Buhi, Camarines Sur – Heavily polluted. Choking.

These now grimly describe Lake Buhi, whose once pristine waters nurtured the fish species that has placed the Philippines on the global fisheries map.

The 1,707-hectare lake is dying owing to pollution and proliferation of fish cages that are now practically choking this inland body of water situated about 500 kilometers southeast of Manila.

In recent years, “fish kills” have occurred in the lake.

More recently, last July 15, or a day after typhoon “Basyang” cut a wide swath of destruction in the Bicol Region down to Metro Manila, people around Lake Buhi woke up to see countless dead fish mantling the lake’s murky waters.

Lake Buhi is vaunted as home to sinarapan (scientific name: Nistichthys lusononeis), considered as the world’s smallest extant commercial fish species.

In recent decades, however, tilapia fish cages sprouted like the proverbial mushrooms after a rainy night.

Today, about 15,000 fish cages cover 70 to 80 percent of the lake, according to a study done by researchers of the Camarines Sur State Agricultural College (CSSAC), recently turned into Central Bicol State University of Agriculture based in Pili town.

To maintain the fish stocks, the cage operators use 2,840 tons of feeds per production cycle, reported CSSAC researcher Dr. Cely Binoya, Joyce dela Trinidad, Arthur Estrella, Ceferino Liosol, and Gloria Osoa.

The unused feeds add to the lake’s grave pollution problems.

The CSSAC study was supported by the Los Baños-based, government-hosted Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) through its Seed Fund for Research and Training (SFRT) program.

SEARCA, headed by Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit, Jr., is one of the 19 “centers of excellence” of SEAMEO, an intergovernment treaty body founded in 1965 to foster cooperation among Southeast Asian nations in the fields of education, science, and culture. Its SFRT program is one of its capacity-building initiatives to promote agricultural and rural development.

The researchers found that the lake’s pollution is mainly attributed to the dumping of animal and human wastes into Lake Buhi.

“Many swine raisers operating along the shorelines and households around the lake drained their animal and septic/other domestic wastes into the lake,” the researchers observed.

Thus, as borne by laboratory analysis conducted, Lake Buhi’s waters now have high total suspended solids, resulting in the turbid or sedimentary waters, shallow depths, acidic, and high chemical oxygen demand (COD) owing to high organic matter. Ammoniacal oxygen, nitrate nitrogen, and phosphates are also at toxic levels.

The researchers added: “These results indicate that Lake Buhi is now in the stage of eutrophication.” Eutrophication is an increase in chemical nitrogen or phosphorus compounds in an ecosystem, often resulting in excessive plant growth and decay, in turn leading to lack of oxygen and severe reduction in water quality, fish, and other animal populations.

In the face of these developments, local government units and communities around the lake have been conducting training activities on environmental appreciation and awareness and legislating appropriate ordinances.

The Sinarapan Sanctuary Management and Development Council was also organized to help develop policies and implement programs to ensure the sustainable population of sinarapan.

The SEARCA-supported CSSAC research team also conducted training needs assessment; information, education, and communication (IEC) activities; focus group discussions, SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis; and environmental awareness advocacy and livelihood training.