and fish cages is mandated by the President. This is to allow small fishermen to have access to their traditional fishing grounds.