To be able to secure bigger fish harvests and make its prices dive at lower costs, maximizing Laguna de Bay’s aquaculture potential is a key step in achieving these targets, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said to the lake’s fish pen operators.

“Our aim is to produce more food at lower prices. For example, bring back bangus prices to P50-P70 per kilo,” Laurel said in a released statement on Thursday.

“Maximizing the aquaculture potential of Laguna Lake is essential to achieving that goal. If we can add more capacity, then let’s do it,” he added.

According to data from the Laguna Lake Development Authority, the 940 square kilometers lake produces as much as 90,000 tons of freshwater fish a year and provides livelihood to around 13,000 fisherfolk.

The DA said that aquaculture associations in Laguna Lake have recently sought aid from them regarding the increasing fingerlings in fish pens, minimal saltwater introduction, and concerns about freshwater reintroduction.

The fish pen operators also said that it was still in 2022 that salt water, which is essential in bangus (milkfish) production, was allowed to flow into the lake and that the floodgates’ yearly opening to allow fresh water was not taken into action.

Laurel said he will meet with the LLDA to discuss plans for Laguna Lake, along with the opening of the flood gates crucial for the introduction of fresh and saltwater to make the country’s aquaculture sector more high-yielding.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources was ordered by the DA official to do a capacity study and

water quality test of the lake.

Fish cultivated in Laguna Lake include white goby, mudfish, ayungin, bangus, catfish, kanduli, tilapia, and the common carp, said the agency.