Manila: Residents were instructed not to eat fish and fishermen not to get and sell fish from a lake where 49 metric tons of fish were found floating since Friday, a senior official said Tuesday.
"Eating dead St. Peter's fish (tilapia) might be dangerous. It could cause deadly stomach ailments. We have not yet found the cause of the fish kill that hit Lake Sebu (in Cotabato)," Rogelio Aturdido, health officer of Cotabato said in a radio interview.
The local government unit has not yet finished cleaning up Lake Sebu of the 46.5 tons of dead fish from affected 50 cages last Friday when 2.5 more tons of dead fish floated on Monday, Rex Vargas, coordinator of the fishing industry in Cotabato said in the same radio interview.
The damage was estimated at 3.8 million pesos (Dh316,666), said Vargas.
This has happened last July when scientists said that rising water temperature in Lake Sebu was fatal to fish production done in fish cages that have crowded Lake Sebu, environmentalists said.
Water temperature rises at the onset of summer and due to organisms that grow in bodies of water with crowded fish cages.
The local government unit was urged to respond to calls to stop allowing rich private fishermen to build fish cages to allow sustainable marine growth in Lake Sebu, said one environmentalist who requested for anonymity.
"St. Peter's fish which originated in Libya has been propagated in various parts of the Philippines. This has resulted some indigenous species of marine life nationwide," said the same activist.
Meanwhile, Lake Sebu has been polluted due to fish feeds, said authorities who asked fish operators to stop feeding fish for a week.
"The oxygen level in Lake Sebu must return to normal," said Vargas.
Some 13 tons of St. Peter's fish died in Lake Sebu last July.
