Farmed milkfish (bangus) and tilapia and now also species native to the lake such as biya, pauto, apta, katang, siliw and muang are also appearing belly up in the lake, provincial information officer Ginette Segismundo said.

 

All the same, at least two cages in Cuenca did not see any massive fish kills, the official noted.

 

On Sunday (Jun 5), Pangasinan's Agriculture Office said at least PHP44.7 million (US$1 million) have been lost due to the recent fish kills in the province, or 96 tonnes of dead bangus as of June 2.

 

Dead fish from Lipa, Cuenca and Mataas na Kahoy have been removed from the water by the government and taken away for burial; the Talisay section of Taal Lake had been fully cleared of rotting fish this weekend, Segismundo added.

 

Before this weekend's new deaths, officials had estimated that as many as 2,000 tonnes of fish worth PHP142 million (US$3.3 million) had died since early last week.

 

Though experts initially thought oxygen depletion after the onset of the rainy season had caused the deaths, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje believes that overstocking of fish in cages by owners plus polluted waters may have contributed.

 

A national fishers group on Sunday asked the government to ban large-scale fish pens in several other lakes as a prevention measure. Fernando Hicap, head of the fisher alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), said eight lakes – including Lanao Lake in Marawi City and Lake Bato and Lake Buhi in Iriga City – should be free from large-scale aquaculture.

 

He asserted that aquaculture businesses should no longer be given government contracts and other types of lease agreements to prevent fishing monopolies from running large-scale fish pens.

 

He added the fishkills in Anda and Bolinao in Pangasinan and in Taal Lake have resulted from long-running abuse in addition to the dumping of waste from industrial and commercial plants.

 

In Batangas, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) this week warned illegal fish pen operators that they have one week to dismantle their structures at the Taal Lake in Talisay and Laurel towns and clear the lake of dead fish before local officials intervene.