PRIVATE corporations operating fish pens and fish cages in Laguna de Bay have occupied 937 hectares more than their allotted area under the fishery Zoning and Management Guidelines (ZOMAG), to the disadvantage of small fishing families who are entitled to a bigger portion of the lake.
This was revealed in the 2021 report released last June 20 by the Commission on Audit, noting that the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) failed to enforce the 60:40 sharing scheme under the ZOMAG of 2018.
According to the zoning policy, area allocation for aquaculture structures in Laguna de Bay should not exceed 9,200 hectares.
Under the 60:40 sharing scheme, the bigger cut totaling 5,520 hectares should go to small individual fishermen while the remaining 3,680 hectares can be allocated to private corporations and cooperatives.
However, actual allocations as of December 31, 2021 showed private corporations and cooperatives have occupied 4,617 hectares or P937 more than their allowable area.
Individual fishermen, on the other hand, were limited to 3,799.64 hectares, which was just 41 percent of the available area.
The COA said 138 private corporations and cooperatives also exceeded the single operator limit of 20 hectares.
According to the LLDA, since June 2021, no demolition has been undertaken against fish cages that exceeded the limits and that the reduction of occupied area allocation has been deferred until June 30, 2022.
