Nature takes revenge

Residents of then laid-back San Nicolas and Agoncillo in Batangas were roused from sleep one Saturday morning. President (Fidel) Ramos had motored from Tagaytay to inaugurate a concrete bridge linking the two municipalities. No other Palace official had been to picturesque Pansipit River, Taal Lake’s only outlet to the saline Bay of Balayan, gateway to Calatagan. Ramos’ gaze was riveted on four-cubic-meter bamboo cages along the river banks. Like salmon, talakitok fingerlings from the sea migrate upstream to freshwater Taal, and after a year or more, attempt to return unsuccessfully, trapped by homemade nets.

In a week’s time, a moratorium on new cages and fingerling stockings in Pansipit and a DPWH dredging equipment were in place. With time, Pansipit was cleared of cages by resident-owners. A multinational firm, environment-friendly with narrow cages, phased out its units too.

Fish cages in Pansipit started as a cottage industry inspired by 30-year-old Zi Pong from Taiwan, whose marriage to a dark-skinned lass from Lemery was blessed with four children. He promoted small cages with low-stock densities on regulated feeding. Every other three months, tilapia fingerlings were monetized. Gasul replaced firewood for cooking, and Sitio Manalao hills turned lush. Fast food businesses boomed, and hospitals reported folks from “gold mine” barangay shorelines coming in droves on market days for consultation. Parents paid recruiters for choice OFW destinations – Italy, Switzerland, Spain, etc. – and houses of contrasting architecture sprouted.

Weeks after President Ramos’ visit, word was out that Governor Hermilando Mandanas called for a meeting. Culture period in the lake was alarmingly taking five to seven months, up from three.

The behemoth 600-cubic-meter bamboo cages in the lake were overstocked with fingerlings. After a series of meetings, conducted amid threats of rallies by stakeholders mostly from Agoncillo and San Nicolas (in Talisay, where fish cages owned by foreigners are now concentrated, the cages were then very few), a consensus was reluctantly reached to drastically reduce the number of cages, and to limit stocking densities. Cages were dismantled, and “cosmic justice” (Inquirer editorial, 6/7/2011) in the form of typhoons from the east hastened the unwelcome task.

Recently, it took fickle weather to unravel the mysteries of Taal Lake. The volcano island’s fury may be next if nature’s call for moderation is ignored.
—MANUEL Q. BONDAD,
[email protected]