Laguna De Bay: A Case Study for Sustainable Fisheries Development

Laguna Lake is the largest source of fish catch from all lakes in the country providing food and livelihood to millions of people. Recently, there were attempts to remove all fish pens and cages from the lake, presumably because of their adverse impact on water quality and pollution. In this paper, we provide an overview of the lake ecology and we identify ways to manage the lake sustainably. For some time, it has been clear that the lake’s ecosystem is deteriorating putting at risk the food source and livelihoods of millions of people. The LLDA, the local government units, and various stakeholders have formulated concrete steps to ensure sustained fish production in the lake.