Taal Lake fishermen attend to fish pens despite warnings

Despite a forced evacuation order by the local government, fishermen from Laurel and Agoncillo, Batangas still came back to Taal Lake to check on their fish pens and cages.

According to Chino Gaston's Tuesday report on 24 Oras, the fishermen returned to the lake to check if their livelihood survived the eruption of Taal Volcano.

"Pansamantala lang 'tong inaayos namin kasi kung pababayaan namin, walang mangyayari lalo. 'Pag naman may tawag na likas, aalis naman [kami]," one of the fishermen said.

Due to the heavy volcanic ash caused by the volcano's phreatic eruption on Sunday, many of the fish cages sank, resulting in the escape of some fish.

The fish were not able to escape their fate, however. More than a hundred tilapia, tawilis and bangus were found floating in the lake, probably killed by sulfur poisoning.

Dead fish inside cages in Laurel, Batangas. Fishermen think sulphur from the volcano killed some of their fish stock. pic.twitter.com/b9v3dGISFw

— Chino Gaston (@chinogaston) January 14, 2020

Some of the fishermen tried to catch smaller fish to put in the cages and grow their stock back. — Ma. Angelica Garcia/BM, GMA News