<BICOL RIVER >

Prepared by: Queennie C. Escototo

I. GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION
Bicol River is the eight largest river in the Philippines in terms of drainage basin size

with an estimated catchment area of 3,770 km. The Bicol River Basin (BRB) is a unique

integrated agro-watershed resource that geographically extends from 13 ° 0’- 14° N to

123° 0’ -124°0’ E. representing about 317,103 hectares of the land area of the mainland

of Bicol Region and largely embraces the portion of Camarines Sur, the northern portion

of Albay and portion of Camarines Norte provinces. (Laureta et. al 2021)

II. PRODUCTIVITY
The basin plays a crucial role in the development of the region because of the

abundant resources and the ecological services it provides to support the livelihood of

communities. About 77% of the basin area or 243,800 hectares are cultivated

agricultural lands; its rivers and lakes provide irrigation water to these lands, apart from

fishing. The forests and forestlands, including protected areas, contain rich biodiversity

resources and non-timber products used as raw materials for handicrafts. Likewise, the

major rivers and tributaries of the BRB provide sources of water for irrigation, domestic

use, and power generation (DENR, 2015).

 III. FISH AND FISHERIES
In the Philippines, the Bicol River in Luzon contributes to both agricultural and fisheries

livelihood. It sustains inland capture fisheries for economically important species like freshwater

fishes, crustaceans and mollusks. In the northern side of the Bicol region, freshwater ecosystems are

mainly composed of major rivers, smaller streams, creeks, dams, reservoirs, and irrigations.

The river encompasses three provinces namely Albay, Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur

which drains to San Miguel bay. Generally, it is used for agriculture and fisheries activities like farming

and fishing. Commonly caught species are goby fish, tilapia, carps, mudfish, eel, catfish, climbing

perch and silver perch. Gleaning activities target apple snail, fawn melania and some freshwater

clams, while crustaceans being caught are river crabs, prawns and shrimps

The computed average preference rating in each species revealed the commonly targeted

species, identified as the top 10 priority catch in the Bicol River: tilapia (97%), freshwater prawn

(89%), mudfish (76%), native catfish (71%), freshwater eel (65%), carp (61%), climbing perch (54%),

goby fish (48%), freshwater crabs (39%) and fawn melania (35%). On the other hand, the trivial

many, which constitute the remaining 20%, comprised the species of silver perch (31%), golden apple

snail (30%), native snail (25%), horn snail (21%), freshwater shrimp (19%), Asian clam (12%), glass

perchlet (7%) black melania (5%) and half-beak (2%)

IV. POLLUTION AND ECOSYSTEM HEALTH
o a) Resource depletion in coastal waters due to the overfishing and illegal fishing,
resulting to the observed appearance of less preferred species and disappearance of
large economically important species and the degradation of ecosystems;
o b) Habitat destruction as evidenced by degradation mangroves areas, sea grass and
seaweed beds, and coral reefs and the pollution of major rivers and lakes;
o c) Pollution from various sources which include industrial, agricultural, commercial and
domestic activities which discharge pollutants into marine waters, contributing to aquatic
pollution and ecosystems failure resulting to red tides as in the case of Sorsogon Bay
green mussel farming and mass fish kill in Lake Buhi tilapia fish cage industry;
o d) Low productivity in aquaculture due to high cost of production inputs, lack of stocking
materials (fry or fingerlings), limited species for culture and diseases in prawn culture,
ride tide problem in mussel and other reasons;
o e) Urbanization and sedimentation from upstream areas results to soil erosion and poor
watershed integrity also affects water quality issue for the aquaculture industry. g) High
postharvest losses (Bicol Agricultural Profile 2010).
V. SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS
The arrival of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), fishing activities were stopped,
shutting down fishing stations and fish landing sites. The disease was caused by a
novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, previously known as 2019-nCoV, which focused the
global attention on how to flatten the curve of infections and to eradicate the pandemic
(Gou et al 2019).

The total annual catch is estimated to 54,357 with a monthly average catch of 4,530 in
2019-2020 (Figure 3). Formerly, there was a stable monthly average catch of 5,553
between October 2019–February 2020, before the community lockdown. However, an
abrupt decline of catch volumes occurred starting from the months of March–April 2020,
during the ECQ. The previous catch was reduced to 79.51% due to the community
lockdown. Fishing activities were stopped during the outbreak, according to the safety
protocol for preventing the spread of the virus. The decline in catch lasted up to June
2020, due to the work restrictions and different quarantine statuses between regions.
Though, in upland rivers fishing was still possible without having to pass any
checkpoint. However, the main livelihood derived from fishing was hampered by Covid-
19 especially during the lock down, especially vulnerable during the pandemic are those
marginalized populations (Cuaton & Su 2020). Covid-19 severely disrupted the food
supply chains the world has never experienced before (Udmale et al 2020).

The Department of Agriculture-Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM)

Operations Center has recorded almost PHP 10 million worth of initial damage to
agriculture in the Bicol region due to Severe Tropical Storm Kristine (international
name: Trami).

Based on the initial assessment of the DA Regional Field Office in Bicol Region, damage and losses
have been reported in rice and corn amounting to PHP9.75 million affecting 234 farmers,” the DA-
DRRM said in a statement late Wednesday.

Around 598 metric tons (MT) in 209 hectares of rice and corn plantation were reported damaged, with
rice production losses placed at 203 MT amounting to PHP9.6 million in Camarines Norte.
VI. GOVERNANCE AND DEVELOPMENT

The documentation of the IRDF in the selected farmlands along the Bicol River Basin (BRB)
demonstrated that duck integration in irrigated rice fields could be value-added livelihood and food
security adaptation option as compared to the conventional manner of rice farming practice of mono-
crop rice cultivation. Problem analysis of the same selected farmlands along the BRB revealed that
water irrigation and overwhelming flood extremities are the major dilemmas that hinder rice farming’s
ideal productivity (as discussed in Chapter 4.2.2). With this, it is necessary that innovative farming
techniques which involve maximizing irrigation systems be implemented for sustainable rice
production.

University of the Philippines Los Baños Foundation, Inc. (UPLBFI), DA-RFO V, DOST-PAGASA, Bicol
University, Central Bicol State University for Agriculture and recipient pilot LGUs have been instrumental in
developing decision support tools designed to reflect the localized and site-specific weather forecasts and
their expected impact on crops and cropping cycles which were tested and applied to enable farmers to
use climate information in their decisions to plant and harvest. These were done through the preparation
of Seasonal Climate Forecasts and Climate Agricultural Extension Advisories (CLEA). Through continued
and strengthened collaboration between the DA-RFO V and provincial PAGASA synoptic and agro-met
stations, the project has made it possible to expand these services throughout the region. Initially, a
stakeholders consultation-training cum climate forum on the Development of Climate and Weather Outlook
and Advisory sponsored by the DA-RFO V on June 13- 14, 2019 have been conducted to introduce the
enhanced seasonal climate forecasts as a product of the innovations made by the Adaptation and
Mitigation Initiatives in Agriculture (AMIA) team by the DARFO V.

Initial preparatory activities were done before the installation of the actual hardware. First, to
ensure the suitability of the kind of weather stations that are going to be installed at the different sites, the
team sought recommendations from the experts of the Instruments Research and Development Unit of
PAGASA-Central Office in Diliman, Quezon City, to optimize the reliability of the chosen equipment
according to its model and specifications that are compliant to the technical standards of DOST-PAGASA.
Literature cited/ Sources:
Alberto M. and Biag D( 2021) From target to non-target: the shifting catch inBicol River during
the Covid-19 pandemichttp://www.bioflux.com.ro/docs/2021.197-203.pdf
Bigueja M.,Bigueja C.,and Plantado L.,(2022) DIVERSITY AND ABUNDANCE OF FISHES
ANDMOLLUSKS IN BICOL RIVER https://www.theajhssr.com/V-
5_4/THEAJHSSR_F0504070400540605.pdf
Laureta R.PhD, Regalado R. and Baldo (2013) The Bicol River Basin Project Development of
Comprehensive Early Warning System for Agri-Fishery Communities in the Bicol River
Basinfile:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/978.971.9911.70.8bicolriverbasinprojectcamsur%2
0(1).pdf