A boat full of dead tilapia is hauled from a fish cage in Lake Buhi. (Photo: Joesel Barrameda,IEC, BFAR 5)

Aquaculture causes massive fish kill in Lake Buhi

"Overfeeding and unconsumed feeds and fertilizers" from aquaculture caused extremely polluted waters and caused an immense fish kill in Lake Buhi on 29 October, informed the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Bicol.

BFAR-Bicol spokesperson Ronaldo Canabe said that low oxygen volumes in the lake made the fish grow poorly and eventually decimated the 100 tonnes of tilapia worth PHP 5 million (USD 113,636) as of late last month.

The bureau’s water monitoring study found that unconsumed feeds and fertilizers from the fish pens occupying 90 per cent of Lake Buhi released a highly toxic substance that caused the fish mortalities, Inquirer reports.

Based on the study’s results, Lake Buhi contains a very low content of dissolved oxygen and very high ammonia nitrogen concentration against the optimum ranges set by the South East Asian Fisheries Development Centre (SEAFDEC). Also, very high traces of hydrogen sulfide were identified in five sampling stations during the water quality monitoring conducted on 4 November, reports Vox Bikol. 

(Map: Stock File)

About one-fourth of the lake was found covered by water hyacinth, which deprived the fish of oxygen, Canabe said.

Buhi Mayor Rey Lacoste earlier said that the fish kill, which affected 20,765 cages, represented a worse catastrophe than the one in June, which involved the death of 70 per cent of the lake’s fish population.

Buhi municipal government data from 2007 showed that 15,597 registered fish cages occupy 226ha of the 1,707ha-lake, but that because unregistered cages exist, the figure could actually be higher, the local government said.

In a meeting run by BFAR with Buhi government officials, municipal councillor Zaldy Arcilla recognised that as much as 90 per cent of the lake is covered by fish cages even though the law mandates a limit of just 10 per cent.

In response to the latest fish kill, BFAR-Bicol Regional Director Dennis del Socorro said regular water quality surveys would be conducted at least once weekly, that alternative livelihood would be provided to displaced fishers and that fish stocks would be enhanced in the lake.

By Natalia Real
editorial@seafood.media
www.seafood.media

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