June 8, 2011


Philippine government to identify foreign fish cage owners over massive fishkill

 

 

Philippine agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said that the government is already conducting deeper investigations to identify the foreign nationals who use Filipinos as dummy fish cage operators in Batangas.

 

According to Philippine Star daily, authorities have already obtained a list of the registered owners of fish cages in Batangas, particularly around Taal Lake.


He said majority of the registered operators are locals, but there are strong indications that majority of them are being used as front by foreign financiers.


He said that the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources may ask the Bureau of Immigration to help in the investigations.


The government has announced that the DA and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) will release one million milkfish fingerlings in areas in Taal Lake and in two towns in Pangasinan that were devastated by fishkill.


The National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council reported that as of 6 p.m. Tuesday (June 7), a total of 1,925.999 tonnes of fish from fish cages in Pangasinan and Batangas have been affected by the fishkill.


The Department of Social Welfare and Development has released PHP8 million (US$185,035.27) for the distribution of daily allowance of PHP280 (US$6.47) to the 2,860 fishermen affected by the fishkill in Anda and Bolinao towns in Pangasinan. The allowances' distribution will run for 10 days.


Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said that the department is already coordinating with local government units in Batangas to identify the affected fishermen in the fishkill that hit fishpens in Taal Lake.


Alcala, meanwhile, said that he has already assigned a team to assess the situation of fish cages in Laguna Lake. The team is working with the Laguna Lake Development Authority, he said.


He said he is expecting the team to give him a detailed report, including names of registered fish cage operators, by the end of the week.


He said that the government wants to save Laguna Lake fish cages from the possibility of being hit by fishkill, citing that majority of the fish supply requirement of Metro Manila comes from the lake.

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