Demolition of all the fish pens/cages in Laguna de Bay is anti-poor. It unnecessarily deprives the poor consumers of Metro Manila and surrounding communities of a significant part of their affordable animal protein supply. Fish pens outproduce catch fisheries easily by a factor of 10 on a per hectare basis. In 1973 when fish pens were first introduced, the average wild fish catch in the lake was 249 kilograms per hectare versus the 4,000 kilograms per hectare from bangus fish culture.Similarly in terms of livelihoods from the producer point of view, aquaculture creates on a per hectare basis far more jobs than catching fish in the wild.

Javier, E. (2017, March 5). What to do with the fish pens in Laguna de Bay: (part II). Manila Bulletin, p. B-2.