JALA-JALA, Rizal, Philippines — Local fishermen in this lakeshore municipality urged Thursday concerned national and local government agencies to boost security in Laguna Lake and preserve it as a fish sanctuary.

Fishermen from 11 barangays who organized themselves as “Bantay Lawa,” Jala-Jala’s Fisheries Aquatic Resources and Management Council (FARMC), submitted a petition letter denouncing alleged illegal fishing in the lake.

FARMC’s federation president Ruben Villaran said their petition called on authorities to disqualify a particular group from being issued permits to fish in the lake because of its alleged involvement in illegal fishing methods.

The petition was addressed to several government agencies – the provincial and local government as well as the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Villaran said members of FARMC have witnessed the alleged violations of the group which include the use of fine trawl nets in the lake’s open area; using chicken manure as fish feeds and the absence of necessary permits to operate the fishing activities in the lake.

The fishermen who supported the petition denounced the practices of the group because these abuses of the lake have been depriving them of their only source of livelihood.

Upon receiving the petition, Mayor Elionor “Ely” Pillas expressed gratitude to local fisherfolk for supporting the municipal government’s stand against illegal fishing activities.

Pillas said she acknowledges the efforts of concerned fisherfolk and barangay officials in these coastal villages to rid the lake of illegal fishing activities to ensure the success of the lake seeding program of the national government in the fish sanctuary.

“Fishermen here rely solely on fishing as their only means of livelihood to sustain their daily income which ranges from P100 to P250,” said Pillas as she vowed to look into the matter and address it as soon as possible.

Just last May 24, President Benigno S. Aquino III led national and local officials in a lake-seeding activity in the designated 9,400-hectare fish sanctuary, here.