FISH KILL. Tilapia growers in Lake Sebu town in South Cotabato sell their fish harvest at a lower cost of HPP30 to PHP70 per kilo along the roadside since Jan. 24, 2023 in this file photo to save their remaining tilapia from a fish kill prevailing in the area. The municipal council has passed a measure declaring a state of calamity in the locality since Feb. 13, 2023 due to the widespread fish kill in its lake. (Photo courtesy of Lake Warden Rudy Muyco)
KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato – Officials of Lake Sebu town in this province has allocated PHP1.5 million of its calamity fund for financial assistance of fish cage operators affected by a fish kill in the area.
In an interview Thursday, Robert Bagong, chief of the Lake Sebu Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO), said the financial assistance is exclusive to affected tilapia growers.
He said the fund allotment came after the municipal government approved on Feb. 13 a recommendation by the MDRRMO to declare a state of calamity due to the widespread fish kill.
“As of January 28, fish kill has affected 538 fish cage operators in Lake Sebu, the amount that they will be receiving will depend on the result of the damage assessment of the agriculture office,” he said.
He stressed that declaration of the state of calamity in the town was an offshoot of the earlier declaration of the fish kill in the hardest-hit barangays of Poblacion, Bacdulong and Tacunel.
Mayor Floro Gandam the fish kill in the municipality has so far destroyed over PHP17 million worth of tilapia produce across its lake.
Gandam said for the lake to recover, the local government is considering the implementation of a moratorium on fish cages.
“We might be implementing the moratorium. This is not easy, maybe will do it gradually because we also have to consider the people of Lake Sebu as 70 percent of our population is dependent on the tilapia industry,” he said.
The town government has attributed the fish kill to the excessive number of fish cages that caused the depletion of dissolved oxygen and submerging of excessive feeds at the bottom of the lake. (PNA)
