Lake Buhi fish kills blamed on pollution, climate change

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines  – Water pollution due to feeds and sulfur siltation and sudden temperature change have triggered the continuing fish kills in Lake Buhi in Camarines Sur that prompted the municipal council to place the entire town under a state of calamity last week.

This was the finding of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) regional office, which suggested to the Buhi municipal government to reduce the lake’s fish cages to 10 percent from the present 70 to 80 percent.

BFAR-Bicol director Dennis del Socorro said the prevailing strong winds over Lake Buhi due to the southwest monsoon have made the lake’s current wild, disturbing the feed deposits and sulfur washed down from the surrounding mountains, particularly the sulfur-rich Mt. Malinao.

“Organic materials such as carbon and nitrogen from the fish feeds, and sulfur from the mountains are deposited at the lake bed. And whenever strong currents disturb these materials, they cause pollution in Lake Buhi,” Del Socorro told The STAR yesterday.

He said they have suggested to Buhi officials to reduce the present 26,750 fish cages in the 1,800-hectare lake to 10 percent, or limited only to 180 hectares.

Tons of dead tilapia floated in the lake last week and continued until yesterday, resulting in a shortage of freshwater fish in markets across Bicol.

At least 3,000 kilos of tilapia is being harvested every day from Lake Buhi.

As this developed, a group of scientists from the Central Bicol State University of Agriculture who conducted a study on Lake Buhi two years ago, spearheaded a public hearing last week and urged the fish cage operators to cease operating for one to three years.

Based on the group’s study, of 1,000 bags of fish feeds, only 60 percent are being consumed and the remainder merely deposited on the lake bed.

Only a one- to three-year moratorium on fish cage operations could save the lake from dying, the group said.