SPECIAL REPORT: Catching the saguyon threatens the pijanga
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KITCHARAO, Agusan del Norte (MindaNews / 7 December) — Another pressing threat to pijanga comes from catching the saguyon — the youngest, immature pijanga — which is considered illegal, according to Joyce Baclayo, senior aquaculturist of DA-BFAR Caraga
“Saguyon, those are still baby pijanga. We’ve observed catches of around 3,000 of these babies per kilo. She said that if the saguyon are allowed to grow to full maturity, those 3,000 baby pijangas could weigh a total of 30 kilos in the future. “[That] represents a significant potential income,” Baclayo said.
She stressed that allowing pijanga to reproduce before harvest is crucial.
“Once they mature, they can spawn multiple times in their lifetime. Harvesting them too early drastically reduces the wild population capable of reproducing, which over time diminishes fish stock,” Baclayo added.
Raul del Agua, municipal agriculturist of Kitcharao, told MindaNews that the decline of pijanga reflected in BFAR data matches what they are seeing on the ground. He attributed the drop largely to illegal fishing practices, particularly the persistent harvesting of saguyon.
“This is the worst form of illegal fishing. For some, saguyon are even given as gifts. In their daily harvests, thousands of these young fish, which should be allowed to grow, are caught. In Kitcharao, we don’t allow it,” Del Agua said.
Saguyon is typically prepared by sun-drying and then frying, forming small fish patties.
De Guzman said that saguyon has long been popular in the area.
“Saguyon was very popular, and it still is. These juveniles are typically harvested using fine-mesh scoop nets. The nets are very fine, which allows them to catch the young fish,” she said.
Despite being illegal, harvesting saguyon continues because there is a market for it.
“It’s delicious when made into fish patties, or ‘torta.’ Even during our assessment, one could buy fried saguyon in eateries around Lake Mainit,” De Guzman added.
Merida said that although fishers are aware that saguyon harvesting is banned, some still continue the practice.
Under Republic Act 8550, or the “Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998,” the legal mesh size for fishing nets is 3 cm. Nets with mesh sizes below this, such as 2.3 cm fine-mesh nets, are considered illegal because they capture juvenile fish. Scoop nets with fine mesh, resembling mosquito nets, are commonly used to harvest saguyon.
“Each of the lake municipalities actually has its own ordinance prohibiting the harvesting of saguyon, but implementation remains weak because it’s delicious and considered a most sought-after dish,” Del Agua said.
He added that although each municipality around Lake Mainit has its own rules against illegal fishing, implementation is inconsistent. This, he said, underscores the need for a unified ordinance across the four lakeshore towns to ensure coherent and effective enforcement.
While the assessment focused only on performance indicators like the landed catch and biological indicators, Baclayo said they have not yet examined other factors contributing to the decline in catch, such as pollution and habitat degradation, especially as more communities are living around the lake.
“We don’t have a study on these factors yet. But if you see, there are already many communities living near the lake. So, if you combine all of the factors like pollution, climate change, and population increase, it adds more stress to the environment,” Baclayo said.
Revival of LMDA
With the results of the recent pijanga stock assessment, stakeholders have renewed hopes that the Lake Mainit Development Alliance (LMDA) will be reactivated.
The LMDA was organized in March 1999 through a memorandum of agreement signed by the provinces of Agusan del Norte and Surigao del Norte, the four lake towns, and other municipalities within the Lake Mainit watershed, such as Sison, Tubod, Santiago, and Tubay, along with selected national line agencies. The alliance was recognized by the Regional Development Council (RDC) through Resolution No. 11, series of 1999.
According to its website, the LMDA aims to conserve aquatic resources, enhance their economic, ecological, and recreational value, manage forestlands, improve watershed land cover, and promote greater involvement of government, the private sector, local communities, and other stakeholders in the sustainable management of Lake Mainit and other critical resources. Its last website update was in August 2019.
Attempts by MindaNews to reach the LMDA via the contact number listed on its website and its official Facebook page did not yield a response as of this posting.
Baclayo said the results of the stock assessment were presented with the hope of revitalizing the LMDA. She added that BFAR plans to initiate another stakeholder meeting to formally reorganize the alliance.
De Guzman, who partnered with the LMDA during the Sustainable Fisheries Management Program for Lake Mainit, said that revival alone is not enough, as the LMDA must also be strengthened.
“Strengthening it would make their efforts truly sustainable. If they revive the LMDA, they should also identify a science group to advise them, maybe people from academia, like Surigao del Norte State University, fisheries experts, some biologists, and Caraga State University. They could identify which scientists could assist in their plan and help with the technical aspects,” she said.
De Guzman also noted that the LMDA’s inactivity contributed to the continuing decline and overfishing of pijanga.
“I think it’s a very big factor… At that time, when we were doing our research, the LMDA was very active. There was strong collaboration and cooperation. So if there were problems back then, when LMDA was still active, imagine now, when it is basically deactivated,” she explained.
Proposal of off-season
Baclayo emphasized that Lake Mainit currently has no designated off-season for fishing, an absence her team believes is contributing to the decline of pijanga.
“There really is no off-season in Lake Mainit, and that’s why we recommended setting a closed season to give pijanga time to spawn and rest, allowing them to reproduce,” she said.
De Guzman said any closed season should be anchored on the species’ peak spawning period.
“This is critical. Our assessment only covered one year in 2008, so conditions may have changed over time. But based on our study, the peak spawning period is between January and April,” she explained.
She noted that pijanga and other gobies are hall-demersal species, or bottom-associated fish, that do not migrate far, so they tend to return to the same areas and spawn continuously.
De Guzman emphasized that the closed season must be regularly reviewed and updated to reflect current lake conditions.
“The team led by Baclayo can establish the current spawning peak, and that period can then guide the closed season for pijanga, giving them the chance to spawn in greater numbers. A new study is needed to determine and update their reproductive months under present conditions,” she said.
Biodiversity loss
For Baclayo, the current status of the pijanga stock in Lake Mainit is nothing short of alarming.
“Based on the assessment, I can really say it is alarming. You can already see in the indicators that we urgently need to implement management options,” Baclayo said.
De Guzman echoed the concern. Without intervention, she said, the trajectory is predictable.
“If it’s business as usual, if the current condition is allowed to continue and nothing is done then you can expect it to worsen, and it may lead to a fisheries collapse,” De Guzman said.
A fisheries collapse, she explained, does not always mean a species disappears entirely.
“It means the fishery no longer provides any economic value. When that happens, the social and economic conditions of fisherfolk are affected as well,” De Guzman said.
She also noted the ecological consequences of continued overfishing, saying the impact goes beyond declining harvests.
“One of the ecological effects is biodiversity loss. Pijanga is still the dominant species in Lake Mainit, so it may not go extinct right away. But there is what we call local extinction. Some species may disappear locally, their population can drop to such a low level that they can no longer sustain reproduction. They may still exist in other lakes, but they disappear completely from Lake Mainit,” De Guzman said.
Keystone species
De Guzman explained that once biodiversity loss begins in a fishery, especially when the species that disappear are gobies like pijanga, this becomes more critical because these fish are considered indicator or keystone species.
“A keystone species is important to the ecological balance of an area. When it disappears, ecological shifts follow. These shifts can weaken the resilience of the fishery,” she said.
De Guzman said that resilience means that even when an ecosystem experiences threats such as disease, climate change, or environmental stress, it can still recover and bounce back. This is possible when there is high biodiversity and the organisms in the system are protected.
“But if important species disappear, the resilience of the fishery declines. Eventually, the whole fishery becomes more prone to collapse,” she added.
Loss of cultural identity
Zimmbodilion Mosende, a Lake Mainit advocate born in 1974 and raised in Mainit town, said the lake is inseparable from the community’s identity. Mosende, who runs the blog Pijanga.blogspot.com, told MindaNews that pijanga is more than a staple fish; it is tied to the community’s cultural pride and everyday traditions.
“We pride ourselves on having very brilliant and intelligent people. Most of the time, we attribute that to the pijanga, especially its liver. When someone is taking an exam, we cook fried or stewed pijanga, and the liver is given to the one taking the test because it gives you extra power,” he said, sharing a belief passed down through generations.
Mosende said the loss of pijanga would be more than an ecological loss: if the species disappears, Lake Mainit would also lose its identity.
“But I don’t think it will disappear. It will remain. I’m hopeful… even though the data shows it is declining. As you can see, pijanga remains the dominant fish in the lake. It is a resilient species,” Mosende said.
He added that more studies are needed to fully understand the reasons behind the declining catch, and that reviving the LMDA is one way to strengthen coordinated conservation and management efforts across the lakeshore towns, ensuring both the survival of pijanga and the preservation of the community’s cultural identity.
Now based in Papua New Guinea and working with the United Nations, Mosende said he will continue advocating for Lake Mainit and its pijanga wherever he is.
Merida, who was able to send two of his children to college and has since graduated, said it was the pijanga of Lake Mainit that made it possible.
Now focused on leading the fishermen’s cooperative he founded, which aims to uplift the lives of local fisherfolk, he emphasized that illegal fishing, like harvesting saguyon, must be addressed and that strict enforcement should be a priority for both local government units and BFAR.
“If the pijanga disappears, many people will be affected. There will be no fish to dry, salt, or sell whether fresh or dried. Without it, the income of those who depend on it will be lost,” he said. (Ivy Marie Mangadlao / MindaNews)
This story is published with the support of Canal France International under the Media for One Health program.
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