Rediscovering Lake Buhi: Home of the World’s Smallest Edible Fish

Lake Buhi is clean, healthy and thriving for now. And the municipality is eager to keep it that way.

 

The municipal town of Buhi in Camarines Sur is a showcases of enchanting beauty with its undulating mountain slopes and long stretches of shoreline. The town is famous for its lake, Lake Buhi which is 1,800 hectares wide.

Lake Buhi, an important natural and economic resource in the area, was formed with the eruption of Mt. Asog, a prominent yet now dormant volcano. The major economic activities in Buhi are agriculture and fishing, both of which depend greatly on the lake’s resources. It provides almost 4-5 metric tons of fish a day. One important fish in the lake is Sinarapan (Mistichthys luzonensis).

This tasty local delicacy is a source of pride for Buhi and the whole country as well. Sinarapan has been recorded in the Guiness World Record as the world’s smallest commercial fish. It measures only around 2.1-2.4mm long or smaller than a ten centavo coin. The name Sinarapan came from the word “sarap” which refers to the fine net used for catching this fish.

 

 Only in Lake Buhi

 

The tiny Sinarapan are only found in Lake Buhi and its surrounding lakelets. The most important of these lakelets is Manapao where a small sanctuary and repopulation project for Sinarapan is being undertaken. Due to the declining population of this endemic fish, the municipality has banned the fishing of Sinarapan until its population stabilizes.

Sinarapan (Mistichthys luzonensis), the world’s smallest fish according to the Guiness World Record, measures 2.1-2.4 mm in length, which is smaller than a ten centavo coin.

The Buhi Lake System is an extremely-high critical area for biodiversity, according to the Philippine National Biodiverstiy Strategy and Action Plan. Aside from the Sinarapan, the lake is also home to 7 other native fish species; Irin-irin (Goby, Redigobius dispar), Dalag (Snakehead murrel, Channa striata), Atas, Puyo (Climbing perch, Anabas testudines), Kotnag (Half-beak, Hemiramphus sp.), Burirawan (Slender giant moray, Strophidon sathete) and Native hito (Clarias sp.). At least 4 fish species have been introduced to the lake in order to boost inland fisheries production: Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), Mozambique Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus), Karpa (Common Carp, Cyprinus carpio) and Bankok Hito (Catfish, Clarias sp.).

The surrounding forest is home of at least 25 birds species, 5 of which are endemic species: Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker, Philippine Hanging Parrot, Elegant Tit, Black-naped Monach and White-eared Brown Dove. They are also the home to other wildlife such as flying lizards (Draco sp.), skinks (Fam. Scincidae), monitor lizard (Varanus salvator), civet cats, bats, long-tailed monkeys (Macaca fasicularis).

Apart from being a haven for fishes like the Sinarapan, Lake Buhi also serves as a major watershed for the entire municipality. Fourteen tributaries converged into the lake. A Hydro Electric Plant of the National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR) generates about 2.8 megawatts of power from this lake. Buhi also supplies the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) with water, irrigating at least 12,000 hectares in the RINCONADA area including the Municipality of Pili. Both the NAPOCOR and the NIA have a stake in maintaining the integrity of Lake Buhi. NAPOCOR sponsors reforestation efforts in the surrounding mountains and has installed check dams at the tributaries to control siltation.

Fishkill

In the past seven years, there have been two episodes of mass fishkill. The worst happened in 1998 where the fishkill reached an estimated toll of 25 million tilapia. The fish kill is locally referred to as “Kanuba” for the sulfur smell that accompanied the phenomenon. The Kanuba was pegged to upwelling, a sudden influx of warm water in the lake. However, the problem of oxidation cannot totally be ruled out. The area has a slight problem with agricultural run-off but the biggest source of anxiety for the municipality is the unmitigated proliferation of fish cages. The municipality is anxious to come up with proper zoning and planning in order to control the fish pens and cages while at the same time recognizing and responding the people’s need to earn a living.

Community-based biodiversity conservation and ecotourism

Recently, hope has turned towards the idea of eco-tourism, especially with Lake Buhi being “The Home of the Sinarapan.” The area also has many other biophysical features that could be of eco-tourism value – Mts. Asago and
Malinas with their lakes, falls and abundant wildlife. The area is also culturally interesting with it’s Agta community. Buhi also has it’s own dialect called Buhinon which has a distinct ethnolinguistic character in danger of being lost because of lack of study. On the promotion of Sinarapan to prompt eco-tourism, the LGU has already conducted several studies to learn more about the species, its population and the possibility of restocking neighboring lakelets. The LGU is toying on the idea that the endemic Sinarapan and the introduced tilapia can co-exist as they have been successfully kept in the same aquarium. However, Haribon Foundation believes that further study must be done because conditions in an aquarium are not the same as the conditions in open waters; and the tilapia have been known to be highly aggressive towards other fish.

Lake Mapanao: a sanctuary for this tiny fish.

The municipality of Buhi and has invited Haribon Foundation through Haribon’s Academic Center for Excellence (ACE) Camarines Sur State Agricultural College (CSSAC) to help them develop an eco-tourism scheme for the Area.
Lake Buhi Biodiversity Conservation Management Project will work with the LGU and NAPOCOR to restore, conserve and protect the Lake Buhi watershed and its environs through a comprehensive, sustainable and participatory management strategy in collaboration with local stakeholders.

The projects short-Term Goal is to formulate and implement a sustainable and community-based biodiversity conservation and ecotourism program for Lake Manapao and its environs. To this extent the project hopes to produce a site profile for Lake Manapao and its environs; to increase awareness of local stakeholders on biodiversity conservation and ecotourism; to strengthen the management capabilities of the Sinarapan Sanctuary Management and Development Council and other local stakeholders; to formulate and implement a community-based biodiversity conservation and ecotourism management plan for Lake Manapao; to initiate sustainability mechanism for the community-based biodiversity conservation and ecotourism management plan of Lake Manapao; and to effectively manage and document project implementation.

The lake is clean, healthy and thriving for now. It was even adjudged 1996′s Cleanest Lake in a nationwide Clean and Green Program. The municipality and the community is eager to keep it that way. Not only are they dependent on it for their livelihood, they are also very proud of being the home of the Sinarapan.
Written by Noel Ressureccion and Mithi Laya Gonzales
Photos by Don Geoff Tabaranza and Mylanar Saulog/Haribon

source : http://www.haribon.org.ph/index.php?q=node/view/317