The continuing rains may be dumping more nutrients into Taal Lake, bringing wastes and threatening its water quality. Scientists are warning that the lake is now generally eutrophic, a change from its oligotrophic character just two decades ago, indicating that too much nutrients have been dumped into the lake from fishcages, land-based domestic and livestock waste. This change has happened in other lakes before, notably Lake Biwa in Japan, but stricter implementation of regulations have reverted it to its original state.
On November 26, 2009, the Protected Area Management Board of the Taal Volcano Protected Landscape unanimously approved a Management Plan for the Taal Lake Basin. A simple, easily understandable and widely consulted plan, this is intended to solve the most major problems plaguing the lake through strong government implementation enforcement and citizen participation and compliance.
Plan implementation has been slow but steady. At a meeting of the PAMB Executive Committee on October 11, 2011, Regional Director Esmeralda Manalang of the Bureau of Fisheries reported that the conditions that should trigger a cage moratorium in a town has been triggered in Talisay, particularly in Barangay Sampaloc, where there are 1000 cages allowed under the rules. The PAMB Execom seemed reluctant to enforce such a Moratorium, however, considering the impact on the livelihood of over 500 families and the difficulty of removing so many cages.
Nearly two years after the passage of the Management Plan, an acid test is confronting the Protected Area Management Board. Citizen participation and public support for conservation is needed now more than ever.
The Pusod-organized Globe Adventure Taal is one means to call attention to the plight of this treasure of Batangas in order to prevent its continuing decline. Funds raised from the race will go to an inventory of any remaining open dumps within the basin, working group meetings of subcommittees of the PAMB, water quality monitoring instruments and trainings for the community in their use. Lastly, the race will also result in an E-Governance Project where the Management Plan status of implementation will be reported by SMS and web to constituents of the lake basin and they will have a chance to report violations and send comments or suggestions.
CONTACT: Ann Hazel Javier
Globe Adventure Taal Race Organizer
Executive Director, PUSOD
V-5, 2nd Flr. BigBen Complex, J.P. Laurel Highway Lipa City 4217
Mobile No. +63 9152807037; +63 9323331021; +63 9189274763
Telefax No. (043) 757-3192