Lake Buhi
Also known as: Buhi Lake · Lake Buhi crater lake
Definition
Lake Buhi is a small freshwater crater lake with a surface area of about 18 square kilometers located in the town of Buhi in Camarines Sur, Bicol Region, Philippines. The lake sits in a valley formed after a seventeenth-century eruption and collapse involving Mount Asog (Mount Iriga), and it is celebrated as the home of the sinarapan (Mistichthys luzonensis), considered the world’s smallest commercially harvested food fish. Today the lake also hosts extensive aquaculture cages producing tilapia. (Wikipedia)
Identities
| Source Type | Identity |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Lake Buhi |
| Wikidata | Q1002637 |
| DBpedia | N/A |
| ProductOntology | N/A |
| Wiktionary | N/A |
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) | N/A |
| MeSH | N/A |
| NCBI Taxonomy | N/A |
| AGROVOC | lakes |
| Google Scholar | Lake Buhi sinarapan tilapia aquaculture Camarines Sur |
| ConceptNet | lake |
| OpenCyc | N/A |
Also Known As
- Buhi Lake
- Lake Buhi crater lake
Examples and Analogies
- Endemic Fish Refuge: The sinarapan, a transparent goby often under a centimeter long, once supported a unique scoop-net fishery found nowhere else, making Lake Buhi to small fish what the Galapagos are to finches.
- Fish Cage Economy: Much of the lake surface is now covered by bamboo-and-net tilapia cages, turning a natural crater lake into something resembling a floating farm grid.
Usage Scenarios
1. Tilapia Aquaculture
Fisherfolk cooperatives operate thousands of cages that supply tilapia to markets across Bicol, generating the town’s principal livelihood.
2. Research and Conservation
Scientists and local managers monitor sinarapan populations and water quality, since the species has retreated largely to river inlets and adjacent Lake Manapao after cage expansion.
Strategies
- Regulate cage density and licensing so aquaculture does not smother the whole lake, preserving areas where sinarapan and native species survive.
- Promote ecotourism, such as lake tours and the annual sinarapan festival activities, as income that rewards keeping the lake clean.
- Strengthen watershed reforestation around Mount Asog to reduce siltation that shrinks the lake’s usable depth.
Security and Safety Measures
- Lake users should heed small-craft advisories during storms, since sudden winds can capsize boats far from shore.
- Water-quality monitoring guards fisherfolk and consumers against pollution from cage overfeeding and domestic waste.
- Footing on bamboo cage walkways is slippery; visitors should use licensed guides with life vests.
Historical Context
Local tradition and geologic accounts hold that the lake formed in 1641, when eruptions and seismic activity associated with Mount Asog dammed natural drainage and flooded the valley, an event woven into Buhi’s origin lore. Settlers developed the sinarapan fishery over centuries, and in the twentieth century the lake became a national tilapia producer after aquaculture was introduced in the 1970s.
Challenges and Controversies
Sinarapan Decline
Biologists blame overfishing, competition with introduced species, and the conversion of open water into fish cages for driving the sinarapan toward commercial disappearance in the lake proper, prompting sanctuaries such as Lake Manapao.
Cage Overcrowding
Unlicensed cage expansion has repeatedly sparked conflicts among fisherfolk and LGU regulators over water rights, navigation lanes, and pollution.
Related Topic
Sinarapan